The Good, Bad, Ugly and Hilarious of Bowl Season
This bowl season was one of those that you look back on and you just can’t really completely understand. There were many beat-downs, surprising losses and, of course, a smattering of what you really want to see, close games.
We’ll start with the good: The Alabama smack-down on Notre Dame. I grew up hating Notre Dame without ever fully understanding why. My dad and brother taught me to do this, and since they did, I did too.
Like nearly every Arkansas fan, I also don’t particularly like Alabama. But when it comes to a game like this, I lean toward the side of the Southeastern Conference. Boy, was I pleased to see that score come out 42-14 with the Crimson Tide rolling out touchdowns on each of their first three drives.
As much as I hate to say it, as much as I hate over-hyped players, Johnny Manziel showed the people why he won the Heisman Trophy. His tip-toe touchdown was one of my favorite plays of the month.
Don’t forget, Arkansas State won the GoDaddy.com bowl, and this should make Arkansas – as a state – proud, even if they aren’t ASU fans.
Then there was the bad: Florida getting beat by Louisville. Not that Louisville is a bad team; they obviously aren’t if they beat Florida, and if they were ranked No. 22. But then-No. 4 Florida losing to a Big East team was a shock.
What was possibly even worse was the LSU-Clemson game. I’m less a fan of LSU than I am of the Tide, and I had mixed feelings about this game. I wanted Clemson to whoop LSU, but I also wanted LSU to boost the SEC bowl record.
With a last-minute field goal, Clemson beat LSU by one point. Only a point. I thought I’d be happy.
Finally, for the bad, Manti Te’o showed us why he didn’t get picked for the Heisman. With missed tackle after missed tackle, Te’o faded into the background of the National Championship – especially after the commentators revealed AJ McCarron’s girlfriend to the masses.
The ugly became the absolute worst part of this bowl season. Here are some of the lowlights of it all: First and foremost, that moment in the South Carolina-Michigan game. You know which moment I’m talking about. The football was a few links short of a first down and yet the referees called it a first down.
That moment didn’t need further review because everyone, absolutely everyone except the referees, saw that there was no denying the ball was short. But it was all okay, because Jadeveon Clowney’s hit on Michigan’s poor running back and thus his fumble recovery righted all the wrongs.
After all was played and done, a few moments will last as slightly humorous, if only to me.
During the National Championship, McCarron and Alabama center Barrett Jones got into a little tussle when the teammates had a miscommunication. It was likely the most tense moment of the game, but watching them walk off afterwards with pouty faces was the icing on the cake.
Finally – surely I’m not the only one who saw this – during the Cotton Bowl, one of the referees began to run backwards after he placed the ball and fell firmly on his bottom.
If you think I’m being sadistic, just think of the fall as a happy little moment that changes your mind when a team is losing so bad that you think you may stop watching. This bowl season could have used more of those.
Tamzen Tumlison is a writer for the Arkansas Traveler. Her column appears every other Wednesday. Follow the sports section on Twitter @UATravSports.
