Quarterback Connor Bazelak kept going and going after leaving Mizzou

Yesterday’s Missouri quarterback still quit this season. After his three years in Boone County, he spent the 2022 campaign in Indiana before moving on to Bowling Green for two seasons.

Bazelak squeezed every last bit out of his college career. He carried the ball 353 times this season and completed 237 passes for 2,654 yards and 15 touchdowns.

He completed 32-of-49 passes for 390 yards and three TDs in the Ventures Bowl on Thursday. Bazelak located tight end Harold Fannin Jr. 17 times in this game for 213 yards and a touchdown.

Alas, it wasn’t enough as Bowling Green fell to Arkansas State 38-31 in Bazelak’s collegiate farewell.

It was just one of three entertaining bowl games on the day after Christmas. They were smaller bowls, yes, but they offered a welcome respite for sports fans tiring of family time.

Kansas State rallied for a 44-41 victory over Rutgers in the Rate Bowl by staying in character. The Wildcats totaled 340 yards rushing to wear down the Scarlet Knights – and they scored 27 second points during their epic comeback.

Pittsburgh was down to its fourth- and fifth-string quarterbacks thanks to an injury to starter Eli Holstein and the loss of two backups to the transfer portal. But the Panthers hung tough against Toledo during their mentally draining six-overtime (!) 48-46 loss in the GameAbove Bowl.

“It felt like we were going to win the game three or four times today, but we’re so proud of this team.” Toledo coach Jason Candle said. “To hang in and keep fighting like we did today, we were able to go with the emotional swings during the game.

“It was a sloppy game at times, but I’m proud of our response. Ultimately, today’s game was defined by who made the last play and who hit the last shot.”

Here’s what people are writing about college football:

Chuck Culpepper, Washington Post: “In Texas’ 38-24 victory, Clemson might have benefited from the little dirt involved in a dud as it climbed from a 31-10 deficit to a 31-24 mild curiosity early in the fourth quarter. Two plays from scrimmage after it did, Texas had stretched its advantage to the final margin on Jaydon Blue’s 77-yard run, which restored the game with his dud-hood before Clemson took on a trip to the Texas 1-yard line before a fourth-down stop with 7:24 left made the dud-hood mildly moot and left the weekend with Notre Dame’s 27-17 dud over Indiana, which stood at 27-3 with four minutes left, Penn State’s 38-10 dud over SMU, which was up 38-3 with three minutes left, Texas’ dud or near-dud over Clemson and Ohio State’s 42-17 dud over Tennessee that was 42-10 with three minutes left and served as a competitive dud, even though Ohio State played great. someone snoozing in Austin, either out of boredom or another agent.”

Ross Dellenger, Yahoo! Sport: “Despite being ranked No. 9 and No. 12 by the CFP selection committee, the Broncos and Sun Devils were seeded No. 3 and No. 4 as required by a format rule designating the four highest-ranked conference champions as seeds Nos. 1 -4 and recipients of a first-round bye.In this year’s playoff, the rule has resulted in odd seeding and bracketing.For example, Ohio State, which is ranked at sixth by the committee, seeded at No. 8 and now faces No. 1 seed Oregon in a quarterfinal game. ASU and Boise State, better seeds than Texas and Penn State, were ranked No. 3 and No. 4, but seeded fifth and sixth.The conference championship seeding rule—and the 12-team format in general—was intended for a world that contained five somewhat fair power conferences and not the current four-odd league landscape.. The recent conference realignment strengthened the Big Ten and the SEC as it absorbed former marks from the Pac-12 (USC, Oregon and Washington).

Matt Hayes, USA Today: “We don’t have to wait for those running the CFP – the reactionary revolutionaries that they are – to figure out what’s wrong with the new 12-team format. It’s not that hard to understand. When the two championship game losers of the two strongest conferences in the sport get an easier playoff path than the champions of those conferences, it’s time to change.. As three teams (Indiana, SMU, Tennessee) that didn’t deserve to be in the field, got summarily blown out in the first round, it’s time to change Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Hayes plan to fix Ferrari: Eliminate the top seed for automatic qualification after the first round. And for the love of all things pigskin, strength of schedule must be weighted heavily in the selection process.”

Steve Muench, ESPN.com: “As talented as (Alabama quarterback Jalen) Milroe is as a rusher, he’s been far more productive with run-design quarterback runs than he’s tried this season. He averages 9.6 yards per carry. scramble, but he has only scrambled 20 times. But Milroe is averaging 5.7 yards on 114 carries with 20 touchdowns. Expect Michigan defensive coordinator Wink Martindale to have a plan to defend these designed runs much like Oklahoma did late in the year when Milroe was held to a season-low 9 rushing yards on 13 attempts. But Milroe will still have to play with his feet against the Wolverines. He should be more aggressive when he gets the opportunity to scramble, stick the ball and run when his first or second read isn’t there.”

Shehan Jeyarajah, CBSSports.com: “(Boise State running back Ashton) Jeanty might have lost the Heisman Trophy to Travis Hunter, but no one else in the CFP compares. The junior from Frisco, Texas, sits more than 800 yards ahead of any other running back in college football after posting one of the greatest running back seasons in history.With a strong performance against Penn State, Jeanty has a chance to break the all-time rushing record set by Barry Sanders in 1988. Incidentally, Jeanty was a explosive pass-catcher for the Broncos in 2023, finishing with 569 yards and five touchdowns. Don’t be surprised to see that part of his game come out.”

“We’re not stupid. We know if a guy like Luke Hasz walks out the door, it’s going to mean something. Hell, it meant something to us, too. It meant something to him, too. It was very difficult for him and his family. But the decisions have to be about the team. It can’t just be about the individual. All I’m going to ask is that they be patient to see during the next one week and a half (to) see if we get out of the portal what I think we can get. If we do, I think they’ll be very excited about it.”

Arkansas coach Sam Pittman is suffering major hits on the transfer portal.