In another fine day of bowl games with big names in them, Notre Dame beat LSU in the Music City Bowl making it a little bit less depressing of a season, Georgia got their happy ending by crushing Louisville in the Belk Bowl while Stanford made mince meat of Maryland, supposedly a Big Ten but it’s hard to think of them as one at this point.
Music City Bowl – Despite the terrible finish to the regular season, Notre Dame fans have something to smile about, which is a 31-28 bowl game win. Any time an SEC team loses, the mood around the United States except for the south seems to brighten. It was a late field goal by Kyle Brindza with time expiring that gave the Fighting Irish the win, playing with both Everett Golson and Malik Zaire at quarterbacks.
Belk Bowl – Not all SEC teams messed up, and Georgia, the actual best team in the SEC East, had no problem beating Louisville 37-14 behind a huge day from Nick Chubb, rushing for 266 yards and two touchdowns, capping off an incredible season for him as the Freshman ran for 1281 yards and 12 touchdowns, making the most of Todd Gurley missing quite a lot of games. Despite the disappointing losses this season, Mark Richt has another 10-win season.
Foster Farms Bowl – It’s hard to think of Maryland as a Big Ten team, but losing in a bowl game fits the mold. Stanford ran all over the Terps with a 45-21 win, getting a very accurate day from Kevin Hogan (14-of-20, 189 yards, 2 touchdowns) while the running game, with nine different players carrying the ball, gaining 206 yards. Maryland were held to just 17 rushing yards, with quarterback C.J. Brown spending most of the evening running away from a relentless pass rush.