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The Weekly Scoreboard: The Ballad of Rich Rod

Recapping the first round of bowl games.

By Eric Murtaugh
USA TODAY Sports

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Bowl season.

So many important games. So many fans eagerly sitting by the television waiting to watch the action.

Not really, but I have to sell this somehow.

Our top picks for week 1 of bowl season go to averagegatsby and WorstRayEver who both went 4-0.

IrishColts17 is our new leader overall.

RECAP:

1) Nevada 48 at Arizona 49

Winner: Nevada (+9.5)

25% picked correctly

I turned the channel when Nevada was trying to run out the clock to set up a field goal to go up by 13 with under two minutes left. I was watching Notre Dame basketball doing work when the game-ending highlights for this game came on and I was like...

Don't ever count out Rich Rod.

However, is Rodriguez ever going to be able to reinvent himself? Or rather, can he get a team to play defense other than against Big East competition?

I don't even know how this is possible but this was the SIXTH game of the season that Arizona gave up at least 600 YARDS. They gave up 400 yards to every BCS team they played except Washington.

2) Toledo 15 at Utah State 41

Winner: Utah State (-10.5)

72% picked correctly

What a season for Utah State finishing at 11-2 with two razor thin close losses to Wisconsin and BYU.

Interesting fit for the Badgers now that they take Utah State head coach Gary Andersen as their own.

3) San Diego State 6 at BYU 23

Winner: BYU (-2.5)

81% picked correctly

So, BYU linebacker Kyle Van Noy had a pretty good game.

Good thing too because the Cougars offense was abysmal.

This was the sixth team this year that BYU held without a touchdown too. To put things in to perspective, according to the FEI rankings, BYU would have been the 3rd toughest defense Alabama would have faced this year.

Remember our offense isn't good even though we ran for 270 yards and 6.48 yards per play with our backup quarterback against the Cougars.

4) Ball State 17 at UCF 38

Winner: UCF (-7.5)

28% picked correctly

Ball State continues their winless streak in bowl games, now 0-6 all-time. Weird too because Brady Hoke coached there!

This was George O'Leary's third 10+ win season at UCF, although he's still only 5 games over .500 for his career down in Florida.

Enjoy the next week of bowl games.

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