In Case You Missed It: SEC struggles, Dabo fading and…fun?

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By Chris Marler

It was a very busy Saturday for bowl games with eight games on the docket starting at 10 AM. Here’s everything you may have missed.

SEC goes 0-2

It’s not that both SEC teams that played Saturday lost. It’s that they looked so flawed and limited in blowing leads. You’d like to think that LSU wouldn’t allow 38 points if they had their full allotment of defensive players available. But, allowing 38 points to a team who had scored that amount just once all year in the Big 12 was embarrassing. Then there was Missouri who clung to a 7-3 lead at halftime while doing everything in their power to blow that lead.

They eventually did, and they did so while having their best player, Ahmad Hardy, on the bench for several of the game’s biggest moments and downs. It was a bad Saturday for the SEC, but a good reminder that regardless of the talent on the roster or logo on the helmet, you cannot just show up against nine-win Power 4 teams and expect to sleepwalk to a victory.

“I thought he gave us an opportunity. But that’s really on me, I didn’t do a good enough job calling plays for him”#Mizzou Football Head Coach Eli Drinkwitz speaks on Matt Zoller’s performance in tonight’s Gator Bowl@NathalieABC17 pic.twitter.com/ivojdUaL6a

— Collin Anderson (@CollinABC17) December 28, 2025

Dabo era coming to an end?

The Pinstripe Bowl was wild to watch, and not just because it was 28 degrees and snowing.

Two preseason top five teams battled for blades of grass to be dumped on them in a bowl game sponsored by Bad Boy Mowers. In the end, it was Penn State who took home the trophy and won their fourth straight game with an interim coach.

People will try to tell you bowl games don’t matter. They’re wrong. 🥹 pic.twitter.com/nVsDpmmcca

— CFB Kings (@CFBKings) December 27, 2025

That’s a remarkable feat considering where they came from. Penn State fired their head coach, lost their starting quarterback, and then had their hearts ripped out by Indiana on a last second touchdown to fall to 3-6. All they did was keep fighting, and not only did they gain bowl eligibility, they beat another preseason top five team that also made the Playoff a season ago in Clemson.

The long leash that Dabo Swinney has had at Clemson is withering away. The sarcastic taunts and threats in press conferences about people being tired of winning with him and him leaving to go coach elsewhere aren’t having the same impact anymore. The Dabo Swinney era is dying a slow and painful death in real time in front of all of us.

Dabo Swinney says “I know everyone wants me to win football games” but he believes his mission is to develop men.

“That’s what it’s all about to me .. big failure in life, they’re prepared for it. Big success in life, they’re prepared for it.”

— Jon Blau (@Jon_Blau) December 27, 2025

Coaches having fun, what an odd sight to see

Dumping a Gatorade bath over a game winning coach isn’t completely outdated yet. Sure, there are buckets of Mayo, cut grass, french fries, and baked beans that have entered the mix, but the old-fashioned Gatorade bath is still around, too. While usually that’s a welcomed site after a big win, Army’s head coach was not excited to be doused in frigid Fenway Park temps with anything. Here’s a look at him doing his best to get away.