03/28/2024
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By Sonny Jones

Last week was the appetizer for college football fans. This week is the main course capped by Saturday’s entreé with the College Football Playoff semifinal games.

Bowl Mania, as ESPN dubs it, for real.

It begins with Monday’s Quick Lane Bowl between New Mexico State and Bowling Green, a match-up between a pair of 6-6 teams, and ends Saturday’s with the second CFP semifinal game between top-ranked Georgia and Ohio State in the Peach Bowl. There are 19 games in between. Toss in four games on Jan. 2 and the national championship game Jan. 9.

In total, 43 college football games in less than a month. Yes, there’s too many bowl games and too many 6-6 teams which makes too many games insignificant. Aside from the three playoff games, the other 40 games are little more than glorified practice games for coaches and fun trips for players.

There are some interesting match-ups this week involving North Carolina-based teams.
• Tuesday, Coastal Carolina (9-3) vs. East Carolina (7-5), 6:45 p.m., ESPN
• Wednesday, Duke (8-4) vs. Central Florida (9-4), 2 p.m., ESPN
• Wednesday, North Carolina (9-4) vs. Oregon (9-3), 8 p.m., FOX
• Friday, N.C. State (8-4) vs. Maryland (7-5), noon, ESPN

Thus far, I’ve watched all 17 bowl games played, nine live and eight streamed. Should I be proud or ashamed? It’s going to be a challenge to watch the remaining 26, but I’m going to give it the old college try.

Shout out to Elizabethtown’s Larrell Murchison for his two-sack, four-tackle performance Sunday for the Los Angeles Rams in a 51-14 win against the Denver Broncos. The former N.C. State defensive lineman twice sacked former N.C. State quarterback Russell Wilson. So happy for Larrell getting the opportunity and seizing it. He’s the easiest professional athlete to pull for.

Murchison Has Two Sacks As LA Rams Trounce Denver Broncos 51-14

TODAY IN SPORTS HISTORY

• 1908 — Jack Johnson becomes the first black man to win the world heavyweight boxing title, with a 14th-round knockout of Tommy Burns in Sydney, Australia.

POTATO PICKS TO WATCH TODAY

• SOCCER: Tottenham Hotspur at Brentford, 7:30 p.m., USA

• SOCCER: Newcastle United at Leicester City, 10 a.m., USA

• SOCCER: Liverpool at Aston Villa, 12:30 p.m., USA

• QUICK LANE BOWL: New Mexico St. vs. Bowling Green, 2:30 p.m.

• HOCKEY: World Juniors – United States vs. Latvia, 4 p.m., NHLN

• NBA: Brooklyn at Cleveland, 7 p.m., NBATV

• NFL: L.A. Chargers at Indianapolis, 8:15 p.m., ESPN

Sonny Jones can be reached at wibbyj@gmail.com.

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