It has been a great ride. How many games I have picked over the years and how much fun it has been is something I will one day behind the scenes run the numbers on.
If you have read these pages with any regularity I thank you. I have enjoyed it.
I love college football. Pro Football is fun. I like the Canadian Football League. Some of their players make less money than I do! The NFL is a come and go for me. One day I hope to find a player to root for. My motivation, I have said it before, is about the player in the NFL. Ken Anderson. Peyton Manning. Eli Manning. For forty years I rooted for three teams.
I love college football. I know, I have already said that. I must admit I am scared about the prospects of the horizon that is college football today. It makes me sad. The NIL and the portal have made college players semi-pro players and they are being paid as such. I don’t have much time for it.
What I do have time for, before we get to the bowl picks, is a look a some days of football past from the speaktherights.com archives.
Watching the New Hampshire Wildcats against the Rhode Island Rams in 2011.
Hearing Rocky Top TOO MANY TIMES against Ole Miss in 2012.
Taking my Dad to see Notre Dame vs. BYU in the last game played on grass at Notre Dame Stadium. That was so much fun.
Marshall hosting West Virginia in 2010. Largest crowd ever for a Marshall home game.
Ole Miss at Wake Forest in 2008. Hurricane Hannah put 12 inches of rain on Greensboro just down the road.
The Rebels at Vandy in 2014.
Heading to Neyland Stadium in 2016.
And it was so much fun. Thank you, Bob Biddle.
A dream realized. Taking my Dad to see a game at The Rose Bowl in 2016. These gals RAN out to have their picture taken with him. I will never be that lucky.
!
I have seen hundreds of NCAA FBS games. Nothing has meant more than watching two games in the Rose Bowl Stadium. USC vs. UCLA.
Watching the 2016 Big Ten Championship was good fun!
Yes indeed!
Indiana vs. Rutgers 2017
A little personal time swinging my leg in The Rose Bowl Stadium. I didn’t miss. I sometimes close my eyes and think about this day. It still is hard to process. My best memory of spending time on the field of The Rose Bowl was not my kicking. It was when I was throwing the football with my dear wife, Carrie. I said, “Where you just caught that pass is where Terry Bradshaw hit John Stallworth with a long pass in Super Bowl XIV. Carrie immediately threw the ball down and said, “I’m done!” Had I kept my mouth shut, we might still be there!
Marshall vs. Louisiana Tech in 2019. Our last game before Covid.
Michigan and IU in 2019. Good times!
Watching the Hoosiers at Iowa in 2021. DISASTER!
From the Press Box in 2022. Indiana spelled out before beating Idaho.
NOW IN TO THE Bowl PICKS…Part I
Bahamas Bowl…Miami, OH beats UAB. I know this a long shot.
Cure Bowl…UTSA beat Troy. UTSA has an offense!
Fenway Bowl…Louisville beats Cincinnati. Why not? This will be fun.
Las Vegas Bowl…Florida beats Oregon State…Gators for sure.
LA Bowl…Washington State beats Fresno St...Mike Leach. Need I say more?
Lending Tree Bowl... Talk about lame bowl names…Southern Miss beats Rice. My Dad is an USM grad. Have to pick them, regardless of Brett Favre.
New Mexico Bowl…SMU beats BYU and this may be one of the more exciting matchups.
Frisco Bowl…Boise State beats North Texas...Frisco Bowl indeed. What sounds good about this?
Myrtle Beach Bowl…Marshall beats UConn. Go Herd!
Idaho Potato Bowl…San Jose State beats Eastern Michigan. Sounds like a game for the Minnesota State Screaming Eagles to me.
Boca Raton Bowl…Liberty beats Toledo without Coach Freeze. He thawed his career out and left for Auburn.
New Orleans Bowl…South Alabama beats Western Kentucky…The Jags are mighty close to home.
Armed Forces Bowl…Baylor beats Air Force…Both have a great deal to prove. Should be a good one. I say GO AIR FORCE!!!!
We will catch up with rest of the bowl games this weekend as we wind this down.
Speaking the rights…Danny Johnson