Bowl Year’s Day Live Blog

NOTE: time stamps are PST.

New Year’s Day Observed brings with it the full slate of Jan. 1 bowl games: Ticket City, Outback, Capital One, Gator, Fiesta and Rose. Should be a great day of football. Leave your thoughts and comments below, as SaturdayBlitz.com journals the day’s action.

8:21 a.m.

Six football games on the horizon, it’s Christmas come late. The GameDay crew is live from Pasadena on the Rose Bowl Stadium field talking the Penn State coaching search. With everyone and his brother saying Penn State needs to deviate from any and all connections to Joe Paterno, Lee Corso suggests…Tom Bradley. He then follows up with Tom O’Brien and Frank Solich, both of whom have been successful but would be nothing more than transitional coaches given their ages (O’Brien is 63, Solich is 67).

Then again, a transitional coach might be the answer to alleviate some of the “toxic” talk surrounding the program while shoring up the staff for the next 10-15 years. Thoughts?

8:34 a.m.

Got a good chuckle out of this tweet from Eleven Warriors / EDSBS’s Luke Zimmerman.

8:41 a.m.

Nick Saban will make more in bowl incentives than I have netted in my entire life. #SadFace

8:53 a.m.

Did Todd McShay refer to the Wisconsin offense, one of the five highest scoring units in college football, as “conservative?” Well alright then.

9:07 a.m.

Russell Wilson led Wisconsin to the Rose Bowl, kicking off this afternoon. Had Tom O’Brien not opted to go with Mike Glennon at quarterback, Wilson would not have been Russell’n in Madison. But the Pack finished 8-5, Belk Bowl winners and has its QB of the future. Year 2 of Team Speed Kills had a great breakdown of the Wilson-O’Brien situation I recommend everyone read.

9:11 a.m.

Houston on 3rd and 15 not far beyond the 50-yard line scores on the Penn State defense; took less than two minutes for the Cougars to draw first blood on the Nittany Lions. Not a good sign for the PSU offense, which absolutely cannot play catch-up on the Cougars.

9:29 a.m.

Now ahead 10-0, Houston’s defense is shutting out the Penn State running game. UH was No. 78 in the Bowl Subdivision stopping the rush (over 171 yards per game), in the C-USA West where running the ball is almost an afterthought. Things could get real ugly for the Nittany Lions in Dallas.

9:31 a.m.

GameDay continues on ESPN while the Ticket City Bowl is on ESPNU. AlligatorArmy.com’s Twitter quotes Lee Corso, and it’s pretty spot-on.

Brantley played for Steve Addazio, who seemed much more comfortable using Chester Stewart and Chris Coyer at Temple, both of whom fit his vision for an offense more than Brantley. Charlie Weis came as off completely disinterested and unprepared.

9:39 a.m.

ESPN plugs it Sunday Night ACC basketball schedule on The U, which was previously FOX Sports’ ACC Sunday Night.

“You get to the chance to see Duke three times!” That’s roughly equivalent to a restaurant plugging free glasses of water as a selling point.

9:43 a.m.

“Official” Twitter accounts are typically as excitingly bland as fat free cottage cheese, but whoever operates the Capital One Bowl’s account deserves credit for tweets like this:

10:00 a.m.

So Ryan Gosling is apparently a coordinator at Houston (credit @AlyssaGutten)

10:10 a.m.

At the same time the Gator Bowl starts with a penalty, Justin Brown of Penn State has the craziest return-to-the-house I have witnessed this season turned back at the 33-yard line. Both seem all too apropos.

10:13 a.m.

Devon Smith’s 43-yard grab the first sign of offensive life Penn State has shown. I can’t help but wonder if Rob Bolden had his eyes shut and fingers crossed while that ball was in mid-air.

10:17 a.m.

A pair of two-point plays in two different bowl games, almost simultaneously. South Carolina returns a blocked Nebraska extra point, and Georgia swarming Kirk Cousins. Time for the Safety Dance!

10:33 a.m.

USC may not be bowling, but the Trojans make an appearance at the Ticket City Bowl.

10:48 a.m.

A 24-7 deficit should be seen as a minor win for Penn State, given how heartily Case Keenum went to work on the Nittany Lion secondary:

11:01 a.m.

Florida’s 14-7 lead on Ohio State with 11 minutes left in the second quarter brings to mind an interesting point. OSU was one of the 27 best defenses in the country in points surrendered, and Florida’s offense struggled mightily after September. So why are the Gators so much more successful today than the past three months?

11:15 a.m.

#BoldenArmPunt

The bright side of Rob Bolden throwing an intercepted bomb is Houston has 95 yards ahead of it. Of course, that could just mean more stats for Keenum to pad.

11:18 a.m.

Dr. Pepper 10 touts itself as “it’s not for woman.” I’m not 100 percent certain, but when X-X-chromosomes indulge in the beverage, I believe it goes something like this:

11:27 a.m.

South HAMolina: Connor Shaw to Alshon Jeffrey puts South Carolina ahead at the half, putting the Big Ten in an 0-4 hole early.

11:38 a.m.

Justin Brown on a very un-Bolden-like strike makes up for his called-back punt return touchdown. Penn State is not quite out of this game yet.

11:40 a.m.

If Michigan State goes 10-2 next season, I don’t blame Mark Dantonio for passing on the bowl invitation.

11:52 a.m.

Missed field goal for Nebraska after getting a first-and-goal at the South Carolina 3-yard line. The Huskers had a dubious three-play stand against the Gamecock front. If Jim Delany wasn’t going to the Scotch previously, I wouldn’t blame him if he is now.

12:03 p.m.

Interesting situation developing: rumors of Nebraska offensive linemen “revolting” over the play calling. A situation worth following, see how this develops and if there’s any legs to it.