This is the rare bowl game these days where both sides have some motivation. Oklahoma’s motivation mostly lies with its coach, but it’s motivation nonetheless. A loss here would leave the Sooners under .500 for the second time in Brent Venables’ three years in Norman.
Rutgers 2.0 might not be ready to compete with Kansas State 2.0. Of course, that depends on which version of Kansas State 2.0 actually shows up. The Wildcats have been maddeningly inconsistent, which is why they weren’t able to win the Big 12.
Has San Jose State learned its lesson from a year ago? Last year, the Spartans made it to the Hawai’i Bowl for a homecoming for then-quarterback Chevan Cordeiro, but the rest of the team neglected to show up. San Jose State got caught napping in a 24-14 loss to Coastal Carolina, and the result was never really in doubt.
Welcome to the first time in recent memory that Tennessee will visit a Big Ten stadium. The Volunteers typically don’t play Big Ten teams during the regular season, in part because SEC teams usually matched with Big Ten opponents in bowl season.
After two blowouts in the first two games of the College Football Playoff, now comes a game that most expect to be a blowout. Texas has only lost twice all year, and both defeats came against No. 2 seed Georgia.
There’s one good thing about all of this conference realignment nonsense: it gives us some good December games. We’ve got the Apple Cup on the hardwood, and there are genuine questions about whether the home team is tough enough to play in this game.
Which team is the real Butler? Is it the team that showed it could play at a power conference level when it beat Mississippi State and Southern Methodist? Or is it the one that spotted North Dakota State a 23-point lead and lost to both the Bison and Austin Peay?
There’s about 198 miles that separate Bloomington and South Bend on the roads of Indiana. On the football field, there’s about a lifetime of separation.
With West Virginia already having fired its coach, the Mountaineers face the awkward situation of having to figure out how to play with an interim leader. Even though Rich Rodriguez has already announced his return to Morgantown, he’s not involved with the preparations for the Frisco Bowl.