By Mike Luce

Winners, Losers, Covers, Pushes, Overs, Unders, Best Dressed, Worst Buffet, Bowls You Didn’t Know Existed, Bowls You Knew Existed But Had Forgotten, Most Obscure, Weirdest Sponsor, Best Destination, Worst Destination, Least Interesting, Best Match-Up, Awesomest Mascot, And The Debut Of The College Football Report Imaginary Bowl Game Series, Or The CFRIBGS As We Like To Call It.
Brace yourself. There are more than 30 bowls this year. To spare you, and to pace ourselves, we will space out the preview across several columns in the coming weeks. This edition covers the first round of games in what we’re calling Bowl Preview Week One, which, if awards were handed out to college football columns, would run away with Most Obligatory.
As an added bonus this year, we are including the forecast and a predicted final score for each game. That’s what we in the business call “added value.”

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Posted on December 20, 2013

By Carl Mohrbacher

Sunday’s game was supposed to provide a payoff to the stupidest debate since caveman Oog tried to convince caveman Drak that poison berries were a more effective method of hunting dinosaur than rolling a massive boulder on to the beast.
Both options were tried, the T-Rex lived and the village was still devoured by raptors in the last week of the hunting season. So who was right? The guy with the boulder.
You go with the best weapons available and let the Triceratops chips fall where they may.
Drak cares not for berries! As true now as it was 4,900 years ago.
For those of you not able to pierce my vague innuendo, we’re examining Jay Cutler’s return to the starting lineup and more importantly the perception of the quarterback position coming out of the Browns game.

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Posted on December 19, 2013

By Dan O’Shea

If you have Jamaal Charles on your fantasy team, it’s a good bet that you not only made the playoffs, but will be playing for a fantasy league championship this weekend or next.
In the last four weeks, Charles has gone from very good to simply dominant, logging two 100 yards-plus rushing games, and just last week an historic fantasy performance: 5 TDs (four of them receiving) and 195 yards receiving.
In Week 16, Charles gets to face an Indianapolis defense that has fallen into the bottom half of league defenses is the second half of the season.
With another big stat line this week, Charles will make a pretty good argument to be the No. 1 overall fantasy pick next year. In fact, with this posting serving as the final Fantasy Fix football column until next season, it’s a good time to take a peek at my 2014 preseason top five (all subject to change until next summer, of course):

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Posted on December 18, 2013

By Jim Coffman

Maybe yesterday was the day. Maybe on a cold blustery day in Cleveland Jay Cutler had a breakthrough. Or maybe it happened while he was out with groin and ankle injuries or when he returned to practicing full steam this past week. The main thing was this: The breakthrough had nothing to do with his performance on the field.
Cutler showed real gratitude after the Bears’ 38-31 victory. Even better, he displayed some humility – the kind that goes a long way with teammates and fans alike.

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Posted on December 16, 2013

By Mike Luce

To think, just last week we were caught up in the last gasp of BCS controversy. Debate raged. Hypotheticals proliferated. Questions swirled.
With a win over ‘Bama, could Auburn leapfrog Ohio State for a berth in the national championship? (Florida State’s bid was a foregone conclusion.) What if Missouri won the SEC championship over Auburn; would they deserve consideration?
How weak was Ohio State’s schedule, anyway? Missouri, Auburn – same question.
Who plays for Northern Illinois other than Jordan Lynch?
Why isn’t the Pac-12 nationally relevant?
Can we veto UCF’s automatic bid to the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl?

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Posted on December 13, 2013

By Carl Mohrbacher

Thanks, Dallas!
I wish all Bears opponents would utilize the kind of strategy the Cowboys brought to the frozen lakefront.
And by “strategy,” I mean use an implausibly successful running game to lull the Bears defense into a false sense of ineptitude, only to unleash a passing attack that consists of nearly a dozen total completions.

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Posted on December 12, 2013

By Dan O’Shea

In a week when many fantasy football leagues opened their playoff slates, wintry weather had a major effect on almost every game played. The result: Probably more than a few top seeds suffered upsets.
If you were a winner, you very likely had one of the following surprise Week 14 stars on your team. Can you continue to count on them in Week 15?

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Posted on December 11, 2013

By Jim Coffman

Hey Jay Cutler, let’s be clear about one thing. You need to be perfectly healthy if you are going to return to the Bear lineup. It won’t a problem if Josh McCown goes back to the bench if a 100 percent fully recovered starting quarterback is replacing him.
But that guy who took the field against the Lions a few weeks ago? The one who wasn’t completely healthy at the start of the game and then got worse as the contest went on, especially from the start of the second half on? We better not see that guy again this season after McCown, who had been very good so far during his run replacing Cutler, was great against the Cowboys in a 45-28 win last night.
In becoming the first Bears quarterback since Jack Concannon in 1970 to pass for four touchdowns and run for a fifth, McCown posted his seventh (7!) consecutive 90.0-plus single-game quarterback rating. Plain and simple: Cutler has never put together a streak like that.

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Posted on December 10, 2013

By The Harlem Globetrotters

No green screens were used – it’s the real deal!
The Globetrotters – founded in Chicago by Abe Saperstein in 1926 – will play two games in Rosemont on Friday, Dec. 27, at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.

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Posted on December 9, 2013

By Mike Luce

In case you’re curious, The College Football Report uses the Associated Press rankings.
This is for no other reason than how ESPN shows the W/L record – we prefer to see both the total record and in conference play. In contrast, CBS Sports uses the BCS rank* but only shows the total record – although CBS does display the point spread. Let’s just say we rely heavily on the ALT+Tab** keyboard shortcut.
There’s also the Deadspin rankings, complete with Deadspin-like commentary, and the “Best Worst Ten,” which ranks the worst teams in college football – always a good time.

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Posted on December 6, 2013