For the fourth straight year, News-Herald sports editor Mark Podolski joins the show to talk bowl games. The slate is a little lackluster this year, so The Nail’s traditional New Year’s Six preview is getting trimmed down to only the games anyone actually cares about – the College Football Playoff semifinals (Clemson vs. Notre Dame and Alabama vs. Oklahoma) and Ohio State’s surprisingly rare Rose Bowl appearance. Is another Alabama-Clemson championship game inevitable? Does Washington stand a chance in Urban Meyer’s last game on the Buckeyes’ sideline? And is it surprising that Dwayne Haskins is actually playing on New Year’s Day?
The College Football Playoff pairings were released on Sunday, and despite winning the Big Ten championship, the Ohio State Buckeyes were left out of the national title picture. Instead, they’re headed to the Cotton Bowl to face USC. The guys welcome Josh Poloha of Waiting For Next Year to figure out how Alabama moved up into the fourth playoff spot without playing in a conference title game, whether OSU ever had a realistic chance at getting in after all, and whether factors that weren’t supposed to matter – the potential for Clemson-Alabama III vs. a rematch of last year’s Clemson-Ohio State blowout, the Big Ten’s recent playoff history – actually played a role in determining this year’s field.
News-Herald sports editor Mark Podolski joins us for a marathon edition of the show as we preview the New Year’s Six college football bowl games. Will Ohio State be motivated for its Fiesta Bowl matchup with Notre Dame? Is there a better setting in sports than the Rose Bowl? Is Alabama living off its reputation at this point or is the Tide dynasty still alive? What were the organizers of this thing thinking by allowing the semifinals to be played on New Year’s Eve? Will there be any reason to watch the Peach Bowl at noon on New Year’s Eve or the Sugar Bowl in primetime on New Year’s Day? (Spoiler: Sure, it’s still college football.)
