Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, BotC family!

BotC rang in 2017 with a review of Caddyshack from KSUEMAW! Movie Night at BotC continues shortly with KSUEMAW! watching a western he’s never seen before. He needs your help picking one, so be sure to vote in our poll!

Football

The start of a new sports year inevitably brings one thing: way too early predictions and projections, along with some introspection on the year that was.

— 10 wins are definitely on the table for next year’s Wildcats (Dan Horton, FanSided).

— Predicting sports highlights for the state of Kansas, this roundtable discussion suggests Kansas State could help cap Bill Snyder’s career in 2017 with a top-three finish in the Big 12 (Wichita Eagle staff).

— Kansas State is trending upward, and with 16 starters returning in 2017, it’s unlikely the Wildcats will be picked to finish eighth in the Big 12 (Kevin Haskin, Topeka Capital-Journal).

— Will Kansas State be ranked to open 2017? Probably not, but finishing at least third in the Big 12 is highly likely (Jake Trotter, ESPN).

The college football national championship game is set. It’s a rematch of the 2015 version with Alabama taking on Clemson for a trophy, bragging rights, and a chance to get ALL THE AIRTIME in 2017.

— Alabama beat Washington handily and made football look easy in the process, but while the Huskies were probably overmatched (by the opponent and the occasion), there were signs the game could have been closer. Washington led briefly at the start of the game, and 10 of Alabama’s 24 points came off costly turnovers by the Dawgs.

— Ohio State was thoroughly outplayed by Clemson and in every facet of the game. Clemson’s dissection was so complete that Ohio State left the field with its worst loss since 1993. More than that, the result cemented the notion that the Buckeyes didn’t belong in the playoff field. Maybe the College Playoff Committee will stop saying vapid things to rationalize its decisions, especially as those decisions seem rooted in considerations other than football.

— Food for thought: Clemson has now beaten Ohio State (twice), Oklahoma (twice) and LSU in the post-season. That’s already pretty impressive, and if the Tigers beat Alabama, Dabo Swinney’s conquest of college football will be complete (Aaron Torres, FOXSports).

— Clemson was nothing short of impressive in its blanking of Ohio State, so naturally, the Tigers opened as one touchdown underdogs against Alabama (Robbie Kailand, CBSSports).

Happy Sunday!