No losing teams in this year’s bowls
Buckeyes’ Meyer fumes over incident
There will be more bowl eligible teams than needed this year.
Louisiana Tech became the 78th bowl-eligible team when it beat UT San Antonio 20-6 on Saturday night. Temple, Duke, Middle Tennessee and Purdue also became bowl eligible.
There are spots for 78 FBS teams in bowls this season, and Colorado (5-6) and Utah (5-6) were still playing late Saturday night, with the winner of that game set to become eligible.
Next week, Florida State (5-6), New Mexico State (5-6) and UL Lafayette (5-6) can become bowl eligible with victories, so there could be a handful of eligible teams that don’t get to play on.
Thus, there will be no 5-7 bowl teams this season. In fact, there could be as many as 82 teams with six wins and only 78 spots. Clearly, we need more bowls.
Mad, mad, mad
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Ohio State quarterback J.T. Barrett said he was simply trying to warm up, throwing some passes behind the sideline, when someone made contact with him and aggravated an injury.
Barrett left the game in the third quarter, limping off the field because his right knee was hurting. Dwayne Haskins relieved Barrett and helped lead the eighth-ranked Buckeyes to a 31-20 victory against Michigan on Saturday.
Ohio State coach Urban Meyer was livid after the game and called for an investigation.
“Too many people on the sideline,” Meyer said. “I’m so angry right now.”
Barrett said his knee twisted when someone tried to squeeze by him and it aggravated a problem he has been playing with all season.
“He was close to our bench,” he said.
The injury did not keep him from starting, but after a run in the third quarter he stayed down on the field and grabbed his right knee. He limped off the field and toward the locker room.
Barrett was 3-of-8 for 30 yards with a touchdown and ran 15 times for 67 yards and another score. He went out with Michigan leading 20-14 in the third.
The senior said he’ll play in next week’s Big Ten championship game against No. 5 Wisconsin, hoping to help the Buckeyes win and perhaps earn a spot in the College Football Playoff.
While Barrett was relatively calm about the contact, which he didn’t think was intentional, Meyer was clearly angry and wanted more information about what happened.
“It’s an all-out investigation,” he said.
Unheralded stars
■ Ben Hicks, SMU, threw for 375 yards and four TDs, and the Mustangs needed a goal-line stand in the closing seconds to edge Tulane 41-38.
■ Kyle Shurmur, Vanderbilt, threw four TD passes as the Commodores defeated Tennessee 42-24.
■ AJ Dillon, Boston College, rushed for 193 yards and three TDs in a 42-14 win over Syracuse.
■ Demario Richard, Arizona State, ran for 165 yards and two TDs to help the Sun Devils rally for a 42-30 victory over rival Arizona.
■ Jalin Moore, Appalachian State, ran for 239 yards and a score in a 31-10 victory over Georgia State.
■ Nic Smith, North Texas, rushed for a career-high 178 yards and a score, and the Mean Green warmed up for the Conference USA championship game with a 30-14 victory over Rice.
■ Nyheim Hines, North Carolina State, rushed for a career-best 196 yards and two TDs to help the Wolfpack beat UNC 33-21.