What we liked, what we didn’t like about the New Year’s Eve bowls

The calendar’s officially switched over to 2015 and what other way to bring in the new year than with the New Year’s Six bowls.

Yesterday’s action featured a number of marquee matchups in the Peach, Fiesta and Orange Bowls as the SEC struggled through both of its bowl games en route to two shocking defeats.

Here’s what we liked and what we didn’t like from yesterday’s bowl games on New Year’s Eve.

What we liked

• Tim Tebow calling his shots — Say what you will about Tebow as a NFL player or his throwing motion, but in his first stint as a color commentator in the broadcast booth of yesterday’s Peach Bowl, Tebow shined. In addition to providing some sound analysis, he looked particularly smart on two separate occasions when he called a double-pass touchdown before it happened and then foreseeing a Bo Wallace INT as the play began to unfold. Tebow proved he knows his stuff and should be a solid addition as an analyst in the future.
• Success of running the football — SEC fans everywhere respect a strong running game. It’s the kind of physical football that’s made the SEC so talented and tough. And the New Year’s Eve bowls featured a lot of great rushing performances, even if they weren’t from any of the SEC schools. Boise State’s Jay Ajayi ran over Arizona for 134 yards and three touchdowns, while GT was dominant as a team with its triple-option offense, recording 452 yards rushing against Mississippi State.
• Dak Prescott’s impressive Orange Bowl performance — Although Mississippi State didn’t win the Orange Bowl, one of the stars of the SEC throughout the season, quarterback Dak Prescott, didn’t disappoint Wednesday night. The dual-threat quarterback was surprisingly deadly through the air, passing for 453 yards and three touchdowns against Georgia Tech. Add in his rushing numbers and Prescott totaled 500 yards of offense and four total touchdowns. Not bad for a one-time Heisman Trophy candidate.

What we didn’t like

• Where was the state of Mississippi? — All season long, Ole Miss and Mississippi State’s impressive runs provided some of the best story lines of the college football season. Yet, both the Rebels and Bulldogs didn’t perform very well in their respective bowl games. Ole Miss looked much worse than Mississippi State, losing 42-3 to TCU in a downright embarrassing performance. MSU was competitive against Georgia Tech, but the vaunted Bulldogs’ defense struggled mightily against GT’s triple-option offense. The result? A disappointing 49-34 loss to the Jackets and a overall disappointing day for the state of Mississippi and the SEC.
• Timing of Peach Bowl — I completely understand that with the rotation of the bowls, it probably made the most sense to have the Peach Bowl at 12:30 p.m., considering the other bowls slated for the same day. However, easily the most entertaining matchup of the day, prior to kickoff, was the Peach Bowl between Ole Miss and TCU. In the future, it would be great to see a matchup like this scheduled closer to primetime since New Year’s Eve is still considered a normal work day for many people.
• Bad Bo — As productive of a career that Bo Wallace had during his time at Ole Miss, it’s unfortunate to see it come to an end in the manner that it did. Credit the TCU defense for overwhelming Wallace and the Ole Miss offense for virtually the entire game. Wallace had a great career for the Rebels, but he could never shake the stigma of “Good Bo, Bad Bo” and for a quality quarterback like Wallace, it’s tough for a 103-yard, three-interception game to be possibly the lasting impression of his collegiate career.

Drew Laing

Drew Laing will be providing analysis and insight on Florida, Georgia, Missouri and South Carolina.