Music City/Orange Bowl Open Thread

Submitted by ThadMattasagoblin on December 30th, 2023 at 3:33 PM

The earlier thread had the Penn State game but we need a thread for the Music City Bowl and Orange Bowl. Auburn is getting destroyed and that is the team that was pushing Alabama around. 

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TacoLivesOn

December 30th, 2023 at 5:20 PM ^

Ohio was missing their All-American WR and extremely good starting QB.  And QB2 hurt in 2nd Q.  Only surprise there was QB3 couldn’t make anything happen. 

PSU apparently was down both of their starting CB’s so not surprising their defense couldn’t hold up. 

Also Maryland is absolutely blasting Auburn.

So I don’t see any B1G problem.

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Medic

December 30th, 2023 at 5:13 PM ^

Good points. I do not understand how some fans are not contextualizing these games. 

'OSU lost'. Well yeah they lost the guy who took 99% of snaps at QB this year, their Heisman finalist WR and they had to patchwork the OL for two starters who opted out AND missing some key personnel on D as well. 

'PSU lost'. Well yeah they were missing their all world DBs and world destroyer DE. Ole Miss was off to the races from the get go because they were covering some absolute dudes with true freshman. 

These games outside of the playoff give little to no indication of conference strength or weakness because of the folks sitting out. Georgia is absolutely ham blasting FSU. Any reason? At all? Any key personnel missing perhaps?

Joined: 10/24/2008

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mgoblue78

December 30th, 2023 at 4:14 PM ^

Good ol' Thorne. You can take a Sparty out of East Lansing, but you can't take the Sparty out of him...or something like that. Alabama needed a freaking miracle to beat these guys? I'm feeling more confident.

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Clarence Boddicker

December 30th, 2023 at 4:33 PM ^

They pay off the Seminole Tribe of Florida. They also offer a scholarship to a Seminole student to be the mascot. So a real Seminole now rides Osceola and plants the spear which wasn't the case for a long time. They redid the Seminole head because the previous profile belonged, I believe, to a former (non-Seminole) music director. In fairness to the program, Seminoles apparently love the mascot and root for the team in significant numbers, though it does give fans a license to do offensive redface get-ups along with the chop and the chant.

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M-Dog

December 30th, 2023 at 4:21 PM ^

Why did so many FSU players opt out of the Orange Bowl, against Georgia no less? 

This was their perfect chance to prove their point against the top of the SEC.  It's not like this is some minor bowl on a Tuesday night.

Are they all that mercenary?

 

 

Joined: 07/06/2008

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stephenrjking

December 30th, 2023 at 4:27 PM ^

Heartbreak, I think. Didn't Norvell say they were struggling with the fallout a couple weeks after?

You get heartbreak like that, then a couple guys opt out, and it snowballs. 

One of the reasons bowls have become kind of random in outcome is because the paradigm has changed with programs and their mental states. You have guys transferring now and opting out to go pro. It's not like in the Lloyd era where it became a normal part of the end of the season with whomever was on the team when the season finished.

I don't know that there's any one scenario that explains how every team responds. OSU had a couple key transfers but just one opt-out... and yet their offense collapsed. Auburn had a heartbreaking loss to their archrival, but looked really good... and they look like trash today against a team whose long-time all-conference QB isn't playing. 

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Avery Queen

December 31st, 2023 at 12:15 AM ^

I just don't understand this argument. The Iron Bowl is one of the biggest rivalries in all of college sports. Auburn upset Alabama at Jordan Hare in 2017 & 2019, and very upset Alabama in 2021 (it took a 97-yard TD drive from Chase Young for Bama to escape), You really think that Alabama (with its BCS hopes on the line) was not taking the game seriously???? 

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