:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/48492529/GettyImages-503120320.0.jpg)
Thus ends another bowl season, and up until the end, it was a pretty lackluster bowl season. Yes, we know there is still one more game left, but it's officially not labeled a bowl, and it's still a week away, so we're issuing our Cobs now.
In fact, the fact that, up until the end, the bowls as a whole were Cob worthy...so let's start there:
Bowl Season
There were some pretty good games the day after Christmas: Indiana and Duke going to overtime in Yankee Stadium, Virginia Tech and Tulsa combining for 107 points in Shreveport, and the Huskers running all over UCLA, of course. After that? Well, a bunch of crap...at least until most people started to head to bed each night. The Holiday Bowl had a great finish (or so I read - I admit I went to bed in the third quarter), and Saturday night's final two games were ridiculous. Oregon blew a 31 point halftime lead in the Alamo Bowl, and then there was the Cactus Bowl:
The Cactus Bowl featured this ridiculous catch last night (via @smartfootball): https://t.co/SXl7MmuBJ6 https://t.co/osedvpuGG8
— SB Nation (@SBNation) January 3, 2016
WVU beat Arizona State 43-42 in the Motel 6 Cactus Bowl, and it was about as weird as you could want https://t.co/1l67Vo7kpm
— Chris B. Brown (@smartfootball) January 3, 2016
But other than that, we had boring blowout after boring blowout. Yes, Tennessee, Clemson, Alabama, Stanford, and Ole' Miss. We saw you, and wished we could have looked at something else.
To no one's surprise, it has been the most lopsided bowl season in at least 15 years (graphic from @wsjsports) pic.twitter.com/8MeIPYQJMO
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) January 4, 2016
ACC Referees
We're still trying to figure out that "targeting" call on Nebraska's Nathan Gerry. About the only explanation is that the shoulder is part of the "neck area" - at least in the opinion of this officiating crew. Or at least some members of the officiating crew; side judge Angie Bartis clearly disagreed with the call after he watched it on the stadium jumbotron.
As did just about everybody else who was watching the game.
College Football Playoff Leaders
The braintrust of college football seemed convinced that Americans would change their New Years Eve plans and take vacation time to ensure that they didn't miss this year's playoff, since the Rose Bowel and Sugar Bowl couldn't be bumped from their January 1st time slots.
It didn't happen. Ratings for the playoff semifinals were down 36% and 13% for the two days of bowls. But hey, streaming was up 55% as fans traded in their 55" set in their living room for a choppy feed on their 5" phone.
Just like we said would happen.
Iowa
The Iowa I expected in my 2015 preview made it's debut at the Rose Bowl. Christian McCaffery went 75 yards on the opening play of the game, and 11 seconds later, it was game over.
Cinderella's carriage turned back into a pumpkin at the stroke of midnight, New Years Eve...and at last report, was being pushed east through Utah by this guy:
