New Year’s Day Bowls: UCF Looks to Complete Another Undefeated Season

Happy New Year, Bruin fans! While yesterday marked a new beginning for the UCLA men’s basketball program, today does that for everyone.

Of course, it wouldn’t be New Year’s Day without the Rose Parade from Pasadena which began around 8 am. In addition, it wouldn’t be New Year’s Day without bowl games and there are five games on tap for today.

The first game of the day kicks off at 9 am PT when the Iowa Hawkeyes meet the #18 Mississippi St. Bulldogs in the Outback Bowl in Tampa, Florida. Both of these teams finished the regular season with an 8-4 record. I’ve got to be honest here. With no disrespect intended to Mississippi State or Iowa, I don’t know why anyone who isn’t a fan of these teams would opt to watch this game over the pageantry of the Rose Parade.

At 10 am, two more games will kickoff. One 10 am game is the Citrus Bowl featuring the #12 Penn State Nittany Lions and the #14 Kentucky Wildcats from Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida. This will certainly be a good game, but I think the other 10 am game probably is more appealing.

That’s because the #8 UCF Knights, the only team in college football to go through the past two regular seasons undefeated, will face off against the #11 LSU Tigers, led by head coach Ed Orgeron, in the Fiesta Bowl on ESPN. If UCF can win this game, you can bet that they will want to claim another national championship since they will have gone undefeated again.

This is your New Year’s Day Bowl Game open thread. Join your fellow Bruin fans discussing today’s action in the comments below.


Go Bruins.