NC State seething in underdog role vs Kentucky in Gator Bowl
By MARK LONGJanuary 1, 2021 GMT
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) It’s one of the oddest betting lines of the bowl season.
No. 24 North Carolina State (8-3) is a 2 ½-point underdog against Kentucky (4-6) in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl, a number the Wolfpack consider a slight heading into Saturday’s game in Jacksonville.
NC State has won four in a row, the longest streak in the Atlantic Coast Conference. It has eked out low-scoring games, won a couple shootouts and finished with more league victories than ever before.
The Wildcats, meanwhile, have the second-worst offense in the Power Five, lost to Southeastern Conference finalists Alabama and Florida by a combined score of 97-13 and have two wins in the past 11 weeks against winless Vanderbilt and against a South Carolina team that played without its head coach and several key starters. Kentucky was so bad offensively that coach Mark Stoops fired two assistants less than 2
NC State football player opens up about injury, comeback
titusvilleherald.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from titusvilleherald.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The 2020 college football bowl season figures to be like none other, with COVID-19 issues causing some squads to opt out and bowl games having to be canceled because of a lack of participating teams.
Still, there are 28 bowl games left to keep us entertained between now and the Jan. 11 College Football Playoff National Championship presented by AT&T at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida (8 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN App).
Here are the players and storylines to watch in each of those bowl games:
College Football Playoff
No. 1 Alabama vs. No. 4 Notre Dame
Friday, Jan. 1, 2021
4 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN App
The Kentucky Wildcats have accepted a bid to play in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl and will face NC State Jan. 2 in Jacksonville, Florida. Kickoff is scheduled for noon ET at TIAA Bank Field, with ESPN and the ESPN App carrying the national television broadcast.
Credit UK Athletics
Coach Mark Stoops is the first head man to lead UK to five consecutive bowl appearances. As a program, UK is tying its school record for consecutive bowl games, with four under Coach Rich Brooks from 2006-09, followed by one with Coach Joker Phillips in 2010.
“We are very excited to accept a bid to the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl,” head coach Mark Stoops said. “I want to thank the Gator Bowl for the invitation and I want to thank our administration, Dr. Eli Capilouto and Mitch Barnhart, for their unwavering support this season. It’s been a very trying year for all of us and our team is ready to move forward with a fifth straight bowl game. We look forward to playing a great tea
College football Power Rankings for Week 15
play
Coastal Carolina holds off defeat with late TD (0:33)
Grayson McCall s 23-yard touchdown pass to Jaivon Heiligh with less than a minute left keeps the Chanticleers season record perfect. (0:33)
College Football Playoff
Hard Rock Stadium (Miami Gardens, Florida)
Alabama 52, Ohio State 24
College Football Playoff Semifinal at The Rose Bowl Game
AT&T Stadium (Arlington, Texas)
Alabama 31, Notre Dame 14
College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Allstate Sugar Bowl
Mercedes-Benz Superdome (New Orleans)
Ohio State 49, Clemson 28
But as we point toward the conference championship games, the usual suspects remain at the top of the ESPN power rankings in Week 15.
vimarsana © 2020. All Rights Reserved.