The Legacy of Tyler Kozlov

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Two weeks ago, calling for Alabama to be in the national championship seemed to be a joke at best. On the wrong side of a list of several undefeated teams that just didn't appear to have any shot of being toppled. Than Oregon fell in a game that almost no one expected them to in the worst possible way, that was one domino that needed to go. In that same week the Louisville Cardinals just couldn't muster up enough offense to stave off defeat and got rolled over.

This week it was the Florida State Seminoles who fell to a barely bowl eligible Florida Gator squad in it's biggest rivalry game of the year, in what would've virtually sealed their ticket to the national championship game. UL-Lafayette skyrocketed up the rankings and some wondered if the Sunbelt program would get the go ahead, before a one loss Alabama squad but those questions were answered this week when the Tide who knocked off their heated rival in Auburn take over the #2 spot and are primed for yet another championship run under Nick Saban.

Without a doubt in the minds of any, the Bowling Green Falcons will represent the West division in the MAC while the Northern Illinois Huskies will return for yet another year as the two teams have become repeat contenders for the MAC Throne. The West was a wasteland of talent this year, only the Falcons are bowl eligible and across the entire conference it was a struggle.

Top recruit Chris Massey has forgone his top choice to remain in state, he has signed his letter of intent to play for the Florida Gators. This is a significant step in the right direction for a team that hasn't had much to benefit from in recent years. The LSU Tigers are extremely close to signing the #2 nationally ranked half back which would give them the #1 and #2 halfbacks in the nation, if the Tigers came into this season wanting to infuse the halfback position with talent, they have succeeded in the grandest way possible. J.J. Porter remains an outlier as he hasn't decided where he plans to play college ball but insiders do expect that the Rutgers Scarlet Knights will win his signature, with visits off the board, if he is going to sign with Rutgers, it will be in the coming week.

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Zips round out their class with a few more players

The season may be over for the Zips but they still hit the recruiting trail hard and with the final week of regular season recruiting in the books, the Zips managed to get five more players, four three stars and one [one] star. Starting from the top.

Jeff Parker comes out as a junior college prospect from Kenner Louisiana. Parker has tremendous speed and decent strength for a wide receiver prospect. Parker could figure into the starting line up depending on how the wide receiving corp shapes up next year, but there isn't much guarantees for that. This team will likely have virtually every position open for a competition come spring practice.

Tra Ingram hails from Montreal Canada and has excellent speed out of the halfback position. The team signed Damion Bain early in the year and added Ingram as they look to fortify their halfback position with more young talent. Ingram is a speedy back that has a solid frame.

Wesley Taylor will be another junior college transfer, coming from Ithaca, New York, Taylor will be expected to fill in from day one. The cornerback position was a major weakness for the Zips this season and Taylor presents a tremendous upgrade at the position while younger talent develops.

Adding to a weak secondary, Bubba Clayton hails from Jacksonville, Illinois and will play the strong safety position. Clayton wasn't highly recruited as he was a low ranked prospect but his major ability lies in delivering hits, a strong player that has a bench comparable to some linemen will likely see playing time down the road for Tyler Kozlov.

Finally, Geoffrey Byers will be leaving Michigan to head to Ohio. The Middle Linebacker is another player that has a high amount of strength but lacks in other departments. Byers will be expected to end up being a CJ Mizell replacement, but he won't be one next year. He is extremely raw and a poor coverage linebacker.

These recruits continue to give Tyler Kozlov the foundation he needs to build his team and with the green light from the athletic director to get his guys in, Kozlov has been doing just that. He has done a tremendous job bringing in new talent and next year we will begin to see the rewards that this offers the program.

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Week 15 Wrapup

With the majority of the teams done, a few geared up for their conference championship while the conferences without a championship game played out their final game. The biggest news of the week is that there will be no BCS Buster this season. The Ragin' Cajuns took a bad loss to the South Alabama Jaguars and find themselves around the bottom of the top 25 after spending several weeks at the top. They will likely figure into the Go Daddy.com bowl as the Sunbelt champion but this loss has to sting a team that could've been in the running for a national title game.

This opens up the B1G and SEC championships to have title implications. It's hard to suggest that either Ohio State or Alabama losing wouldn't open the door for either Michigan State or UCLA. It's possible for Michigan State to leapfrog UCLA into the NCG. If both teams lose, there could be quite a lot of intrigue heading into the BCS selections.

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Conference Championship Week

Winding through yet another week of College Football, it was time for the Conference Champions to be declared and in what ultimately become an uneventful week of blowouts, there was a completely new landscape for the championship game.

Starting out in the ACC, the Virginia Tech Hokies took on the Florida State Seminoles in what ended up being a defensive slugfest that had NFL prospect, Jameis Winston struggling mightily, the quarterback tossed two interceptions and no touchdowns while his counterpart Michael Brewer had a single touchdown despite two interceptions as the Hokies utilized a strong ground game to churn out most of the field. The Hokies capitalized on an ailing Seminole squad who has now lost two straight.

In the Big Ten, it was the Wisconsin Badgers who absolutely destroyed the Ohio State Buckeyes in a 41-17 rout that virtually no one expected. Many expected these two teams to meet for the championship in Indianapolis, yet many expected that the Buckeyes would win handily, but between Melvin Gordon (118 yards 1 TD) and Corey Clement (178 yards 2 TD), the Badgers dominated the Buckeyes.

Jumping to the Conference USA, the ranked Marshall Thundering Herd dismantled the North Texas Mean Green. No one expected this one to be close given the talent disparity in the conference and with Rakeem Cato throwing four touchdown passes, it's not hard to tell why this team won. The Mean Green offense only had 148 yards of offense in this one.

In the MAC, the Huskies picked up a crucial victory by staving off the Bowling Green State Falcons, including a pick six by Anthony Brooks in the final frame to ice the Falcons. The Huskies win yet another conference championship and it has pundits wondering if or when this team will move to a stronger conference.

In the Mountain West, it was Fresno State stunning the Colorado State Rams to claim the Mountain West title. Garrett Grayson threw for 300 yards and two touchdowns, both in the final quarter, but it couldn't lead them past Brandon Connette and the Bulldogs. Connette, a Duke transfer threw for 238 yards and four touchdowns.

In the Pacific 12, the Oregon Ducks looked to claim a second victory over the Bruins but without Marcus Mariota in the lineup, the Ducks posed no threat. The offense couldn't stay on the field, Brett Hundley tossed a pair of touchdowns while halfback Jordon James added a pair on the ground in the Bruins rout that sees them take the #2 spot in the final rankings and a birth into the national championship.

Finally in the SEC, the Alabama Crimson Tide were given a career performance by Blake Sims who tossed for nearly 500 yards and four touchdowns to power the Crimson Tide past the Bulldogs. Todd Gurley had 148 rushing yards and a pair of score but falling behind early took away that dimension from their offense.

With the conference championship games squared away, the national title game was set. Alabama Crimson Tide, UCLA Bruins.

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A look at the first half of the College Football Bowl Schedule : Part 1

The regular season is over and for many teams, it opens up a post season slate that will offer an opportunity for many teams to get a final opportunity to leave their mark on the history books. The first half of games has a few exciting games to look at.

Starting in the Las Vegas Bowl, Colorado State made a late push at the polls but fell just short in the Mountain West Championship. They are still ranked, have a NFL caliber quarterback and a good season behind them. Can they close it out on a high note with a victory over the Arizona State Sun Devils? The Devils had an up and down season before finishing with a good enough record to keep them in the Top 25 discussion.

Rutgers and Northern Illinois will face off in the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl and this will be an interesting matchup between Mid-Major squads that could also feature one of these teams making a final attempt at luring a bid to a bigger conference this offseason. Northern Illinois had a rocky start to their season but tightened it up to claim another MAC Championship, they'd love to continue their winning ways with a victory over the Scarlet Knights.

In the Russell Athletic Bowl, two triple option squads will face off in Army and Georgia Tech. Army had a historic season by their standards and finished the season well above expectations with a tremendous 9-3 record. Georgia Tech had another strong season for them, but when it came to the ACC, they were on the outside looking in come Conference Championship time. The Yellow Jackets want to prove they are the class of the option squads while Army just wants to cement this season in the history books.

Kansas blew past expectations this season, their squad was expected to win 3 or 4 games but ended up with 8 as they were competitive in a Big 12 that capitalized on beating eachother down. The Jayhawks success this season likely won't be long lived, but capping it off with a victory over Oregon State would be a sweet ending to this short lived saga.

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Bowl Games Preview Part 2

Rounding out the final non-BCS games of the year, the eyes will be fixed on the Big Ten matchups with the SEC. High profile matchups featuring Texas A&M against Minnesota in the Gator Bowl; Auburn and the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Capital One Bowl; Ole Miss and Nebraska in the Outback Bowl will round out the games to watch.

Texas A&M will have their hands full as they try to slow down Minnesota's top rated ground attack which is spearheaded by David Cobb, who fell out of the heisman race at the very end up still put up huge numbers. The Aggies rush defense ranks as #34 in the land and they will have to find a way to slow down Cobb and the Golden Gophers.

Traveling to the Outback Bowl, the Cornhuskers finished towards the bottom in the league for pass offense, but had a top 15 rush offense, while the Mississippi Rebels struggle at defending the run. It's an interesting mashup as both teams weaknesses is the oppositions strength, there could be fireworks in this one, and it could end up being a high scoring game. Mississippi will however have to figure out Nebraska's #2 ranked pass defense to escape with the win here.

Finally in the Capital One Bowl, it's two teams that could've been playing eachother in the national championship. This is a consolation prize for both squads but expect both to come out firing to leave it all out on the field. Auburn lost in the Iron Bowl which freed the way for the Crimson Tide to claim the victory, the SEC and a national championship birth. Ohio State got routed by the Wisconsin Badgers in their rematch and just looked terrible all around, this team will be looking to make everyone remember their 12 victories, rather than their one loss.

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BCS Bowl Preview

Finally, it comes down to the final bowl games that are the goal of every team at the top of season, the BCS Bowls. Quite a few interesting matchups to be had. Including a Rose Bowl without a Pacific 12 or Big Ten squad. Yes that would be correct, there wasn't either squad involved in the Rose Bowl with UCLA jumping to the National Championship.

In the Rose Bowl the ACC Champion in the Virginia Tech Hokies will take on the Big 12 regular season champion, the Baylor Bears. Neither team had quite the season they wanted to, with Baylor dipping out of the national championship race early and Virginia Tech seeing any climb up the polls being met with a loss. Yet, when it came down to it, these two teams grinded out what they had to and made it to the BCS Bowls. It's a fitting end that two teams that had to grind out every victory would meet each other and now it comes down to Frank Beamer vs. Art Briles for the Rose Bowl, when these teams collide in Pasadena, there will be sparks. Expect a low scoring, but high hitting performance from both squads.

Traveling out to the Fiesta Bowl, the Fighting Irish spearheaded by Heisman candidate, Everett Golson will take on the Oregon Ducks. The Ducks have fallen apart with the injury to their star quarterback, Marcus Mariota. Mariota who missed their final regular season game and their conference championship is expected to return for their bowl game in what will undoubtedly be the biggest headline from this one. Will Mariota rebound his Ducks from a two game losing streak to secure their BCS victory over the Irish?

In the Sugar Bowl, the Big Ten champion Wisconsin Badgers face off against the American champion in the Louisville Cardinals. The Badgers routed the Ohio State Buckeyes to earn a birth to the Sugar Bowl after claiming their conference title over the Buckeyes in a stunning fashion. The Cardinals closed out their season with a much needed victory after a tough loss knocked them out of national championship contention. The Badgers ground game will headline once again and if the Cardinals defense isn't ready for it, another rout will be on the books.

Finally, in the Orange Bowl, in what could be the best matchup of the entire bowl season outside of the national championship, the #3 Michigan State Spartans will battle the #4 Mississippi State Bulldogs in a game that will be watched nationwide. The Spartans missed the conference championship game which likely could've vaulted them into the national championship but earned an at large bid to attend this one, just as the Bulldogs did. The Bulldogs had an ugly loss to the Crimson Tide which had many calling the team overrated, but Dak Prescott turned the program around, throwing just 2 interceptions the rest of the season from that loss as the Bulldogs leapt out to a strong finish. Connor Cook versus Dak Prescott will be an interesting matchup to watch for.

Than it's down to the national championship game, where the Alabama Crimson Tide cruise in as the top ranked team in the country thanks to a severe domino effect that saw the Tide go from "outside looking in" to top dog in a matter of two weeks. UCLA was partially responsible for the havoc, and capitalized on their Pacific 12 performance to earn themselves a shot at winning their first national championship since the 1950's. The Tide are no strangers to the spotlight following their signing of Nick Saban and the team will look to claim yet another national title for their program.

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Bowl Wrap-Up Part 1

The Bowl Season has ended but it had it's own shar eof fireworks with some teams outperforming while others underperformed. Breaking down the recap into three separate parts, the opening part will focus on the opening bowl games. The opening week saw the midmajor teams fall across the board.

North Texas after getting destroyed by the Marshall Thundering Herd rebounded to knock off the UL-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns by scoring 14 unanswered through the end of the third quarter to steal this victory. North Texas was certainly Mean, causing three turnovers to the Sunbelt Champions.

In the Rutgers and Northern Illinois game, the score wasn't close and the Scarlet Knights put the final punctuation on the Huskies season. The Huskies scored early and fast, scoring all 14 in the first six minutes of the game before allowing 34 straight across the remaining nine minutes of the quarter and the final three quarters. Rutgers was making a power play to motivate J.J. Porter to head to New Jersey, and this would be a good case.

Finally, the Army Black Knights who had caused a few upsets of their own this season couldn't even stay on the field with the Yellow Jackets. The Yellow Jackets destroyed the Army Black Knights in the Russell Athletic bowl, Georgia Tech piled up almost 400 rushing yards while allowing just 119 to an option squad. A tremendous performance from the ACC club.

In the best game of the first week, the Oregon State Beavers utilized strong defense to come away with a 7-16 victory over the Kansas Jayhawks. Causing a pair of interceptions and their kicker being perfect 3-3 from the field for the Beavers would be enough to allow them to walk away with the victory in this one.

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TCU Upsets Bulldogs in Part 2 of Bowl action

Three touchdown favorites coming into their bowl game to losing by a touchdown has the TCU Horned Frog emerging victorious over the Georgia Bulldogs in a victory that almost no one aside from TCU faithful had expected. Texas Christian spent all season underachieving and they only managed to barely sneak their way into a bowl game before finally upsetting the Georgia Bulldogs, making some wonder just how strong the Big 12 conference actually was. The TCU defense shut down Todd Gurley who had only 68 yards and a touchdown, a far cry from his season average which sits above 100.

A mid-major finally bested a major program by the Marshall Thundering Herd upsetting the ranked Florida Gators in the Liberty Bowl. Rakeem Cato tossed three touchdowns and the Marshall defense locked down an anemic Gator offense to send the Herd home with a crucial victory in this one. Marshall is another team that could be aiming towards a bigger conference next season.

Texas A&M managed to hold the league leading rushing offense to just a little over 100 yards in this one, with David Cobb accounting for 73, the Gopher's offense only managed one touchdown in this one, while the Aggie's pair of touchdown passes would be enough to will them past the Gophers.

Ole Miss managed to hold off Nebraska. The Rebels had Bo Wallace toss a pair of touchdowns in the fourth quarter to boost the Rebels beyond the Cornhuskers. The Cornhuskers forced a pair of interceptions and had three rushing touchdowns to capitalize on the Rebels mistakes, but the Rebels defense ultimately shut the Huskers down when it mattered.

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Alabama brings home another championship

Alabama brings home another championship to the state of Alabama, behind a smothering defense that allowed four field goals and just a single touchdown pass. Blake Sims had two touchdown passes and a touchdown rush as he earned MVP honors in the championship game. Sims has had an uneventful tenure in Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide quarterback never received much fanfare but he joins an elite list of players that get to claim a national title on their resume.

Sims was nearly perfect in this one, tossing for 289 yards, a pair of touchdowns, rushing for 54 more yards and another touchdown while throwing at an almost 70% rate. It was a huge performance for a player that has decided to elevate his performance when his team needed it the most. Sims had a huge performance against the Auburn Tigers, Georgia Bulldogs and finally the UCLA Bruins to earn his ring.

The Crimson Tide now claim 16 national titles, this being the fourth under head coach Nick Saban. "It's a tremendous accomplishment for these boys to come in and continue to play at such a high level. I pick from the best and I make sure the best are out there performing at their best and they gave me all that I could ask for and more. It's a perfect continuity of the team and the championships will keep coming in!" Spoke Nick Saban to the assembled press following the game.

In The Rose Bowl, what was predicted to be a low scoring game, ended up having some of the highest scoring in the BCS Bowls. Josh Stanford, the troubled recruit who has spent time off the team made a huge statement for his team, by catching nine passes for 113 yards and a pair of touchdowns to lead the Virginia Tech Hokies past the Baylor Bears in this BCS Matchup.

Marcus Mariota came back in a huge fashion, tossing a pair of touchdowns and running for another as the Ducks bested the Fighting Irish in the Fiesta Bowl. "It felt good. I wanted to be out there the past few games and haven't been able to, we proved we earned our place with this win." Spoke Marcus Mariota following the game. The Ducks end their season with 11 wins, both losses coming without their top quarterback being available.

Melvin Gordon would run all over the Louisville defense, piling up 147 rushing yards and a touchdown as the Wisconsin Badgers eclipsed the Cardinals of Louisville for a 23-16 victory that brings another BCS trophy back to Wisconsin. Wisconsin has quickly established itself to be among the class of the B1G and this is just another milestone for the program. They will likely find themselves competing once again next year for a potential spot in the championship game. Even with Melvin Gordon graduating this season.

Finally in the Orange Bowl. The Michigan State Spartans silenced all their critics by routing the Mississippi State Bulldogs, Dak Prescott was rendered entirely ineffective while Connor Cook threw three touchdowns to lead his Spartans. The Sparty's were definitely partying after this one, and the B1G can celebrate a pair of BCS victories for their programs.

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Mid-American Conference Wrap-Up

Conference Champions

Northern Illinois Huskies

Vern Smith Leadership Award

Travis Green (HB) Bowling Green State Falcons

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@TheIowaHawkeyes AD announced that Kirk Ferentz is out as head coach of the Iowa Hawkeyes following 3-9 season #Timetolook #Goodluck

@BYUCougars Bronco Mendenhall announced in a joint conference that he will not be next season for BYU #longtimecoach

@Calathletics Sonny Dyes fired after another poor season #greenerpastures #timeforachange

@BCBuzztap Latest news is that Steve Addazio was last seen cleaning out his office; likely fired from Boston College

@UtahAthletics Kyle Whittingham out as head coach. Whittingham spent past 21 years in Utah

@Illinoisbuzztap Tim Beckman out in Champaign, team sources quiet

@UKAthletics Mark Stoops and the University of Kentucky have decided to part ways