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  • Ryan McGee, ESPN Senior WriterJan 4, 2024, 09:05 AM ET

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    • Senior writer for ESPN The Magazine and ESPN.com
    • 2-time Sports Emmy winner
    • 2010, 2014 NMPA Writer of the Year

“I’m up to my a– in bowls, bowls, all types bowls.
Chips and mints and seashell bowls.
My mom’s got bowls for everything.
Potpourri and nuts and everything.
Bowl on the toilet.
Bowl on the shelf.
Bowl of M&M’s and I can help myself …”

— “Back Home Baller,” Leslie Jones

With all due respect to Mom, no one loves bowls more than us. Since my beloved Myrtle Beach Bowl kicked off on the teal turf of Conway, South Carolina, three weeks ago, we’ve been bowling like Pete Weber, from New Orleans and New Mexico to the Big Apple and San Francisco. A Santa’s bag of college football filled with everything from touchdown passes and spiffy new uniforms to mind-blowing comebacks and intestine-blowing servings of sideline french fries dipped in mayonnaise.

Even for us, the folks who live for bowls, it can be a lot to track. After all, there were 42 games played over a span of 16 days. So now, as we await the last contest on the calendar Monday night, here’s a look back at the best and worst of the 2023-24 bowl season.

Yes, we are aware the Rose Bowl went to OT. Heck, I was standing on the sideline. However, when it comes to pure entertainment, it is difficult to top the show put on by the Tigers and Wildcats, who slugged through the first half but then scored a combined 42 points in the fourth quarter with five lead changes, including three in the final 4:20, ultimately won by Clemson with 17 seconds remaining.

If history looks back on the Dawgs’ demolition of TCU at the start of 2023 as the moment that spurred College Football Playoff expansion, then perhaps it will also remember their last game of the same year as the contest that validated that expansion. There’s no question Georgia deserved a spot among the nation’s best teams in the postseason, and there’s also no question Florida State’s mass exodus after the Seminoles were left out was a result of the same feelings. Either way, the Orange Bowl was over in 10 minutes and we were all forced to watch Hallmark holiday movies with our families whom we’d been ignoring all month.

Best bowl performance: Jason Bean, QB, Kansas

In the Guaranteed Rate Bowl, aka the Hey, Didn’t You Both Used To Be In The Bottom 10 All The Time? Bowl, between Kansas and UNLV, the Jayhawks quarterback threw for 449 yards and six touchdowns after throwing only a dozen TD passes during the regular season. He locked up the 49-36 win over the Rebels even with a trio of INTs and a whopping 18 team penalties, including four personal fouls, adding up to 210 yards. He also added 21 yards rushing. It was the best holiday season performance for a Mr. Bean this side of the department store clerk in “Love Actually.”

Worst bowl performance by someone not named Florida State: Cure Bowl — Miami (Ohio) and Appalachian State

The RedHawks fell to the Mountaineers 13-9 in the midst of a Noah’s ark kind of rain. The teams combined for 13 fumbles, the most in any bowl game since the 1977 Independence Bowl. In related news, the football from the 2023 Cure Bowl declared independence from gloves.

Most explosive bowl performance: Independence Bowl

Speaking of the I-Bowl, that game ended with more fireworks than New Year’s Eve at Disney World. To be clear, that’s not a metaphor. I’m talking about actual fireworks.

Best bowl perk: Charlotte Motor Speedway NASCAR hot laps, Duke’s Mayo Bowl

Yeah, I know, I write this every year. But it’s still true.

Most meta bowl perk: bowl bowlers bowling

This “Inception”-like trend started early as the Myrtle Beach Bowl teams went bowling. Then it peaked with the Military Bowl presented by GoBowling.com. Speaking of the Military Bowl …

Best name from a bowl: Slade Nagle

Nagle was handed the interim head coach reins for the Military Bowl after Tulane head coach Willie Fritz bolted for Houston. Not only does Slade Nagle’s name sound like it belongs to someone who just suplexed Brock Lesnar to win the WWE world heavyweight championship, the dude is giant, has a fire-red beard and used to be the quarterbacks coach for the Dodge City Community College Conquistadors. When “Yellowstone” is done, I fully expect Taylor Sheridan to make a movie about Slade Nagle.

Best reminder that rivalries never stop: Jerry Kill’s post-New Mexico Bowl rant

The only aspect of bowl season more explosive than the Independence Bowl’s arsenal was Kill’s temper. The head coach of the New Mexico State Aggies took umbrage with what he believed was unfair treatment from bowl host and archrival New Mexico and used some curse words to express those feelings. The Rio Grande Rivalry never sleeps! In his tirade, Kill threatened to stop coaching and go to Mexico to “drink margaritas.” The next week he indeed stepped down. No word yet on the margarita situation.

Biggest temper WTH: Eastern Michigan after the 68 Ventures Bowl

EMU’s Korey Hernandez interrupted South Alabama’s post-victory alma mater moment when he ran across the field and decked Jags defensive back Jamarrien Burt. A brawl broke out as the band played on. Hernandez has since apologized. In the end, anyone ever thinking about fighting needs to thank Hernandez. Why? He gave us all a reminder that no matter how mad you are, you never start a fight when surrounded by 60 guys wearing the same uniform as the guy that you just sucker punched!

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Postgame fight breaks out after sucker punch from Eastern Michigan player

Eastern Michigan’s Korey Hernandez runs across the field and sucker punches South Alabama’s Jamarrien Burt in the back of the head.

Best postgame food bath: egg nog, Holiday Bowl

Thank or blame the Duke’s Mayo Bowl, but postgame food showers are now the postseason norm, from french fries and Frosted Flakes to UTSA head coach Jeff Traylor, after being asked about his memories from the Roadrunners’ win over Marshall in the Scooter’s Coffee Frisco Bowl, saying, “I’ll always remember that coffee running down my back.” But the new kid on the supermarket (dump the) bucket list has emerged from one of the oldest games, the Holiday Bowl, which unapologetically now dumps “nog on the noggin'” of the winning coach. When they posted a slo-mo video of Lincoln Riley’s splashdown, it ended up coming off like a scene from a “Saw” movie.

Best postgame food bath homage: Duke’s Mayo Bowl

If you are mad that we slighted the OG water bucket food dump ceremony, don’t worry. These West Virginia fans have you covered. They also have their kids covered. In mayo.

Best use of food-related prop: the turnover kabob

Arizona upset Oklahoma in the Valero Alamo Bowl thanks in no small part to six takeaways — three fumbles and three interceptions. After every turnover, the Wildcats stack another flattened football with their opponents’ logo onto a cactus-shaped sword.

Worst sound: Gronk’s anthem

If you think that nog audio was bad, then whatever you do, DO NOT hit play on Rob Gronkowski singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the Starco Brands LA Bowl Hosted By Gronk.

The E. King Gill 12th Man award: Sam Mathews, Texas A&M

Just two years ago, Mathews was tailgating with his buddies in College Station when they convinced him to try out for the Aggies football team. Not only did he make the team but when he was pressed into service because of a flu outbreak in 2022, he recorded six tackles against Florida. So this season the team decided to bestow upon him the coveted No. 12, in honor of the school’s legendary 12th Man tradition. When these post-Jimbo Fisher Aggies showed up shorthanded for the Texas Bowl due to opt-outs, Mathews started. And even in a loss, his interception will go down in A&M 12th Man lore.

Best comeback: Western Kentucky, Famous Toastery Bowl

The Hilltoppers trailed Old Dominion by 28 points in the opening minutes of the second quarter and were down 21 at the start of the fourth, but came back to tie the game with 19 seconds remaining and won in OT. They were led to the toasted promised land by quarterback Caden Veltkamp, who had already decided to transfer at season’s end after being told by WKU coaches he should move to tight end. Instead, he came off the bench in Charlotte to throw for 383 yards and five TDs and was carried off the field by his teammates, a la Rudy. Now he’ll be back on the Hill overlooking Bowling Green, Kentucky, next season.

Best comeback of a different sort: Davis Brin, QB, Georgia Southern

Brin won the Myrtle Beach Bowl MVP in 2021 as the quarterback at Tulsa. Then he turned in a fantastic (albeit losing) effort in the 2023 Myrtle Beach Bowl as QB of Georgia Southern, throwing for 350 yards and two touchdowns against Ohio. This marks the greatest return performance in Myrtle Beach since my high school classmate Dirty McCall won back-to-back shag dancing contests at the Magic Attic and earned two free airbrushed T-shirts and a bucket of saltwater taffy.

You the real MVP of bowl season MVP award: the Pop-Tart

The legacy of edible mascots during bowl season goes back to the Blooming Onion, who used to stalk the sidelines of the Outback Bowl, which is now the decidedly less greasy ReliaQuest Bowl. But with the greatest respect to Spuddy Buddy, the bushy-eyed jar of Duke’s Mayo, the Cheez-It who made it very clear he was not to be eaten, or any other would-be delicious furry football hero, no one stole hearts and headlines like the Pop-Tart. It danced, it performed, it descended into a giant toaster and was cooked so that it could be devoured by the Pop-Tart Bowl winning Kansas State Wildcats. RIP Pop-Tart. Thank you for your bowl season service.

Until next year, keep on bowling, y’all.

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Phils’ Suárez K’s 10, continues historic run to 9-0

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May 22, 2024

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Phils' Suárez K's 10, continues historic run to 9-0

  • Associated Press

May 21, 2024, 10:31 PM ET

PHILADELPHIA — Ranger Suárez stuck out 10 over seven innings and improved to 9-0 to lead the Philadelphia Phillies to their MLB-best 35th win, a 5-2 victory over the defending World Series champion Texas Rangers on Tuesday night.

Suárez’s season-opening run rivals Hall of Famers Grover Alexander and Juan Marichal among the best in baseball history.

Bryce Harper hit his 11th homer of the season to help the Phillies win for the ninth time in 11 games and continue one of the best starts in franchise history.

The Phillies have won 35 of their first 49 games for the second time in franchise history (1976). The Phillies are 27-6 in their last 33 games, marking the first time since at least 1901 they have won 27 games in a 33-game span.

This season, no pitcher in baseball has been better than Suárez.

“He knows what it takes to win games,” Harper said.

The 28-year-old lefty walked off to a standing ovation in the seventh after he caught Leody Taveras looking on a 91.6 mph sinker to end the inning. Suárez took a no-decision in his first start of the season before he reeled of wins in nine straight starts.

“I just try to throw and do the best work that I can,” Suárez said through an interpreter.

Suárez lowered his ERA to 1.36, the third-lowest ERA by a Phillies pitcher in his first 10 starts of a season. Suárez trails Alexander, who had a 1.24 ERA in first 10 starts of 1916 and a 1.31 ERA in his first 10 starts of 1915.

Suárez is the first pitcher to start 9-0 with a sub-1.50 ERA through 10 starts since Marichal did it for the San Francisco Giants in 1966. Oh, he’s also the first Phillies pitcher since Robin Roberts (1952) to win at least nine consecutive starts.

“It’s kind of mind-boggling, this historic run that he’s been on,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said.

Jose Alvarado worked a scoreless ninth for his ninth save.

Ranger bested the Rangers, and continued his reign as Philadelphia’s top pitcher this season — no small feat for a rotation that already boasts Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler. Suárez walked two and gave up a run before he yielded to Jeff Hoffman in the eighth inning.

Corey Seager hit a solo shot off Hoffman in the eighth to make it 3-2.

Hoffman got only two outs before Matt Strahm retired Nathaniel Lowe on a sharp line drive to left field with two runners on to end the inning.

This three-game series comes oh-so-close to serving as a World Series rematch. The Rangers needed only five games to beat Arizona and win the franchise’s first World Series — after Arizona won Games 6 and 7 in Philadelphia to rally and knock out the Phillies in the NL Championship Series.

Suárez fell into a rare early deficit after he gave up Marcus Semien‘s RBI single to left in the third.

The Phillies went ahead 2-1 off Jon Gray (2-2) on Kyle Schwarber‘s run-scoring single in the third and Alec Bohm‘s RBI single in the fourth. Harper connected off Rangers reliever Jacob Latz in the sixth for a 3-1 lead and help them snap a 12-game losing streak against the Rangers, that dates to 2014.

Bohm — who has 11 RBIs over his seven-game hitting streak — knocked in his NL-best 44th RBI on a double in the eighth, and Bryson Stott followed with a sacrifice fly for a 5-2 lead.

“They’re pitching well and they’re getting big hits,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said. “They’re a very good offensive club. They’re one of the best team in baseball, right now, that’s how well they’re playing.”

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The Gators, a top QB and a $13.85 million NIL deal gone wrong: What to know and what’s next

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May 21, 2024

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The Gators, a top QB and a .85 million NIL deal gone wrong: What to know and what's next

Jaden Rashada, a former ESPN 300 quarterback recruit, sued the University of Florida and coach Billy Napier on Tuesday. Rashada is claiming he was defrauded of millions of dollars in name, image and likeness money.

The lawsuit, among other things, alleges that Napier promised the player’s father a $1 million “partial payment” upon signing. Rashada never got the money, and the boosters never fulfilled the deal, the lawsuit states.

It is the latest in a long saga involving the player and the school. Now, Rashada is the first college athlete known to sue his coach or a booster due to a dispute over an NIL deal.

What’s next for Rashada and Florida? Our reporters break it down.

How did we get here?

Rashada was ranked No. 31 overall in the 2023 class and had a prep career that featured several transfers. His freshman season in high school was played at Liberty High School (Brentwood, California). He then transferred to IMG Academy in Florida before going back to California to play three seasons at Pittsburg (California) High School. His college decision came down to two Florida schools and two big NIL numbers.

Rashada committed to the Miami Hurricanes in June 2022. The lawsuit states that Rashada had a $9.5 million NIL promise with the Canes. But Rashada decommitted that November and promptly flipped to the Florida Gators and Coach Napier. He signed his national letter of intent during the December signing period. However, he didn’t enroll at Florida, and his arrival in Gainesville was contingent on a four-year, $13.85 million NIL deal. Rashada asked for a release from his letter of intent when the deal fell through.

The Gator Collective, an independent fundraising organization that distributed money to UF athletes at the time, was responsible for the deal. However, the financial backing did not materialize, and the Gator Collective terminated the contract. Rashada was released from his letter of intent. He then took a visit to Arizona State and committed to play for the Sun Devils, arriving on campus in July 2023.

Rashada started the first two games of the season for Arizona State, but an injury kept him out for most of the season. In three games, he was 44-of-82 for 485 yards, with four touchdowns and three interceptions.

Rashada entered the transfer portal on April 18 and is now transferring to Georgia, where he will have four years of eligibility remaining. — Tom VanHaaren

What’s next for Rashada?

Georgia emerged as Rashada’s likely transfer destination soon after he entered the portal. He selected the Bulldogs on April 25, captioning his Instagram announcement, “Compete with the BEST.” Rather than vying for the starting job at ASU with emerging Michigan State transfer Sam Leavitt, Rashada enters a situation where he will play behind Georgia’s Carson Beck, a top Heisman Trophy contender and NFL hopeful.

Barring an injury to Beck, Rashada will use the 2024 season for developmental purposes, while absorbing a different offense under coordinator Mike Bobo in Athens.

A realistic goal would be to start in 2025 for a Bulldogs team always in the national title hunt. He would need to beat out primary challenger Gunner Stockton, who enters his third season in the Georgia program and gained valuable experience this spring. Both Stockton and incoming freshman Ryan Puglisi ranked among ESPN’s top 110 recruits in their respective classes. Coach Kirby Smart likes to have four scholarship quarterbacks on his roster at all times, and the team has a 2025 commitment from ESPN 300 recruit Ryan Montgomery.

Rashada is the most decorated quarterback prospect of the bunch, but he will need to adjust quickly, especially with Stockton ahead on the learning curve. — Adam Rittenberg

How did this affect Florida on the field?

The Gators signed Rashada in December 2022, anticipating he would compete for the starting job with veteran Graham Mertz, who transferred in from Wisconsin. Without him, the job went to Mertz, who threw for 2,903 yards, completed 73% of his passes and threw 20 touchdown passes to three interceptions last season. Losing Rashada did not help Napier from a public relations standpoint, as he drew ire from the Florida fan base — especially after a 5-7 finish to 2023.

Florida did have a plan for its future, though, as Napier had a longstanding commitment from D.J. Lagway, the top-rated quarterback in the class of 2024. Lagway committed to Florida just weeks before Rashada signed his letter of intent, and the Gators were in a massive fight to keep Lagway as other schools went after him as signing day approached last December. Lagway has said Clemson, USC and Texas A&M all made late pushes, but he ultimately signed with the Gators and enrolled early, going through spring football.

His decision to come to Florida was absolutely huge for Napier, who has yet to find solid footing headed into Year 3 and desperately needed Lagway to sign. Mertz is back for one more season and is the presumptive starter. But there is a lot riding on this season for Florida and for Napier in particular. With the season opener against rival Miami, Florida fans want to see progress and results immediately. If Mertz struggles, do not be surprised if fans start calling for Lagway. — Andrea Adelson

Could the Gators face any NCAA repercussions from Rashada’s claims?

The NCAA alerted Florida almost a year ago that it was investigating claims that the football program had violated recruiting rules, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. ESPN’s Mark Schlabach confirmed the investigation was related to Rashada’s recruitment.

Rashada claims in his lawsuit that Napier directly promised Rashada a $1 million payment from a booster if he signed with Florida, which would be a violation of the NCAA’s policies. The NCAA penalized Florida State and suspended one of its coaches in January for getting involved in NIL offers made to a prospect.

However, the NCAA sent a letter to its schools in late February explaining that it was pausing all open enforcement cases “involving third-party participation in NIL-related activities” after a federal judge in Tennessee granted an injunction that prohibited the NCAA from enforcing some of its rules. That case was filed by Tennessee’s attorney general after the NCAA opened an investigation into the Vols’ recruiting tactics.

Any other high-profile enforcement actions taken by the NCAA — such as a penalty for Napier or the Gators — could invite additional lawsuits at a time when the association remains vulnerable to antitrust scrutiny, which makes it unlikely that any NCAA punishments could be coming soon. — Dan Murphy

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Yankees ace Cole faces hitters, eyes June return

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5 hours ago

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May 21, 2024

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Yankees ace Cole faces hitters, eyes June return

  • Associated Press

May 21, 2024, 04:38 PM ET

NEW YORK — New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole says he thinks he could return to a major league mound in June after facing hitters for the first time since spring training.

The reigning AL Cy Young Award winner, wearing a full pinstriped uniform, threw 20 pitches to Oswaldo Cabrera and Jamai Jones before Tuesday night’s game against Seattle.

Cole had thrown five bullpen sessions before the batting practice. The 33-year-old right-hander, sidelined by elbow nerve inflammation and edema, said he will have one or two more BP sessions before starting a minor league rehabilitation assignment.

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