December can be a slog in college football; great games are looming, you just know it, but first there’s the Cure Bowl, a bazillion-hour rainstorm parked over the First Responder Bowl and whatever madness took hold of the Cheez-It Bowl. It took until New Year’s Day for bowl season to deliver a slate of great teams playing high-level football: Ohio State held off a late Washington comeback in the Rose Bowl, Texas upset Georgia in the Sugar Bowl, UCF lost for the first time since 2016 in the Fiesta Bowl—and none of it mattered.
It’s O.K. for College Football’s Playoff and New Year’s Schedules to Play by Different Rules
