Coaching for Pizza: Let the Sugar Bowl Hype Begin!

Mon. & Tues., December 4-5, 2023

These two days have been full of all sorts of hype on the internet about the Huskies win over Oregon in the final PAC-12 Championship Game and the upcoming CFP Semi-Final contest against Texas in the Sugar Bowl.

Disturbingly, I have also begun hearing voices in my head when no one is in the room or on my morning walks.

As I walked serenely on Monday

looking at all of the neighborhood's

Christmas decorations . . .

. . . out of nowhere I heard someone

whisper this in my ear

The wind must have been playing

tricks with me so I moved on

After attending the Boston College at

Army game in October, this has become

an even bigger game for grandson Jacob

It will be MUST WATCH TV for us on Saturday for sure.

Then there was the bombardment

of internet news about the Huskies

In case you are living in a cave or have been incommunicado for the past few days, the 13-0, PAC-12 Champion University of Washington Huskies will be playing the 12-1, BIG-XII Champion University of Texas Longhorns on January 1, 2024 in New Orleans, Louisiana in the Allstate Sugar Bowl.

Furthermore . . .

. . . Husky QB Michael Penix, Jr.

is one of the four players invited

to New York for the Heisman Trophy

presentation this coming Saturday

The four Heisman Trophy Finalists are . . .

To quote SEC Commissioner

Greg Sankey's Sesame Street reference,

"One of these things is not like the others."

Only one of them plays for a conference championship team.

Only one of them plays for a team with a 13-0 record.

Only one of them plays for a team in the College Football Playoff.

All three are allusions to the same player, you guessed it . . .

. . . UW's record setting QB

Michael Penix, Jr.

TRUE!

Besides leading the Dawgs to a 13-0 record in 2023, he is 25-2 in his two years as the UW's starting QB.

Why is my head buzzing?

Are you remotely aware, that the

Huskies are the final football

Champions in PAC-12 history and . . .

. . . that we'll be looking to BBQ up

some delicious Longhorn beef ribs

on Bourbon Street for New Year's Day?

The PAC-12 announced their post season awards today, many Huskies were honored.

Coach DeBoer richly deserved this

honor for the second consecutive season

Four First Teamers but . . .

Another voice upset my

stream of consciousness

This is getting bothersome and annoying!

But not as bothersome and annoying as noticing that on the PAC-12's All-Conference list . . .

. . . Heisman Trophy Finalist

Michael Penix, Jr. was NOT

on the First Team

Oregon QB Bo Nix, another Heisman Trophy Finalist, was not only named as the Pac-12's First Team QB, he was also named the conference's 2023 Offensive Player of the Year award.

Six more EXCELLENT Huskies

In keeping with the Cardiac Huskies "the sum is greater than its parts" kind of nail biting season, other than Coach DeBoer, no Husky won a 2023 PAC-12 Conference major award.

UCLA's Defensive Lineman Laiatu Latu was named the Defensive Player of the Year.

Arizona QB Noah Fifita was awarded Freshman Offensive Player of the Year honors.

The Freshman Defensive Player of the Year was California's Linebacker Cade Uluave.

Additionally, while eight 13-0 Huskies were named to the First and Second All-PAC-12 teams, 11-2 (a.k.a, 11 and Washington) Oregon had nine and 8-4 Oregon State had ten!

Still, the UW is in the CFP while

Oregon and Oregon State are not

The voices in my head tell my head that the Huskies are playing Texas . . .

. . . then they whispered something

about lunch I think

The UW announcemed on Monday

that the Football Program hired

Courtney Morgan as General Manager

Truth be told, UW football is now much more of a corporate entity than a collegiate extracurricular activity than it has ever been.

More bodiless voices

with subliminal messages . . .

. . . about the Huskies and my

dietary habits came into my head

By the way, I loved my one visit to Oslo years ago.

I knew that they were good, progressive people.

The now complete 2023 Bowl Schedule

Some good ones and a lot of "who cares" are on this list.

Now, HERE is a Bowl Game for you!

The Japanese College National Championship Game, the 78th Mainichi Bowl, will be played between Hosei University and Kasai Gakuin University on Sunday, December 17th at 1:05 p.m. in the city of Nishinomiya's Hanshin Koshien Stadium.

Hosei University has won five of these National Championship Mainichi Bowls, their most recent having been in 2006.

Kasai Gakuin University is the Alabama of Japan's collegiate football world with a mind boggling 33 National Championship cups in their trophy cases. They have won this bowl game and the accompanying National Championship in ten of the last twelve seasons!

Was that really Laurie's voice

whispering to me these last two days?

This Rose Bowl game in Pasadena

should be mildly of interest

Here is my problem with the current bowl game/money grab system currently in place at the collegiate level.

A total of 537 scholarship football

players entered the Transfer Portal

on Monday when it opened

Listed above in entering the Transfer Portal are many of 2023 college football's top QBs.

Then, of course, there are players

opting out of bowl games to save

themselves for the NFL Draft

It all makes it hard for me to want to pay the money for travel, hotel, tickets and meals for a few days at a bowl when the product on the field becomes so iffy.

While I have always enjoyed the trips over the years to San Diego for the Holiday Bowl (#15 Louisville 10-3 vs. USC 7-5) or to Nevada for the Las Vegas Bowl (Northwestern 7-5 vs. Utah 8-4), I just don't know about going to those games this bowl season.