Bye Bye Baby, Baby Bye Bye

 

The end: It seems like just last weekend I was having a heat stroke during zero week at Jacksonville State in obscene temperatures. And now, the end is here with the final game of the season in the books. The Michigan Wolverines behind a stifling defense bested the Washington Huskies in Houston Monday to win the 2023 season National Championship. Michigan proved that keeping a team mostly together for three to four years paid off. It goes without saying that they had incredible leadership from their upperclassmen and excellent coaches. Unfortunately, I did not make it to any postseason game this year as life happened.

Here is a recap of my season:

• 14 D1A college games attended

• 6 first-time schools, 8 repeats with one new stadium (CSU)

• 1 high school game

Next season so far:

• Zero Week - Eastern Illinois at Illinois

• Labor Day - Lafayette at Buffalo, Ohio at Syracuse

• 9/28 - Oklahoma at Auburn

• Appalachian State home game

• Family Weekend in October - Colorado

• 11/23 - Alabama at Oklahoma

• 12/7 - Army vs. Navy 

• The rest will be scheduled as conference schedules unveil, but I am looking at Tennessee, MTSU, East Carolina, UTSA and Rice

Bieber: I know this won’t be popular with some of my audience, but this week’s winner is Michael Penix Jr. (MPJ) for his antics before, during and after the Natty. First of all, the attire he arrived in with his look-at-me Elton John shades and assassin’s balaclava that he continued to warm up in was alien like. During the game, he became a drama queen in the fourth quarter when it was apparent that UW would lose. By grabbing every part of his body and wincing after each play, he was essentially stating, ”I’m hurt and that’s why we are losing.” No doubt he took some hits, but so did a lot of other people that night, including his more severely injured running back Dillon Johnson who gritted the game out with three lower body injuries. Then after the game, MPJ had an assortment of rags draped over his head covering his face under his helmet as he sauntered off the field — again saying, “Look at me even though you can’t really see me.” For a six-year super senior, he showed a lack of maturity the entire time whilst in Houston. And yes, Houston, UW did have a problem in the vessel of their QB1. It pains me to award the Beibs to him as I have been a fan of Penix (oh yeah, pronounced “Penn Ex”) since his days at Indiana. MPJ, you did not win that sought after Natty, but take pride in your new bieberware and good luck at the next level.

The invisible man .....all night long

Ginger: We all learned this week that the GOAT of CFB coaches, Nick Saban decided to retire after perhaps one of his best coaching jobs ever this season. Much of what I ranted about last week are some of the things that weighed on his decision to exit stage left from the game. College football has lost a huge asset and a pillar of its community. Even if you had “Bama fatigue” over the last 15 years, you can’t disagree that he did it the right way, unlike some unnamed others in the Bieber HOF. He won seven Nattys, six while at Bama, and countless SEC titles. His accomplishments will probably never again be matched with the way the game has changed (refer to last week’s rant) https://dantailgate.blogspot.com/2024/01/post-seasons-greetings.html . Through the years, I saw Nick do his magic live in three national championships and a handful or two of regular season games. This past season when I was in Tuscaloosa for the LSU game, I saw him on the sideline in person and realized the end may be near. My respect for his accomplishments grew that night. He will be missed by the CFB world, but he gets to take his Ginger hardware with him into his golden years and keep on singing Dixieland Delight!

The two GOATS

The off-season: Mrs. Tailgate and I will be splitting our time between Florida and Cali getting rested and ready for the 2024 season. I will continue to work on the Tailgate Connect business, which had a record year this season, and I thank those of you who helped make it happen.  With that, I bid adieu for the next seven months.

Click on link: https://youtu.be/PgWyvnBHyOw?si=G0OsFworKZy9iJUC 

Happy Tailgating!

Post Season's Greetings

 With 41 bowl games already played, we await only the Natty on January 8th in Houston to witness the highest level of college football. Additionally, the FCS ship is on Sunday, January 7th in Frisco, TX will be played between Montana and South Dakota State. Aside from two terrific playoff games, the overall bowl season was an unmitigated disaster for college football (more on that below). In the first CFP semifinal at the Rose Bowl, Michigan and Jim Harbaugh took down Nick Saban and mighty Alabama in a game ending with a goal line stop in OT. In the Sugar Bowl, Washington defeated Texas in a game that was closer in score than it should have been. Thus, Michigan and Washington will play for the grand honors in Houston’s NRG stadium on Monday night.

Around the country: Other bowl games of note included the Cotton Bowl played at Jerry World on December 29th with Mizzou taking down “The” Ohio State Buckeyes 14-3. This win meant a lot to the Mizzou faithful as they outnumbered the Buckeye fans by a significant margin. Additionally, this was Tailgate Connect’s largest tailgate to date hosted by the VIP Ultimate Tailgate team at the Boiling Tails restaurant across from the stadium. The Nerds of Northwestern finished a remarkable season by upsetting the mighty Utes of Utah 14-7 in the Las Vegas Bowl. This was remarkable considering the off-season turmoil the program endured. In the bowl where the winning team’s coach gets a giant container of Mayo dumped on him (Duke’s Mayo), WVU bested North Carolina 30-10. 

Okie State rebounded from the Big 12 Championship beatdown at the hands of Texas to take down Texas A&M 31-23 in the Texas Bowl played in Houston. Kansas State, without QB1 portal boy Will Howard (way to abandon your team, bro), still had enough juice to beat the Wolfpack of NC State 28-19 in, wait for it … the Pop Tart Bowl. The Fighting Irish, playing without opt-out pretty boy QB1 Sam Hartman, destroyed Oregon State 40-0 who also played without their portal boy and QB1 DJ Ukulele. The Maryland Terps, also without their opt-out/portal combo QB1 “Little Tua,” put a beat down on Auburn 31-13. In the Fiesta Bowl, Oregon annihilated Liberty Biberty 45-6. In a rare occurrence amongst today’s superstars, the much heralded Oregon senior QB1 Bo Nix stood by his team and played brilliantly in the game to boot.

No Bieber this week — instead you get a soapbox special I’m calling, “If I were the commissioner of college football”: With all of the players leaving their teams for the mythical transfer portal combined with “opt-outs”, college football was down over 1,600 players for the bowl season. Combine those numbers with coaches departing before bowl games, we had what amounts to spring games played away from home campuses. The transfer portal, filled with butt hurt feelings and NIL dollars, has rapidly spiraled out of control and is ruining this once great and pure game beyond repair. One can look at the outcome of the Georgia vs. Florida State Orange Bowl game where the Noles only had two starters from the regular season still around to suit up for the match. Final score UGA 63, FSU 3. The portal is equivalent to free agency now in college sports. Consider this: Even professional sports don’t allow for free agency until a set period after the final whistle has blown on the last game of the postseason. I can’t fault anyone for chasing a dollar as I am a full blown capitalist. However, there needs to be some riot control provisions in place to bring structure and integrity back into this once great game called college football. So, please humor me and allow me to make my case for what I would do to address this issue (Oh, and don’t even get me started on conference realignment):

Commissioner DFT

All high school recruiting shall be frozen from the last regular season game (not conference championship) until the day after the Natty.

No coaches shall leave their teams unless they are terminated until after the Natty. They will remain with and continue coaching their team through their bowl game, assuming they are in one.

Transfer portal will not open until after the Natty for a period of two weeks.

Any player leaving his team via portal or opt out before their bowl game will forfeit that fall semester scholly and the proportionate amount of NIL dollars they have received.

Student athletes will only be allowed to use the portal one time during their college career. If they transfer a second time, they will have to sit out a year as was required in the past.

Any schools caught tampering with other schools players will be severely fined and will not be allowed to participate in the postseason. Public shaming in the town square might be in order too.

Under no circumstances will any student athlete be allowed to have more than five years of eligibility. Military service is the only exception on a case by case basis. No more seven-year-wonders.

Oh, and ESPN shall not be permitted to control the narrative on college football or the playoff selection 🙂.

There, so it is written, so it shall be done! 

Ginger: The Texas State Bobcats. The Cats played Rice in the First Responder Bowl in Dallas, TX, at SMU’s Gerald J. Ford Stadium. Two points of badassery: 1) the Bobcats stayed almost entirely intact with no portal departures or opt-outs. This bowl game meant something to them and to their fans. They ended up winning the game over the studious Rice Owls by a sizable margin of victory, 45-21. 2) The stadium ran out of beer in the third quarter. It is believed that the rabid Texas State fans were responsible for this draining of the golden beverage. This is an impressive feat and deserves to be rewarded. So, for those two reasons, I award the coveted Ginger to the Texas State team and their fan base. Well done,  Bobcat nation!

Next up: I will be on the couch for the two Nattys this weekend, being served libations and snacks by my adoring harem.