Pat Dooley’s Back Nine: An Enjoyable Bowl Season

The Back Nine comes at you after a wonderful holiday season and a wild and crazy bowl season:

10. Which, of course, is still ongoing. It feels like we have already seen it all during the bowls and now we settle in for the next round of the playoffs. Let’s all have a snort and hope for good games in the quarterfinals. Those play-in games were dogs. But the home fields are over. Arizona State is hosting a game, but playing in Atlanta. Hey, college football doesn’t have to make sense. If you want fair, wait for it to come to town with the Bearded Lady and rickety Ferris wheels.

11. While I am looking forward to the next round of the playoffs, I have thoroughly enjoyed the bowl season so far. I say this every year, there are NOT TOO MANY BOWL GAMES. This isn’t A Clockwork Orange where they are forcing you to watch by prying your eyelids open. It’s just there if you want it. I will say that the matchups have been diluted because 12 teams were busy trying to win a national title. But it does seem weird that you can lose in the playoffs before Christmas and not have another bowl game to fall back on.

12. There has been a lot of talk about players opting out or — as in the case of Cam Ward — abandoning their team after setting a record before the half. Malik Nabers did the same thing last year. That’s a coach’s decision as much as anything, because he is the one allowing the player to make that decision. Some coaches are OK with you being in the portal and playing, others tell you not to let the door hit you in the butt on the way out. But I have still enjoyed watching a ton of games even with the key pieces missing some of these games.

13. I keep hearing this tired preaching about how we need to get players to sign agreements that they will play in the bowls as part of their NIL deals. OK, if all of the Power 4 want to do that, it’s great, but that won’t happen. Maybe another tired take — Nick Saban for commish — will happen, but I don’t think so. Little Nicky loves his gig and don’t forget that he got out, because the sport is a mess for old coaches and perhaps the last thing he wants to do is make rulings on NIL cases and portal decisions.

14. Anyway, let’s get through all of this fun before we start thinking about next year. But I did have a dream where Florida was lining up with a Wilson (Tre) on one side of the ball and another (Dallas) on the other and I started to get fired up.

15. Dr. Football was served a big heaping helping of humble pie last week when I was dumb enough to wager my fake money on bowl games before I knew who would show up. The result was a dismal 1-4 record to make The Picks 43-37-1 for the season. Still have the head above water, but not by much. On to the next round of the playoffs:

• Penn State is an 11-point favorite against Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl, which sounds like the spread of a bad bowl game. I think it will be as the Nittanies cover and advance.
• Texas is favored by 13 against Arizona State in the Peach and I’m sticking with my preseason pick of the Horns Down for the national title. I do not, however, think they cover so give me the Fighting Skattebos.
• Ohio State is a 2.5-point favorite in the Rose Bowl in what should be — but probably won’t be — the best game of the four CFP. All I can think of when I see that Oregon logo is the commercial where the guy brings duck to cook at the tailgate. I want to take Oregon so badly, but I will fall in line with everyone who thinks the Buckies of the postseason are the real ones instead of the imposters who showed up against Michigan. OSU covers.
• In the final game on the night Wednesday, Georgia is favored by a single point against Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl and I can hear Kirby right now playing the disrespect card because of his lost quarterback. This is a rare time when I will root for the Irish, but the luck will not be enough as Georgia finds a way to win.

16. Like many of you, I am finding this version of the Florida basketball team incredibly fun to watch. What’s not to like about 13-0? Of course, now we head into the SEC starting with an 11 a.m. game on Saturday at Kentucky, then the No. 1 team in the country coming to Gainesville on the following Tuesday. Buckle up, Dooley Nation, this is going to get good. The Gators are still No. 4 in the NET if you’re keeping score at home.

17. So, here is a stat I found interesting from the NFL. This is the first time in the history of the league that four rookies reached 1,000 yards receiving. And all of them are from the SEC. Steve Spurrier should be proud because he changed the SEC from a grinding league to an innovative one in the 1990s.

18. Now that I have been able to survive another year of the same Christmas songs played over and over again, I’m going to do something different. Over the next three Back Nine columns, I will list my 10 favorite groups right now. Don’t @ me because these are mine, not necessarily the 10 best of all time. We start at the bottom of the top:

• 10. Death Cab For Cutie – favorite song “I Will Follow You into the Dark.”
• 9. Bee Gees (especially before the disco phase) – Fave is “Fanny (Be Tender with My Love).
• 8. Arcade Fire – Fave is “The Lightning, Parts I and II.”

Next up – 5 through 7. I know you can’t wait.

WRUF.com sports columnist Pat Dooley can be heard on “The Tailgate” along with Jeff Cardozo from 4-6 p.m. Monday-Friday on 98.1-FM/AM-850 WRUF.