#HLSBets College Football Bowl Wrap-Up and CFB Awards
Welcome back to #HLSBets on HLS Entertainment! Today we are going to be recapping not just college football bowl season but the entire season on a whole as well! Before we get started, please be sure to follow me on Twitter @HaroldLStokes and if you are wanting in on the National Championship Bonus Sheet hit my dm there! On my Twitter is where I post public #HLSBets gambling sheets and is the best place to reach me about joining the Bonus Sheet or if you just want to chat football, movies or comics!
How crazy has this wild wacky year been for us to still end up with Alabama and Georgia facing off once again for a National Championship? Georgia has been the premiere favorite all season long putting up a historically great defensive season while still being top 10 in offensive scoring with 39 points per game! Meanwhile Alabama coming into the season was still expected to be a great team, but even the craziest of Alabama fans will tell you (I've talked to many) this was just supposed to be a rebuilding year. The worst part is they are just happy to be in the National Title and are treating this just like a sweet bonus. If they annoy you too much just bring up the fact that if they do win, Saban is more than likely leaning towards retirement because he will have passed their legendary coach Paul "Bear" Bryant in total national championships. Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh just proved everyone wrong finally getting over the Ohio State hump, winning the Big Ten and making it to the College Football Playoffs. Yes, they got run off the field by Georgia, but we really cannot undersell the achievements the Wolverines had this season. Speaking of not underselling accomplishments, Cincinatti was just the first Group of Five team to make it to ANY playoff or official championship game in the history of college football, bravo. Do I still hate most of your fans for being unsufferable online? Of course, but that is what college football is all about, fans being blinded by their love for their teams and yelling until they are blue in the face to defend them. Need to make people think you actually watched all the bowl games at your National Championship watch party? On to the bowl season rundown!
Bowl season kicked off with an exciting fourth quarter where Middle Tennessee scored 17 points to win 31-24 over Toledo in the Bahamas Bowl. Coastal Carolina almost let their great season slip away from them but scored two late fourth quarter touchdowns on bombs from Grayson McCall to win 47-41 over Northern Illinois. Western Kentucky's historic offense continued its run with their 59-38 win over Appalachian State in the Boca Bowl. Fresno State beat UTEP 31-24 for their fourth 10+ win season since 2013. UAB stunned everyone beating UAB in the Independence bowl 31-28 on a late TD pass from Hopkins.
Eastern Michigan was walloped by Liberty 20-56 with big play after big play just raining down from that Liberty offense. In one of the most boring games of the year Utah State improved to 11 wins after beating Oregon State 24-13. Louisiana went into the New Orleans bowl without their head coach and came out improved to 13-1 with their 36-21 win over Marshall. Tulsa beat Old Dominion 30-17 in Myrtle Beach. Wyoming won a shootout on Boise's blue turf over Kent State 52-38 where there was 31 points scored in the fourth. In the battle of underappreciated team San Diego State beat 12-win UTSA 38-24 to improve to 12 wins themselves.
Missouri continues to be the red headed stepchild of the SEC losing to now 9-4 Army24-22. A game with a silent second half resulted in Miami Ohio beating North Texas 27-14. Florida is spiraling the drain this season finally hit rock bottom losing to UCF 17-29. On Christmas day we were blessed with a 51-20 offensive showcase from Georgia State over Ball State. We received a very similar game a few days later with Western Michigan beating Nevada 52-24 in the Quick Lane Bowl. Houston capped off their incredible 12-2 year beating Auburn 17-13 putting Auburn below .500 for the first time since 2012. Troy Calhoun clinched his fourth double digit season since taking over with the win over Louisville 31-28.
Mike Leach did not get his revenge on Texas Tech as the Red Raiders stomped Mississippi State 34-7. In one of the ugliest scores you will ever see West Virginia fell to Minnesota 6-18, I want to give props to the Gophers for putting together a sneaky 9-win season after all seemed to be lost. Coach Locksley and the Maryland Terps put down a beating on Virginia Tech 54-10. In a matchup some (not me) thought could have been a potential playoff matchup in the preseason, Clemson snuck their way to win number 10 beating Iowa State 20-13. In a game that looked like a complete blowout Oregon fought back to make their loss to Oklahoma look respectable but still fell short 32-47.
In a matchup that SADLY is not a yearly occurrence South Carolina beat North Carolina 38-21 finishing a very disappointing season for the Tar Heels. Okay, let us all be honest with each other here Tennessee was absolutely screwed by the refs in their 45-48 loss to Purdue, proud of them for not throwing mustard bottles and golf balls this time. In one of my favorite matchups of bowl season Michigan State beat Pitt in the Chik-fil-A bowl 31-21 in the game of no star players. Wisconsin took on Arizona State in the "teams we thought were going to be much better bowl", where the badgers took home the W 20-13.
New Year's Eve rolled around to give us some incredible games, kicked off by Rutgers filling in the slot for the Gator Bowl only to get ran over by Wake Forest 38-10. Washington State vs Central Michigan was a tale of two halves, but Washington State could not do enough in the second and lost 21-24. I was looking forward to the Barstool Bowl being right here, mainly because the broadcast would be our first non-PG official football national broadcast maybe ever, maybe next year. Cincy crumbled against Alabama 6-27, but props to them for slowly down Bryce Young. Georgia had a get right game against Michigan and returned to their dominant form winning 34-11.
In another Big Ten v SEC matchup Arkansas beat Penn State 24-10 in the Outback Bowl. We had a premiere matchup in the Fiesta Bowl between Oklahoma State and Notre Dame, just before halftime the Cowboys started their 30 unanswered point run until Notre Dame finally scored again with one minute remaining in the 4th, but it was too late, 37-35 Cowboys. SEC v Big Ten round 4, Iowa faced off with Kentucky but fell short giving up a TD run with 1 minute remaining. In probably the wildest game of bowl season Ohio State barley came back to win over Utah 48-45 on a field goal in the final seconds of the game. Sadly, the Sugar Bowl took a turn when Matt Corral was injured early in the 2nd quarter, Ole Miss just had nothing on offense for the incredible Baylor defense after that and they ended up losing 7-21. You have to imagine that score looks different with Matt Corral, but it is not like they were burning up the scoreboard before that. And finally in the game absolutely nobody talked about aside from a Brain Kelly booth interview, Kansas State beatdown LSU 42-20. Seriously why was this game on January 4th?
Penultimate #HLSBets Top 25
1. Alabama 13-1 (LW1) W 27-6 Cincy
2. Georgia 13-1 (LW2) W 34-11 Michigan
3. Baylor 12-2 (LW6) W 21-7 Ole Miss
4. Michigan 12-2 (LW3) L 11-34 Georgia
5. Ohio State 11-2 (LW7) W 48-45 Utah
6. Oklahoma State 12-2 (LW9) W 37-35 Notre Dame
7. Cincinatti 13-1 (LW4) L 6-27 Alabama
8. Michigan State 11-2 (LW10) W 31-21 Pitt
9. Notre Dame 11-2 (LW5) L 35-37 Oklahoma State
10.Oklahoma 11-2 (LW14) W 47-32 Oregon
11. Kentucky 10-3 (LW18) W 20-17 Iowa
12. Clemson 10-3 (LW13) W 20-13 Iowa State
13.Houston 12-2 (LW22) W 17-13 Auburn
14.Ole Miss 10-3 (LW8) L 7-21 Baylor
15. Pitt 11-3 (LW11) L 21-31 Michigan State
16. NC State 9-3 (LW17) Bowl Canceled
17. Utah 9-5 (LW15) L 45-48 Ohio State
18. Louisiana 13-1 (LW19) W 36-21 Marshall
19. Oregon 10-5 (LW16) L 32-47 Oklahoma
20. Wake Forest 11-3 (LW21) W 38-10 Rutgers
21. Arkansas 9-4 (LW25) W 24-10 Penn State
22. Texas A&M 8-4 (LW24) Bowl Canceled
23. UAB 9-4 (LWNR) W 31-28 BYU
24. BYU 10-3 (LW12) L 28-31 UAB
25. San Diego State 12-2 (LWNR) W 38-24 UTSA
Honorable Mentions
UTSA 12-2
Western Kentucky 9-5
App State 10-4
Army 9-4
UCF 9-4
Team That Overachieved the Most
Michigan State WINNER
Alabama
Pitt
The Spartans had a win total betting line of 4.5 wins going into this season. They are by far the team the overachieved the most this season. 11 wins and a running back that wowed the nation and was the Heisman favorite at one time, this team deserves all the praise they can get. Incredible job Coach Tucker.
It feels dumb to put Alabama on this list but this team deserevs some shine, no they did not have a 4.5 projected win total like the Spartans theirs was 11.5 but this team was expected to have many issues and not make the playoffs. Smart money always backs Nick Saban, but this roster has over performed by a mile. Specifically, the defense, this has to be one of the biggest jumps in quality of defense ever going from the worst Nick Saban has ever had to somehow a top 15 scoring defense.
Pitt's gigantic surge this season beat their projected win total of 7 by 4 games as Kenny Pickett exploded this season dragging them all the way to the Peach Bowl.
Best Player That Nobody Knows About
Bailey Zappe - QB Western Kentucky WINNER
5967 Passing Yards (1464 more than B. Young) 62 Passing Touchdowns (16 more than B. Young)
EASILY the walk away winner here, numbers speak for themselves, but I felt like these players below deserves special shoutouts as well!
Jerreth Sterns - WR Western Kentucky
150 Catches (45 more than 2nd place) 1902 Receiving Yards (198 more than 2nd place) 17 Receiving TDs (tied for 1st)
Lew Nichols III - RB Central Michigan
1848 Rushing Yards (leads the nation) 16 Rushing Touchdowns
Rasheen Ali - RB Marshall
1401 Rushing Yards 23 Rushing Touchdowns (tied for the national leader)
Andre Carter II - OLB Army
44 Total Tackles 4 Forced Fumbles 1 Blocked Kick 2 Pass Deflections and 15.5 Sacks (2nd in the nation)
Steven Jones Jr. - DB App State
5 Interceptions with 3 of them being returned for touchdowns leading the nation
I Texted All of My Friends and Asked Who is the Most Overrated Player in the Country Award
This Award is exactly how it sounds, I texted a wide range of college football fans, some coaches, some staffers, some well-informed fans, some not so well-informed fans, some wildly biased, some levelheaded, everyone had an opinion.
1 Vote
CJ Stroud Ohio State
Adrian Martinez Nebraska
Sam Howell North Carolina
Kayvon Thibodeaux Oregon
Christian Harris Alabama
Brock Purdy Iowa State
I love the vote for CJ Stroud based off we all knew all season he was the weak spot on the offense. Adrian Martinez getting a vote feels petty and based off people just continuously over hyping the program thinking they will ever return to glory. Sam Howell just had a disappointing season after having playoff aspiration yet again. Thibodeaux is a weird one that I totally get but if you go look at his numbers, he actually had a pretty decent season, even though it was not some incredible year he still had career high tackles and double-digit tackles for a loss. Christian Harris getting named as a semifinalist for the Butkus Award was an Alabama bias joke of a choice. And finally, Brock Purdy is just a victim of too much Iowa State hype.
2 Votes
JT Daniels Georgia
Jordan Davis Georgia
Bo Nix Auburn
Caleb Willaims Oklahoma
I get it, but wholly disagree with the JT Daniels votes, he clearly was the better passer and if Georgia ends up losing questions will be raised. Jordan Davis was exposed in the SEC Championship game, hard to play big DT's when the offense moves the pocket. Bo Nix votes just feel like SEC fans piling on, I feel like we all knew he sucked this year. Caleb Williams is an excellent choice, he got so over hyped so fast, it was ridiculous when people tried to put him in the Heisman race.
4 Votes
DJ Uiagalelei Clemson
Man, I just do not know what happened to the Clemson offense this year. DJ had a REALLY poor year when you look at his numbers, (2246 yards, 9 TDs, 10 INTs, on 55.6% through the air) he absolutely deserves to be here after being a Heisman favorite.
5 Votes
Aidan Hutchinson Michigan
This us that is solely off Heisman votes. It was a joke and a sham that this man finished second in the Heisman, and it is very telling that he was not a finalist for neither the Bednarik nor the Nagurski which is awarded for the top defensive players in the country.
8 Votes
Spencer Rattler Oklahoma WINNER/LOSER?
And the runaway winner is Spencer Rattler, the man who started this season as a Heisman favorite and ended up losing his starting job and transferred away from Oklahoma. Here's to wishing him the best in South Carolina.
Best Player in 2021
Bryce Young
Usually this would be a final award on a list like this, but Bryce seriously is so far ahead of anyone who could come close to his accomplishments this season his numerous awards and stats speak for themselves. Hats off to this sophomore, it is exciting to think we get watch him for at least one more season in college.
Best Team in 2021
This is about to be decided tonight! Check back this week for the Final #HLSBets Top 25 and my recap of the National Championship game! Follow me on Twitter @HaroldLStokes and live tweet the game with me under the #HLSBets
