SantaFeToday.com Santa Fe’s Hometown News
By Arnie Leshin
Only one college football bowl game remains, and that’s the Jan. 11 playoff championship tilt sending top-ranked Alabama against 3rd-ranked Ohio State, the only unbeaten teams to survive until this unique coronaviruspandemic season winds down.
For all the rest who went bowling, the spotlight falls on the post-game brawl at the Armed Forces Bowl played in Fort Worth, Tex. For the viewers who watched this, it was a wonder that there were no serious injuries when Mississippi State and Tulsa fought almost as soon as the Bulldogs edged the Golden Hurricanes, 28-26. Just a limited number of fans were in the stands and couldn’t believe what they were seeing.
There was no clue as to what caused the football game to overturn into a mixture of boxing, wrestling, pushing, fists a flying, feet a kicking, players and coaches and other staff members being thrown to the ground and pounced on, and several carried off with the fear of concussions.
What started it, who knows, nobody later made comments to the media. The game ended, Mississippi Sate (8-3) celebrated, some of its players even removed their jerseys as the clash versus 22nd-ranked Tulsa (also 8-3) increased from the concrete grounds to an area of quagmire. There was shouting, females in the area looked scared, and most were just scattering after the battlers just continued to rough them up and include them in this unprecedented swing out.
It lasted about a half-hour. That’s when security arrived, followed by the police. Later, both administrations stood their ground, no one blamed the other because there was no actual report on when it started, why it started, who was injured, and more attention came because of this being the annual Armed Forces Bowl. Tsk, tsk.
Other games were more normal. None of the teams clashed at midfield during game time, although there was the usual encounters that brought penalties, but after each contest the teams gathered, some wearing face masks, to say good game and all other nice things.
For the third straight year, the Big 12 dominated by winning all of its five games. Down and out again was the Atlantic Coast Conference losing all of its four games. State-wide, it was Georgia going 3-for-3 behind Georgia Southern, Georgia State and Georgia, which ended Cincinnati’s unbeaten record in a tight tussle. Impressive was streaking, 6th-ranked Oklahoma, with its 55-20 romp over 10th-ranked Florida, its eighth win in a row after starting 1-2.
West Virginia had a close game with West Point Army, which took the place of Tennessee when the COPID-19 issue was reported on its campus. Three other games were postponed for the same reasons, University of Alabama Birmingham against South Carolina when the Gamecocks canceled, TCU versus Arkansas when the Hogs canceled, and Iowa lined up versus Missouri when both cancelled.
Teams that entered the bowling with unblemished records were Costal Carolina, Cincinnati, and Colorado left with their initial setbacks, the Chanticleers against once-beaten Liberty in the only overtime game, the Bearcats in the close one versus the Bulldogs, and the Buffalos being routed by Texas. Once-beaten Brigham Young had a resounding win over Central Florida, and once-beaten Buffalo edged twice-beaten Marshall, and Ole Miss held off a late run by once-beaten Indiana.
No telling what the final national rankings will look like. No doubt, it will be Bama and Buckeyes as No. 1 and 2, but who knows whether 5th-ranked Texas A & M or 6th-ranked Oklahoma will move into the 3rd and 4th spots after the Crimson Tide handily turned back Notre Dame, 33-14, and Ohio State did a number on Clemson via 49-28. Hopefully, when these rankings are released, there will be no brawls questioning them.
Here you go, all the bowl results, the conference results, and the state results, with the final space awarded to the teams that will play for the championship at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla., home of the Miami Dolphins, who had a fine season but missed the NFL playoffs. Alabama, which was favored by 19 and one-half points over the Fighting Irish, is a one touchdown early pick over Ohio State.
By then, it will be known who won Tuesday’s annual Heisman Trophy, with Bama wide receiver DeVonte Smith, named Player of the Year, having a chance to win other than a quarterback for the first time since 2002 when Desmond Howard of Michigan won the prestigious award. The other finalists are Alabama quarterback Mac Jones, Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence, and quarterback Kyle Trask of Florida.
