Bowl Recap and Season Finale

As Sinatra sang:

And now, the end is near;
And so I face the final curtain.
College football season is over, oh dear
I'll state my case, and I am hurtin.

And so we have another season in the books and another banner year by all accounts for the DFT Nation. But first let us take pause to congratulate Clemson on winning the National Championship. In the playoffs, Clemson eviscerated The Ohio State Buckeyes and Bama slugged out a hard fought win against a stout Washington Defense setting up the rematch with Clemson. This may be the most exciting championship game in our lifetime. Some may argue the Texas win over USC in 06 was as memorable but this was one is engrained freshly in our brains. Congrats to Coach Dabo Swinney for a great game plan and Deshaun Watson for an amazing performance. They achieved this by besting arguably the top defense we have ever seen in college football.

John Addicks and crew after Clemson's smeifinal win

The Dru Crew at the Vegas Bowl

Brian Donnelly, Steve Koreivo and friends at the NGC Military Bowl

For the DFT crew, we attended the Foster Farms Bowl watching Utah squeak by Indiana. My season was capped off by hitting one of the most exciting Bowl games in history as USC defeated Penn State 52-49 in the Rose Bowl. 

 

Rewearing the Wisconsin coveralls at Foster Farm Bowl

The Utes Bewts!

Is that a Ute?

Die hard BC fans view from the 6-6 Bowl the day after Christmas

Here is the recap of my travels this season:

• ·         19 games attended
• ·         10 new college stadiums *
• ·         3 trips to the great state of Texas
• ·         1 game in Australia
• ·         Army Navy game at M&T stadium
• ·         6 repeat venues
• ·         Bailed on 3 games (Utah State, NC State and Ohio University) my apologies.
• ·         1 NFL game at Lambeau Field
• ·         3 contests won resulting in 6 free tickets, 2 complimentary tailgates, lodging at the Fairmont hotel, $76 gas card, a box of tonic mixers, $100 gift card to Tailgate Giant, Tailgater chair and  many good memories. 
• ·         DFTer of the Year is a tie between Jim Tubby Devine and Brian Radio Donnelly for each attending 5 games with me this year. Congratulations lads. 

• ·         Additionally,1 high school game and 8 middle school games!

 

The last fireball toast of the year at the Rose Bowl.

New PSU friends with our crew at the Rose Bowl

How USC fans get up for game day,

The granddaddy of them all

Games and Tailgates attended during the 2016 season:

Cal v Hawaii in Sydney, Australia

NW State @ Baylor

UCLA@ TA&M

Notre Dame @ Texas

Ohio State @ Oklahoma

Iowa @ Rutgers

Temple @ Memphis

Alabama @ Arkansas

Ohio State @ Wisconsin

Dallas @ Green Bay (NFL)

UCLA @ Colorado

Memphis @ SMU

Oklahoma State @ TCU

Southern Miss @ North Texas

Notre Dame @ USC

Colorado v Washington (PAC 12 Championship)

Army v Navy 

Utah v Indiana (Foster Farms Bowl)

USC v Penn State (Rose Bowl)

Many highlights as Texas A&M, Wisconsin and Arkansas have entered my top 10 college football experiences. One triple header and four double header weekends, a trip “down under” and a pilgrimage to Lambeau Field, a lifetime bucket list must see. All this in addition to a mid-season timeout. Many thanks to all who hosted us at their home tailgates. 

Next season’s tentative lineup:

• ·         Labor day triple header at Minnesota, NIU and Iowa
• ·         Ole Miss at Cal
• ·         Army at Tulane and possible LSU night game
• ·         Washington home game
• ·         Oklahoma v Texas at the Cotton Bowl
• ·         Oklahoma at Kansas State
• ·         Sac State or Cal Poly home game
• ·         Florida at South Carolina
• ·         Lafayette v Lehigh (The Rivalry)
• ·         Notre Dame at Stanford
• ·         Army Navy
• ·         Foster Farms Bowl
• ·         Rose Bowl

 Bieber: It has been Bieberpocalypse this past month with way too many to choose just one winner:

• ·         Wakeyleaks – former Wake Coach giving game plans to opponents
• ·         Minnesota Gopher boycott AKA Gophergate when players stood up for their rapist teammates
• ·         Minnesota administration for firing their coach as a scapegoat for supporting his players. He was their most successful coach in a century.
• ·         Star players sitting out the bowl games to “prep for the NFL draft” like Fournette, Linwood and McCafferey
• ·         Coaches bolting for greener pastures before their bowl games like Rhule, Taggert and Leavitt
• ·         Belklifting - Arkansas tight end Jeremy Sprinkle for shoplifting at Belk Department Store prior to the Belk Bowl
• ·         Multiple players being suspended from their teams prior to their bowl game for violation of team rules
• ·         Lane Kiffin being shown the door unceremoniously again
• ·         My brother Brian for falling asleep and missing the second half of the National Championship

So it is goodbye until August and may you all have other hobbies and interests to get you through these 8 dark months of no College Football. Here is a little video recap of the 2106 DFT season (Sorry, I had audio issues and will redo this before next season):

Happy Tailgating!

 

Hello darkness my old friend!