Category: #ACC

We have slogged through the Bahamas Bowl (teams still awaiting payment from that Crypto guy) , the very weird Jimmy Kimmel LA bowl won by a team from Fresno, and a game in New Mexico won by a group of Mormons. Sure the teams in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl are excited to each get a 50 lb. sack of spuds as part of their swag package. NCAA allows $550 of gifts to the participants and not much says “thanks for playing” like 12 months supply of Dukes Mayo….only thing worse? If you walked in your room and found this on your couch…..

Now its time to get to the real deal! Sort of….If you are not in the CFP, but in a big bowl, you are just place holding for what will mean more in 2 years with the playoff expansion. That’s ok as we all knew it was not a matter of if, just when the CFP expanded. Sure it will mean more work for ZT and the Padre, but it is better than focusing on that bearded camel mascot at the Jimmy Kimmel bowl.

ZT had a crazy holiday but was able to consume excessive amounts of Pecan Pie, chocolate covered everything, and more chips and dips than a human should ( per ZT’s doctor! ). Good news is none of this negatively impacted ZT’s 1/2 price brain supplements so here we go with the NY 6 prognostications…

Friday 12/30 – Orange Bowl 7pm cst

#6 Tennessee Volunteers vs #7 Clemson Tigers

Good one to kick off the NY6 games. UT needs this for their 1st 11 win season since ITunes debuted (don’t bother to look it up on your new iPhone you are still trying to work…it was 2001 — you’re welcome! ) . Challenge is they will have to do this without QB Hooker and 2 top receivers opting out. On the QB side, Joe Milton (Michigan transfer) is very capable but nothing will be easy vs. Dabo’s defense. Dabo gets “loyalty points” for sticking with QB DJ U$T%*#*# for so long. It’s also a major contributing factor as to why they are in this game vs. CFP. QB Cade “I want to date a barmaid” Klubnik has given the Tigers offense a boost and the defense is Top 25 in all categories. Tigers like to eat people and they say hillbillies taste like chicken so… Tigers 34 Knoxville Hot Chicken 21

Saturday 12/31 – Sugar Bowl 11am cst

#5 Alabama vs. #9 Kansas State Wildcats

ZT is a Bama fan but does like K. State and they have the momentum heading into this one. No “opt outs” for the Purple Power Cats. ZT LOVES THAT!!! Add in that Bama has lost 3 of their last 4 Sugar Bowls (ok ZT…does that stat REALLY matter noting Bama and K State have never actually played before??…….don’t quit your day job ZT!). Now…after rumors of Bama “opt outs”, currently reported there will be none. Pretty amazing in the current era of college football. Do note multiple players have left via the portal but not starters. Love what QB Bryce Young stated: ” I wanted to finish with my teammates this season.” Not surprising Tide just signed another top recruiting class. SO, back to the game. KSU RB Deuce Vaughn and QB Will Howard basically have the same yards (1425 & 1423 respectively) with Vaughn on the ground & Howard in the air. So, no surprise they are a very balanced attack ( 219.8 Passing PG & 209.6 Rushing PG). They are top 25 in scoring offense and defense. Bama QBs will get to know DE Felix Anudike-Uzomah during this game……Remember they got here with a goal line stand to beat undefeated and CFP participant TCU. Bama is Bama….many have questioned the motivation but scratch that with all on the team planning to participate. Some team stats…. #3 in Points Per Game with 41.4 and #13 in Points allowed at 19.6. Will be close but Bama squeaks out a W in Young/Anderson’s last game. Pachyderms 31 Grape colored Cats 28

Saturday 12/31 CFP – Fiesta Bowl 3pm cst

#3 TCU Horned Frogs vs #2 Michigan Wolverines

Just a few years ago, no one would have mentioned either of these teams for the CFP. Wolverines have turned it around to include taking care of their conference nemesis OSU to get here as the #2 seed. Horned Frogs are the Cinderella team of 2022. A key battle in this one will be at the line of scrimmage (come on ZT, it usually is……you got Covid Fog?!?!?). TCU QB Max Duggan can hurt you with his arm or his legs and is so tough he makes Samson look like an interior designer (ZT with a random biblical reference?..it is Christmas). He was a Heisman invite for having 30 TDs and only 4 INTs but the tailless amphibians are also a Top 25 rushing team. Wolverine QB JJ McCarthy has only 3 INTs but its supported by a run game that averages over 240 YPG. RB Donovan Edwards replaced injured start RB Blake Corum and had solid games vs. OSU & Purdue. Michigan O-line is really good and ZT believes this squad is SUPER motivated (which is much better than just regular motivation..) to avenge a thumping by Georgia last year in the CFP (hear they will be watching Red Dawn as their team movie before the game). Add in TCU Defense is ranked 74th in total defense, like Michigan needed more help. Love Sonny Dykes and his horny amphibians but read where Wolverines really like frog legs. Wolverines 34 Hmm..they taste like chicken 27

Saturday 12/31 7pm cst Peach Bowl

#4 THE Ohio State Buckeyes vs # 1 Georgia Bulldogs

Dawgs look like that “wire to wire” team as they reloaded in 2022 after sending a bunch of bad dudes (other than Grandpa Stetson Bennett V) to the NFL. OSU is the last team to win a Natty outside the South ( Georgia, Bama, LSU, Clemson) and that was in 2014. Buckeyes haven’t been an underdog in a while but expect HC Day to pin that on the bulletin board as well (ZT, any chance he just text that out to the team vs. “bulletin board”?). WR Smith-Njigba is out due to injury and LB Mitchell to the portal but the rest of the Buckeyes are ready to make a run for a Natty. QB CJ Stroud & WR Marvin Harrison Jr. led this offense to 44.5 PPG and may be the best receiving corps the Dawgs have seen. OSU Defense was solid but exploited by Michigan. Dawgs defense is 2nd allowing only 12.7 PPG while Grandpa Bennett & his offensive pals averaged just under 40 PPG. Oh yeah, this is basically a home game for the Dawgs. Dawgs TE Brock Bowers with a late TD to send Dawgs to the finals….Dawgs 34 Guys at home on 1/9 27

Monday Jan 2 – Cotton Bowl 12 noon cst

#16 Tulane Green Wave vs #10 USC Trojans

This one looks fun……..Green Wave is at HIGH TIDE to be in this game (ZT, now you think you’re a meterologist?). 1st NY6 game since the 1st Captain America comic book was published and Nylon Stockings 1st went on sale….yes, 1940!!! IF TCU is Cinderella, then Tulane is Glenn Close in the stands that Robert Redford sees just before he hits a homer in The Natural (ZT — that is a 1984 film about baseball…do you plan to name your 1st grandson Roy Hobbs as well?)….ok, being that they are from NOLA, was going to say they are like that last girl in Bourbon Street bar than can still put complete sentences together but didn’t feel that would be appropriate. USC….one key is if Heisman QB Caleb Williams can play, as he rehabs a hamstring injury, but has vowed to play. USC would like to end on a high note after dropping the Punk-12 Championship to Utah. Lots to build on in Tinseltown after Lincoln Riley defected from Oklahoma and the Rams imploded in the NFL. Solid Job in year 1 for sure. Tulane and HC Willie “we ain’t on the” Fritz are on a roll and fun to watch. Love he is staying at the Green Wave after being tempted to come do some body work on the Ramblin Wreck in Atlanta. QB Michael Pratt has 25 TDs with only 5 INTs. RB Tyjae “I really like Jamie Lynn” Spears “better than Brittany” has averaged 7.1 Yards Per Carry over his 4 years at Tulane..impressive (not that he really likes Jamie Lynn!) with over over 1375 yds rushing and 242 receiving this year! They are Top 35 in Total Offense and Defense but USC will be a different level of competition than the AAC. ZT smells something…..its called an upset special Green Wave 42 Screen Actors Guild 41

Monday Jan 2 – Rose Bowl 4pm cst

#11 Penn State Nittany Lions vs #8 Utah Utes

Penn State was never really talked about but they did play the #4 Buckeyes close and only real loss was to Michigan (join the club!). The UTES are here for the 2nd straight year. Love QB Cam Rising and with PSU CB Porter opting out, it opens up the field just a bit more! For PSU, it is farewell to QB Sean Clifford (think he is eligible for Social Security as it seems he has been there so long) but expect HC James Franklin to play a lot of 2023 talent in this one. He has plenty of it and more on the way with a Top 6 class so far this recruiting season. Not much on the opt out front, other than Porter, and that is an indication of the importance of this game to PSU as well. ZT thinks this may be one of the best games of the weekend so order a large pizza, some nachos, a pan of brownies ( legal ones ), and a gallon of ice cream so you don’t have to stray far from your TV (ZT..you do know most can watch it on their phone even if in “the can” so no need to wear depends just to avoid missing a play?!?!….assume you are still on AOL dial-up internet? Google it young people). ZT has run over 10,000 computer simulations and is confident of the winner of the Rose Bowl. The simulations had nothing to do with football ( was actually Global Thermonuclear War from a company called Protovision in Sunnyvale CA) but have seen other prognosticators say this stuff so just tossed it in there!! (ZT…it’s been a long season so enough with the 80’s movie references…War Games? Really?..Go drink some warm milk and take a nap!). UTES 31 #3 in Big 10 28

ZT is planning to head south, pound some seafood, and watch more college football than a human should be allowed to watch (which will be metered by my bride but she won’t ask me to watch a Hallmark movie or any game that Gary Danielson is announcing either so all good!!). Enjoy and back for the National Championship Final next week!!

Padre is trying to finish “cleaning up” the 2022 version of his Gators and get them ready for 2022. He had to take a break to take some Pepto after watching one of his nemeses (yes, ZT had to look up the proper plural form! ), FSU, win and finish with a 10 win season. Hope he recovers in time to prognosticate!!!

3:57pm Update: Padre IN THE HOUSE for Prognostications…(The Gator is scrubbed and ready for 2023!)

Orange Bowl

Tennessee (pumpkin puke orange) – 37 Clemson (Sunkist orange) – 30

Rocky Top on South Beach. Moonshine in Miami. Davie Crocket hats in clubs. Tennessee is pumped for this game. I think they may be more pumped than Clemson. Pumpkin puke orange wins the “orangiest” Orange Bowl Ever!

Sugar Bowl

Bama 41 Kansas State 16

Bama doesn’t make the CFP….and had to settle for the #1 recruiting class in the country. Tough times in T-Town ( yes, my eyes are rolling! ). I actually wanted Bama to make the CFP because I believed they would have been the best bet for beating Georgia. After all, this all about me and my Gator misery. On the game, I say Bama actually shows up for a meaningless exhibition and mauls the Manhattan Purple Paws.

Cotton Bowl

USC – 34 Tulane – 30

It’s the city of debauchery versus, well, the other city of debauchery!! Hollywood vs. Humidity. Tofu vs. Gumbo. Vegan Smoothie versus The Hurricane. Sunset Boulevard vs. Bourbon Street. Red Carpet vs Mardi Gras. All of that to take place in the city of J.R. Ewing (YouTube intro to “DALLAS”)! For some reason, Southern Cal is only favored by 2 points.. Maybe because of opt outs. I dunno. All I know if that a Trojan seems much scarier than a Green Wave. But because this will Tulane’s Super Bowl, I say it’s close– yet the Trojan’s talent is just too much.

Rose Bowl

Penn State 27 Utah 26

Like the Cotton Bowl, this game ( the so-called “Granddaddy of them All”) is played on January 2 – after the CFP. I know the extended playoff is coming in the next couple of years, but this seems like madness. What is the point of playing these “major bowls” after the only games that truly matter??? Let’s just move on already. If we were abandoning the bowl format, let’s just move forward….NOW! Anyway, for this “very important game”, I say Penn State – the THIRD PLACE team in their own division – holds up the roses at the end.. yea team…

Now that we have gotten all that out of the way, let’s now go back in time and predict the games that are for more than a trophy with some corporation’s name on it…..

Fiesta Bowl

Michigan 34 TCU 23

I am all in on pulling for the underdog. A TCU victory would be GREAT for college football!! But this time Goliath comes prepared and takes down a pesky David. Harbaugh will then play for a Natty. That’s hard to believe when it looked like he was going to be run out of town a couple of years ago. But these khakis don’t wrinkly baby!! The Wolverines are going to play for it all against…

OHIO STATE….Yep, I said it!!

Peach Bowl

Ohio State 34 Georgia 30

I have no idea why, but I think Ohio State will pull off the upset. I think Bama was still Georgia’s worst matchup, but I have a feeling Ohio State gets the upset. And to put away any doubt: YES, I am pulling for the Buckeyes!! Georgia is right there with FSU for Gator hatred. Why in the world would I pull for the Dawgs?!? What about SEC loyalty??, someone will say. Heck, what about Gator loyalty!!!??!!! For the life of me, I cannot understand the logic of pulling for an arch-rival. Who cares what conference they play in!! Georgia winning another Natty is HORRIBLE for me as a Gator fan. I can assure you that Michigan fans won’t be pulling for Ohio State against Georgia! I feel like Will Ferrell in Zoolander when he says he feels like he is taking crazy pills.

Well, the crazy pill that I am swallowing is actually believing the Buckeyes will win! Am I crazy like a fox or just crazy? We shall see.

ZT eating and Padre having his med’s checked…..back next week for the College Football Championship prognostication! Happy New Year!