Michigan 27, Alabama 20 OT
Michigan drove 85 yards, scored TD with 1:34 left that forced overtime.
Total yardage: Michigan 351, Alabama 288
Teams combined to convert 5 of 24 third down plays.
This is only 2nd win for Michigan in their last six bowl games.
SEC went 4-2 against the Big 14 in bowl games this season.
Washington 37, Texas 31
Washington QB Penix was 29-38/430 passing, with two TD’s.
Game was 21-21 at half; Huskies outscored Texas 10-0 in 3rd quarter.
Texas had ball on the Washington 13-yard line when game ended.
Total yardage: Washington 532, Texas 498
— Second half of the Texas game started at 11:05 pm here in the East; doesn’t matter much to me, since I’m a night owl, but they have to lose lot of viewers in this part of the country.
— Early betting line on the college football national title game:
Michigan opened as a 4.5-point favorite vs Washington.
LSU 35, Wisconsin 31
LSU drove 98 yards, scored game-winning TD with 3:08 left.
Badgers led 14-0 in first quarter.
Wisconsin was 6-15 on third down, LSU 3-9
Total yardage: 506-492, Wisconsin
Tennessee 35, Iowa 0
Iowa was 9-4; in their losses, they scored 0-10-0-0 points.
Iowa WON four games that they scored 15 or fewer points in.
Total yardage: Tennessee 383, Iowa 173
Vols’ freshman QB Iamaleava was 12-19/151 passing in his first college start.
Oregon 45, Liberty 6
Liberty led 6-3 after the first quarter.
Oregon led 31-6 after the second quarter.
Total yardage: 584-294, Oregon
Oregon QB Nix, in his 61st college start, was 28-35/363 passing, with 5 TD’s.
Elsewhere………
— Tampa Bay Rays’ SS Wander Franco was arrested in the Dominican Republic Monday, for his failure to appear at a summons last week; Franco is the subject of an ongoing investigation into his alleged inappropriate relationships with multiple minors.
In November of 2021, Franco signed an 11-year contract extension worth $182M with Tampa Bay; he got paid all of last season, even though he didn’t play after August 12.
— Daily baseball trivia: Babe Ruth threw 29.2 consecutive scoreless innings for the Red Sox in 1918, an MLB record that stood until Whitey Ford broke it in 1961.
— Word of the Day– Ubitquitous- things that seem or encountered everywhere, whether they actually are or not.
For example, smartphones are now a ubiquitous technology; almost everyone has one.
— If you like college basketball, Highly recommend getting ESPN+; they have tons of games on from all over the country. Nothing like watching Big West games on the tube at 2am.
— NFL announced their Week 18 schedule Sunday night:
Saturday doubleheader is:
Steelers @ Baltimore, then Texans @ Indianapolis.
Sunday night game is Buffalo at Miami, with the AFC East title on the line.
— Bill Cowher said on TV Sunday that if he was coaching the Ravens, Lamar Jackson wouldn’t play this week- the game means nothing to Baltimore, it means everything to Pittsburgh, No sense risking an injury to your star QB.
Reader named Conquistador sent me a good note: Sunday was Jackson’s second NFL game with a perfect passing rating; the first one was in 2019, also against Miami.
— In case you were wondering, AFC beat the NFC 46-34 head-to-head this season. Every game in Week 18 in a divisional game, so the only inter-conference game left is the Super Bowl.
— Rams changed kickers again Monday; they brought back Brett Maher, who was 17-23 on field goals for the Rams earlier this season.
— If you’re a Lions’ fan, you have to love coach Dan Campbell; he led Detroit to its first division title in 30 years this season, but jeez, some of his game management decisions are interesting.
Saturday night, after the sketchy penalty call negated a Lions’ 2-point conversion, Detroit had the ball on the 8-yard line. Instead of just kicking the PAT to go to overtime, Campbell went for two from the 8 and the Lions lost the game, 20-19. Why?
Did Campbell not want his players playing an overtime, and risk injury? The game wasn’t life-or-death for Detroit, but it could’ve helped their seeding and given them home field for the second round of the playoffs, if they get that far.
— USFL/XFL have merged into an 8-team league called the UFL; their season begins March 30. San Antonio Brahmas announced Monday that Wade Phillips is their coach.
— QB DJ Uiagalelei started his college career at Clemson, he started for two years there, then transferred to Oregon State this year, but after the Beavers’ coach bolted to Michigan State, Uiagalelei packed his bags and will play next season at Florida State.
— UNLV freshman QB Jayden Maiava hit the transfer portal, really bad news for a UNLV program that played in its first bowl game in 10 years this season.
Maiava threw for 3,085 yards with 17 TD’s; he also ran for 277 yards and three TD’s. Big loss for the Rebels, who went 9-5 this season.
