Football Bowl Season: Thursday's Southern Accent

Thursday's slate of games takes us across the South - Charlotte, Nashville, Atlanta - before heading to the Entertainment Capital of the World

© Nikos Frazier / Journal & Courier / USA TODAY NETWORK

It's the hap-happiest season of all. College Bowl Season began on December 17. There are 42 bowl games featuring 84 teams plus the National Championship Game.

Bowl Season may be wrapping up over the next few days, but there are still a lot of great games to enjoy. About a third of all ball games will be played this weekend, including the CFP semifinals. 

The rapid spread of the omicron variant is wreaking havoc among the bowl games, including moving Central Michigan from Saturday's now canceled Arizona Bowl to the Sun Bowl to fill the vacancy created when Miami pulled out of the game. 

Thursday's schedule includes the Duke's Mayo Bowl in Charlotte, the Music City Bowl in Nashville, and the Las Vegas Bowl. Here is a look at those games:

Duke's Mayo Bowl: North Carolina (6-6) vs. South Carolina (6-6)

Thursday, December 30 [FuboTV, 10:30 a.m. CT, ESPN]
Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, NC; Line - North Carolina -9.5; over/under - 57.0

It's a battle of the Carolinas in Carolina. Though their records are identical at 6-6, the two teams had different seasons. The Tar Heels were ranked in the Top 10 early in the season, and after Clemson had early losses, they had eyes on the ACC title and perhaps a CFP semifinal game. The Gamecocks began the season with meager expectations, especially in very loaded SEC. Their 6th win made them bowl eligible for the first time since 2018. 

This will be the 59th meeting between the two schools. North Carolina leads the series 35-19-4. The last meeting was a Tar Heel victory in 2019. This will be a game that has both teams' strengths on the field at the same time and their weakness at the same time. North Carolina's strength this season was their offense, while the Gamecocks have a solid defense. South Carolina's offense didn't have the best season and will face the Tar Heels defense, ranked 101st in scoring defense. 

TransPerfect Music City Bowl: Tennessee (7-5) vs. Purdue (8-4)

Thursday, December 30 [FuboTV, 2:00 p.m. CT, ESPN]
Nissan Stadium, Nashville, TN; Line - Tennessee -6.0; over/under - 64.5

This matchup between SEC and Big Team teams marks only their second meeting. The only other game was a Purdue 27-22 win in the 1979 Bluebonnet Bowl. This season, Purdue played the spoiler role with wins over then #2 Iowa and then #3 Michigan State. Their losses are to teams playing in bowl games, including two playing in NY6 bowls - Ohio State and Notre Dame.

Tennessee has won four straight bowl games when facing Big Ten opponents. They will be looking to move that streak to five. This is head coach Josh Heupel's first season in Knoxville. Expectations among the Volunteers fans were not high, but Tennessee's fast-paced offense has blown those expectations away. 

Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl: #10 Michigan State (10-2) vs. #12 Pittsburgh (11-2)

Thursday, December 30 [FuboTV, 6:00 p.m. CT, ESPN]
Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, GA; Line - Michigan State - 2.5; over/under - 55.5

KillerFrogs wrote detailed previews of all the NY6 games. For the preview of the Peach Bowl, click here. 

SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl: Arizona State (8-4) vs. Wisconsin (8-4)

Thursday, December 30 [FuboTV, 9:30 p.m., ESPN]
Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas, NV; Line - Wisconsin - 6.0; over/under - 41.0

This bowl game got a significant upgrade in venues moving from Sam Boyd Stadium to one of the NFL's shining new stars in Allegiant Stadium. It also has an upgrade with two Power Five teams playing in a post-Christmas bowl versus Group of Five teams playing before Christmas. 

This is the fifth meeting between the two schools, with Arizona State having a 3-1 series lead. Both teams began the season with reasonable expectations of making their respective conference championship games. Wisconsin is playing in their 20th consecutive bowl game, the second-longest Big Ten streak only behind Michigan's 33-year streak from 1975-2007. 

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Enjoy the next round of College Bowl Season! Additional bowl games will be previewed in future articles.

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