New Year’s bowl game open thread

Happy New Year! A lot of us may be recovering from a hangover on the first day of 2021, and there’s some football on for you to watch. Relax, eat some leftovers, and enjoy the ride that is college football.

There are four bowl games today, two of which are part of the College Football Playoff, and two that still should be decent games.

Peach Bowl: No. 8 Cincinnati vs. No. 9 Georgia, 12 p.m., ESPN

Citrus Bowl: No. 14 Northwestern vs. Auburn, 1 p.m., ABC

Rose Bowl: No. 1 Alabama vs. No. 4 Notre Dame, 4 p.m., ESPN

Sugar Bowl: No. 2 Clemson vs. No. 3 Ohio State, 8 p.m., ESPN

• Cincinnati is still undefeated and has a chip on their shoulder about their No. 8 ranking and not being considered by the College Football Playoff selection committee. With a win over Georgia in the Peach Bowl they’ll be a glaring example of why the playoff should be expanded. If they lose, the CFP snub will look justified.
• Auburn has some opt outs and the narrative heading into the game is the team really doesn’t want to be there. Head coach Gus Malzahn was fired in December. The good news for Auburn is QB Bo Nix will be playing, but Northwestern will be taking this game very seriously.
• Does Notre Dame really have a chance against Alabama? I say no and that the Crimson Tide beats ND by over 30. No chance.
• Things look to be a little more even between Ohio State and Clemson, but the Buckeyes pass defense has been really bad this season, and Trevor Lawrence is going to have his way with them. OSU may keep it close, but if they don’t generate the same type of run game as they did in the Big Ten Championship Game, this game might get out of hand in its own right.