Category: College Football

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College football’s Bowl Season has reached peak absurdity. Kansas State earned the right to devour the first edible mascot in sports history following its 28-19 win against NC State in Thursday’s Pop-Tarts Bowl. Just minutes before the feast, Kansas State coach Chris Klieman’s players dumped a bucket of mini Pop-Tarts on his head following the victory. 

He was covered in Pop-Tart dust when another group of Wildcats surprised their coach with a more traditional Gatorade bath. Klieman and true freshman quarterback Avery Johnson, who was named the Pop-Tarts Bowl MVP, got first dibs on the giant strawberry frosted Pop-Tart emerged from an even larger toaster.

In addition the postgame victory meal, the Wildcats were also awarded a sweet trophy that has two slots at the top to hold Pop-Tarts, creating an ersatz football-shaped toaster . 

Thursday marks Kansas State’s second bowl win in the last three years and second straight season with at least nine wins. The Wildcats entered last year’s Sugar Bowl with a 10-3 record fresh off a Big 12 Championship Game win against national runner-up TCU. 

Kansas State leaned on its ground attack with Johnson — making his first start for the Wildcats — to secure the win against NC State. K-State rushed for a total of 258 yards, paced by sophomore running back DJ Giddens and his 28 carries for 152 yards and a touchdown. Johnson contributed 71 yards — averaging a game-high 10.1 yards per carry — and a touchdown on the ground while throwing for 178 yards and two touchdowns. 

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LSU was expected to be at full strength aside from quarterback Jayden Daniels, who opted out, in the ReliaQuest Bowl against Wisconsin on New Year’s Day.

However, new broke on Wednesday that true freshman offensive tackle and former five-star recruit Lance Heard did not make the trip to Tampa, leaving his status with the team unclear.

On3’s Billy Embody provided some updates on The Jordy Culotta Show Thursday after speaking to Heard. While he didn’t get into specifics, he said Heard is still evaluating his future, which is currently in “limbo,” though he is considering a return to LSU next season.

Yesterday news broke that star freshman OT Lance Heard did not travel with #LSU for the bowl game on Monday and left many fans confused. @BillyEmbody got Lance on the phone yesterday to discuss his current situation⬇️ pic.twitter.com/705arE7Kfo

— The Jordy Culotta Show (@CulottaShow) December 28, 2023

Embody didn’t know the specifics of Heard’s situation and whether his absence had to do with an intention to enter the portal, grades, NIL money or something else entirely.

Regardless, it will be one of the biggest stories to watch as LSU prepares for its postseason matchup against the Badgers.

Contact/Follow us @LSUTigersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Louisiana State news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Tyler to continue the conversation on Twitter: @TylerNettuno

Story originally appeared on LSU Tigers Wire

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To the victor go the spills. In what is quickly becoming one of bowl season’s most entertaining traditions, West Virginia coach Neal Brown was bathed in mayo following his team’s 30-10 win against North Carolina in Wednesday’s Duke’s Mayo Bowl at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina. Brown is the third coach to receive the honor, following South Carolina’s Shane Beamer and Maryland’s Mike Locksley. 

Bowl organizers instituted the mayo bath in 2021, though the first Duke’s Mayo Bowl was played in 2020 with Paul Chryst’s Wisconsin squad picking up a win against Wake Forest. West Virginia is actually the first Big 12 program to both play in and win the Duke’s Mayo Bowl in its current iteration. 

As the final score may indicate, Wednesday’s result was rarely in question. The Mountaineers jumped out to a 14-3 lead late in the second quarter and the two teams traded a pair of scores in the final minute to give West Virginia a 17-10 lead at halftime. It dominated from there, holding the Tar Heels scoreless over the final 30 minutes while gradually padding its own lead. WVU’s defense completely took over in the second half, holding North Carolina to just 131 total yards. 

This is West Virginia’s first bowl victory since 2020 and its first 9-win season since 2016 when Dana Holgorsen was the coach. This is also the first time that Brown has led the Mountaineers to more than six wins since he took the job in 2019. 

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Kansas faces UNLV at the Guaranteed Rate Bowl in Phoenix, Arizona, on Tuesday as two of the most innovative offenses in college football clash. The Jayhawks jumped to 8-4 in coach Lance Leipold’s third season and posted their first Big 12 winning record since 2007 despite missing quarterback Jalon Daniels for most of the year. The slate was highlighted by an upset 38-33 victory over Oklahoma. 

UNLV posted one of the biggest turnarounds in college football during a breakout season. The Running Rebels earned a trip to the Mountain West Championship Game for the first time in program history and won their most games since 1984 under first-year coach Barry Odom. 

These two teams place a two-game series in 2002-03 with each winning a home game. Most recently, the Jayhawks beat UNLV 46-24 in the second year of the Mark Mangino era. With the excitement around both of these programs, relatively few contributors have opted out of the games. 

How to watch Guaranteed Rate Bowl live

Date: Saturday, Dec. 26 | Time: 9:10 p.m. ET
Location: Chase Field — Phoenix, Arizona
TV: ESPN| Live stream: Fubo (Try for free)
For a limited time, new subscribers can save $20 on Fubo’s Pro, Elite and Premier plans.

Kansas vs. UNLV: Need to know

Rolling with punches: Kansas entered the year with Daniels, the Preseason Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year, leading the way, but a nagging back issue ultimately limited him. In relief, backup Jason Bean put together another sensational year. In seven games, Bean passed for 1,671 yards, rushed for 259 yards and finished with 15 touchdowns. Despite all the turnover, Kansas finished top 30 in both total and scoring offense. The Jayhawks will be without playcaller Andy Kotelnicki, who left to take the offensive coordinator job at…

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Tennessee will make its sixth all time appearance in the Citrus Bowl on Jan. 1, 2024 versus Iowa.

Tennessee is 4-1 in Citrus Bowl contests.

The Vols last appeared in the Citrus Bowl on Jan. 1, 2002, defeating Michigan, 45-17.

Tennessee first played in the Citrus Bowl on Dec. 17, 1983, defeating Maryland, 30-23.

The Vols lost to Penn State, 31-13, on Jan. 1, 1994. On New Year’s day, 1996, Tennessee defeated Ohio State, 20-14.

On Jan. 1, 1997, the Vols defeated Northwestern, 48-28.

Tennessee’s all time Citrus Bowl results:

1983: Tennessee 30, Maryland 23

1994: Penn State 31, Tennessee 13

1996: Tennessee 20, Ohio State 14

1997: Tennessee 48, Northwestern 28.

2002: Tennessee, 45, Michigan 17

PHOTOS: Tennessee football defeats Michigan in 2002 Citrus Bowl

READ: Tennessee-Iowa Citrus Bowl transfer portal and opt-outs tracker

Story originally appeared on Vols Wire

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With the 2023 NFL regular season winding down, some fanbases have already turned their attention to the 2024 NFL Draft. According to SportsLine data scientist Stephen Oh, the Chicago Bears have a 95.7% chance to secure the No. 1 overall pick, thanks to the offseason trade that netted them the Carolina Panthers’ 2024 first-round pick. Carolina is the worst team in the league at 2-13, meaning Chicago will likely have the top pick in the draft for the second season in a row.

General manager Ryan Poles will have an interesting decision to make with that top pick. Does he again sell it to the highest bidder? Or does he take a quarterback to replace Justin Fields? Many believe the top quarterback in this class is Caleb Williams out of USC, and Bears fans have already embraced the debate concerning if he’s the future of the franchise, or if it’s someone else.

Christmas Eve, one Chicago sports fan posted on social media that the Bears should draft Ohio State wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr., and keep Fields at quarterback. The USC signal-caller was tagged in the post, saw it, and “liked” it. 

While some will automatically assume this means Williams does not want to be drafted by Chicago, that’s not fair. The star quarterback could be keeping receipts on Bears fans who don’t want him, or of those who think Harrison would be the better selection. It could be any number of things. 

Williams was the 2022 Heisman Trophy winer, and a Unanimous All-American last season. The 2023 campaign wasn’t as kind to him, but Williams still threw for 3,633 yards, 30 touchdowns and five interceptions while the Trojans went 7-5. 

As of now,…

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First-year Florida wide receiver Eugene “Tre” Wilson was named to Pro Football Focus’ 2023 All-Freshman team on Christmas Eve.

Wilson started the season coming off the bench, but he eventually took over a starting role on the team. With Ricky Pearsall leaving Gainesville for the NFL draft and Caleb Douglas headed to Texas Tech via the transfer portal, Wilson should enter 2024 as Florida’s top receiver.

Pro Football Focus gave Wilson an 81.6 offensive rating, an 81.5 receiving grade and an elite 93.4 drop rating. All three figures led the nation among first-year receivers who played more than 30 offensive snaps. Wilson’s drop rating ranked second among all receivers in the country, regardless of experience.

Wilson finished his freshman year with 538 receiving yards and six touchdowns on 61 receptions. He averaged 6.1 catches per game and 8.8 yards per catch.

His most productive game came in Week 10 against Arkansas when he totaled eight receptions for 90 yards and two touchdowns.

Follow us @GatorsWire on Twitter and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.

Story originally appeared on Gators Wire

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Tensions ran high following South Alabama’s 59-10 win over Eastern Michigan the 68 Ventures Bowl Saturday when a postgame fight erupted after a sucker punch was thrown. 

Eastern Michigan defensive back Korey Hernandez rushed to South Alabama’s side of the field while the team was facing the marching band and singing the school’s alma mater. To the shock of most everyone, he sucker punched an opposing player. Multiple members of both teams were involved in the extracurricular activities before the fight was eventually broken up.

South Alabama players and coaches were able to come back onto the field minutes later for the trophy presentation.

“I didn’t see things when they happened,” Eastern Michigan coach Chris Creighton said postgame on the incident. “But I definitely saw the intensity of what had just happened. We had a really good, long talk in the locker room afterwards. We want to be first-class all the time, no matter the circumstances, no matter what the scoreboard is, no matter what other factors, people, whatever are involved. And anything short of being first-class is not living up to the standard that we have in Eastern Michigan football.”

South Alabama finished with a 627-150 edge in total yards and allowed its lone touchdown of the game to Eastern Michigan in garbage time to win its first bowl game in program history. Coming into the weekend, the Jaguars had an 0-3 all-time record in bowl games.

“We will certainly take ownership of our part,” South Alabama coach Kane Wommack said. “We will look and find out exactly what happened. I couldn’t…

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