Sports
NHL trendspotting: Which first-month shock teams will stay red hot or ice cold?
A month into the NHL season, the playoff race is already shifting in unexpected ways. While many of the highest postseason chances belong to the usual suspects — as do the lowest (sorry, San Jose Sharks) — some are the property of rising teams surging ahead of schedule, versus others who’ve stumbled hard out of the gate.
Using playoff odds, season stats, Elo ratings and other indicators of team quality, we can see which clubs have overachieved or underwhelmed the most relative to preseason expectations.
Some of these early sources of curiosity (for good or bad) look built to last. But others? Not so much.
Let’s dive into the biggest surprises to see which look real, and what they say about the league’s shifting balance of power.
Pleasant surprises
Year 1 of Joel Quenneville’s tenure behind the bench in Anaheim has been nothing less than a rousing success early, with the Ducks ranking No. 1 in goals per game and No. 4 in goal differential overall. To say that’s a massive departure from their usual norm is an understatement; this team had previously ranked no better than 24th in scoring or 21st in goal differential in any season since 2018-19.
But the forward corps of Cutter Gauthier, Leo Carlsson and Troy Terry has been among the most productive teammate trios in the league (with 49 combined points), while former Rangers captain Jacob Trouba has solidified the blue line and Lukas Dostal has supplied strong goaltending.
Suddenly a team that hadn’t made the playoffs or posted a winning record in any of the previous seven seasons holds one of the best records in the NHL, with a 61% probability to make the playoffs.
Chance to continue: Moderate.
Because hockey is so prone to randomness in small samples, 12 games is a bit early to render a full verdict on the Ducks officially being back; they still rank No. 26 in the Elo ratings, for instance, which move slowly but are optimized to predict future games.
But it’s already clear that this team is better than it has been in a long time. (Case in point: a traditionally offense-starved team is generating far more chances than in recent years.) With the league’s third-youngest roster, it finally feels as if the Ducks are building toward something sustainable.
The Pens were written off so completely before this season that their main questions were when or if Sidney Crosby and Erik Karlsson would be traded — and whether Evgeni Malkin might just retire after the season. There didn’t seem to be any way that a team that had been the oldest in hockey — and sixth-worst by goals-per-game differential — in 2024-25 could actually contend a season later.
But that’s exactly what has happened to start 2025-26, as Sid the Kid has continued to play at an elite level at age 38, Malkin and Karlsson have rediscovered what once made them great, newcomers Justin Brazeau and Anthony Mantha have added scoring punch and the tandem of Arturs Silovs and Tristan Jarry has stood out in net.
Remarkably, Pittsburgh ranks in the top five in goal differential — a first for the club since 2020-21 — and they have a 56% chance at returning to the playoffs after a three-year absence.
Chance to continue: Low to moderate.
As great a story as the fountain-of-youth Penguins have been to start the season, there are some warning lights flashing that they might not be able to keep it up all season. The first is, obviously, age: The team still ranks as the league’s fifth-oldest roster, with a number of veterans playing key roles. Among their top 12 players by goals above replacement, eight of them — Malkin, Crosby, Karlsson, Mantha, Jarry, Kris Letang, Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell — are age 30 or older this season.
Plus, the team is reliant on a few unsustainably high percentages, including a league-high power-play success rate of 35.9% and both the NHL’s fifth-highest team shooting percentage (13%) and second-best save percentage (.909). Strip away those, and this is a team outside the top 20 in zone-time percentage and share of total scoring chances in their games.
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Arturs Silovs makes terrific glove save for Penguins
Arturs Silovs makes terrific glove save for Penguins
Given a fresh start with a new name this season, the Mammoth are skating full speed into what seems like a bright franchise future.
The team currently ranks top 10 in points percentage and goals-per-game differential, with the league’s 11th-best offense and defense. Prime-age (or younger) cornerstones Nick Schmaltz, Logan Cooley, Mikhail Sergachev, Dylan Guenther and Clayton Keller are all on pace for the best seasons of their careers by goals above replacement (GAR), while newcomers JJ Peterka and Nate Schmidt are also making a difference.
The Mammoth have the league’s best defense in terms of fewest shots allowed per game, and they could be even scarier if they ever get their goaltending in order. Right now, Utah has a 69% chance to make the playoffs for only the second time since 2011-12 (if we include their previous era as the Arizona Coyotes).
Chance to continue: High.
The Mammoth are no fluke. If anything, they should probably be doing even better than their .643 points percentage suggests.
The team ranks seventh in the share of shot attempts in their games, eighth in the share of scoring chances and sixth in the share of expected goals. Furthermore, Utah has done it against the league’s third-hardest schedule by average opponent Elo rating — which improves to 27th-hardest going forward.
The netminding duo of Karel Vejmelka and Vitek Vanecek have been mediocre so far, ranking 25th in save percentage as a team, but the skaters have been producing chances and playing airtight defense.
It’s easy to view Utah as a team that more established opponents would not be excited to face in a first-round series.
As we wrote when talking about the teams with the most to prove this season, the Red Wings have teased a playoff return too many times to be given the full benefit of the doubt this early.
That said, Detroit’s players are starting to click, with Dylan Larkin playing like a long shot MVP contender to lead a group that also includes Alex DeBrincat and the burgeoning trio of Lucas Raymond, Moritz Seider and Emmitt Finnie.
Nothing about the Wings’ résumé jumps off the page. Even after their improvement, they still rank only 15th in goals-per-game differential, but that would be their best mark since the second-to-last season of their 25-year playoff streak that ended after the 2015-16 season.
Chance to continue: Moderate.
With a 59% playoff chance, the Red Wings are still on the skate-blade’s edge of making the playoffs — and their middle-of-the-road rankings don’t make it seem like that stressful ride will change much over the rest of the season.
But there are reasons to think Detroit can shore up their chances a bit more from here. In terms of expected goals (a measure of controlling play that filters luck out of shooting and save percentages), they rank No. 9 in the share predicted to go their way in games. There’s also hope for better goaltending, as veterans Cam Talbot and John Gibson have a better track record than their average-at-best performances this season suggest.
Finally, the schedule should get a bit easier from here, going from fourth-hardest so far to 16th-hardest going forward.
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Moritz Seider tallies goal vs. Sharks
Moritz Seider tallies goal vs. Sharks
Not-so-pleasant surprises
After a remarkable late-season run to the playoffs under new coach Jim Montgomery last season — during which the Blues somehow produced a better record (21 wins, nine losses) over the final 30 games of the regular season than the Cup-winning 2018-19 team did (20-10) — St. Louis appeared poised to build on that success this season.
But at 5-8-3 so far, the Blues hold the league’s second-worst record and they also sit last in goals allowed per game and goals-per-game differential, having lost the most playoff probability since opening night (minus-34%) of any team.
All of the team’s top skaters — Jordan Kyrou, Robert Thomas, Pavel Buchnevich, Dylan Holloway, Colton Parayko, Cam Fowler — have undershot GAR expectations by significant margins, while goaltender Jordan Binnington has been one of the worst netminders in the NHL. (His best act of protecting the puck might’ve been swiping Alex Ovechkin‘s 900th goal from the ice and into the back of his pants before having to return it.)
Chance to continue: Low to moderate.
Perhaps surprisingly for a team that has performed so badly over the season’s first month, St. Louis is not in terrible shape. The Blues still have a 32% playoff probability, owing to how the rest of the West basement hasn’t exactly been impressive either, and there’s a good chance the Blues start winning more games soon.
The team has been one of the unluckiest in the league by PDO, which measures which teams are unduly benefiting (or not) from shooting and save percentages. Cut through that noise, and St. Louis ranks No. 7 in their share of total scoring chances in games, 11th in their share of expected goals and fourth in offensive zone time percentage.
If they can get better goaltending — right now, Binnington and Joel Hofer combine to rank 31st in save percentage — the Blues are very capable of turning things around.
The Flames have been on parallel tracks with the Blues for a while, for whatever reason, complete with similar late-season changes that landed the two teams in a tie for the West’s final playoff spot in 2024-25 (which St. Louis won on a tiebreaker). Now, they have the two biggest losses of playoff chances in the league to start 2025-26.
The only difference is that Calgary’s goaltenders — Dustin Wolf and Devin Cooley — have actually done an admirable job under the circumstances this season, playing behind a defense that allows 30.5 shots per game and with some of the league’s worst goal support — the Flames’ 2.06 goals-per-game rate ranks last in the league.
This team needed either more scoring punch or a more stingy approach at the other end, but so far it has received neither.
Chance to continue: Moderate.
The Flames are in a less enviable position than the Blues because their dip in playoff odds has already landed them at 18%, roughly half as likely as the Blues’ chances. They’re also starting from a position of little hope for an offensive turnaround; the team ranked 29th in goals per game last season, and added little of note over the summer, so they’re banking on whatever positive regression is still left in Nazem Kadri, Jonathan Huberdeau, MacKenzie Weegar, Blake Coleman and Yegor Sharangovich.
Otherwise, Calgary does have a few factors in its favor: It looks better by scoring-chance and expected-goals shares than its bad record would indicate, and the Flames will go from facing the No. 1 most difficult schedule to No. 30 from here, the biggest scheduling easement in the league.
A few weeks ago, we wrote about how the Rangers were under some of the most pressure of any team to prove that last season’s disaster was a one-off from a franchise that typically has been the model of consistent quality over the previous two decades.
But their start in 2025-26 has done little to dispel the idea that something is fundamentally wrong with the Broadway Blueshirts.
New York currently ranks 20th in goals-per-game differential — which would be only their third season ranking so low since the 2005 lockout — and the way they’ve done it is downright bizarre. By goals per game, they have the best defense in the league, yet also the second-worst offense. A similar feat hasn’t been done since the 1963 Chicago Blackhawks finished first on defense and sixth (hey, it was the Original Six era) on offense.
Chance to continue: Low.
Like St. Louis, the Rangers have reasonably decent playoff odds (41%) despite currently sitting near the bottom of the pile in the East standings. They have too much offensive talent on hand — Artemi Panarin, J.T. Miller, Mika Zibanejad, among others — to sit last in scoring, after six consecutive seasons ranking 16th or better at that end. Though they might not finish first in goals allowed per game either, that extreme is a lot more fitting with this team’s track record than the 31st-ranked offense.
In terms of controlling play, the Rangers rank fourth in scoring-chance share, fifth in expected-goals share and seventh in offensive zone-time share. When they start improving upon their league-worst 7.8% shooting percentage, the Rangers should start winning more games, and their playoff chances will rise.
Before the season, the Wild signed Kirill Kaprizov to the richest contract in NHL history (which kicks in next season) because the data said he was as indispensable as any star: Since 2020-21, he’d driven roughly one-third of Minnesota’s offense, and in 2024-25 the team scored like a borderline top-10 team when he played and cratered without him. The logic around Kaprizov’s value still seems sound; he’s currently on pace for 45 adjusted goals and 105 adjusted points.
But while he’s holding up his end, the goaltending, defense and depth scoring aren’t, as Minnesota ranks just 20th in goals per game, despite Kaprizov’s production, to go with a No. 25 ranking in goals allowed per game and No. 29 in goals-per-game differential.
It’s now looking as if the Wild committed a lot to one player who hasn’t been able to overcome the rest of the team’s flaws to start the season.
Chance to continue: Moderate to high.
Minnesota is a confusing mixed bag so far in 2025-26. On the positive side, the Wild are a top-six team by share of offensive zone time, which would seem to suggest the potential for better results when their 98.9 PDO — 25th in the league — gets straightened out. (PDO is a highly luck-driven stat that tends to regress to the mean of 100.0 over time.)
But the Wild also haven’t done much with all that zone time, ranking 23rd in scoring-chance share and 25th in expected-goals share, perhaps indicating the need for tactical adjustments from coach John Hynes.
Also on the negative side: The Wild play a slightly tougher schedule from here, and with 24% playoff chances, they have little margin for error.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Wednesday announced the schedule of Australia’s tour of Pakistan, comprising three T20 internationals (T20I) matches set to be played towards the end of this month.
All three matches will be played at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on January 29, January 31 and February 1. Australia’s T20I squad will arrive in Lahore on January 28, the cricket board announced.
The PCB said that toss for each match will take place at 5:30pm (local time), with play set to begin at 6pm.
“The series serves as crucial game time for both sides ahead of the all-important ICC Men’s T20I World Cup 2026, where Pakistan are placed in Group A and Australia in Group B,” it added.
This will be Australia’s third tour of Pakistan since March-April 2022, when they played Tests, ODIs and a T20I in the country. The side also played three matches of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 in Pakistan. Their only previous T20I at the Gaddafi Stadium came on April 5, 2022, when they won by three wickets.
PCB Chief Operating Officer Sumair Ahmed Syed said the board was looking forward to hosting Australia in Lahore.
“We are excited and look forward to hosting Australia for the three-match T20I series here in Lahore. The tour marks a blockbuster beginning of the year for Pakistan cricket fans, and I urge them to turn out in numbers during the series to support both the teams as they put the final touches to their T20 World Cup preparations,” he said.
He added that the Gaddafi Stadium has become a familiar venue for Australia, having hosted a Test, five ODIs and a T20I involving the visitors since March 2022.
Series schedule:
1st T20: Thursday, January 29 — 6pm
2nd T20I: Saturday, January 31 — 6pm
3rd T20I: Sunday, February 1 — 6pm
The Pakistan Cricket Board has unveiled the ODI and T20I squads of the Pakistan Women’s team for the upcoming tour to South Africa, starting February 10 in Potchefstroom.
Fatima Sana will continue to lead the side in both formats as Pakistan build towards the ICC Women’s T20I World Cup 2026 in June.
Aliya Riaz, Ayesha Zafar, Gull Feroza, Muneeba Ali, Nashra Sundhu, Natalia Parvaiz, Rameen Shamim, Sadia Iqbal, Sidra Amin, and Tasmia Rubab are part of both the squads, while uncapped batter Saira Jabeen and right-arm fast bowler Humna Bilal have earned their maiden T20I call-ups.
Opening batters Ayesha and Gull, along with left-arm pacer Tasmia and wicketkeeper-batter Najiha Alvi, have been called up to the 15-member ODI squad after missing out on the ODI World Cup selection.
Diana Baig, Najiha, Sadaf Shamas and Syeda Aroob Shah are just part of the 50-over squad, while Humna, Saira, Tuba Hassan and Eyman Fatima are in the T20I squad only.
During the tour, mentor Wahab Riaz will be assisted by a seasoned set of coaches, including Imran Farhat (batting coach), Umaid Asif (fast bowling coach), Abdur Rehman (spin bowling coach) and Abdul Majeed (fielding coach).
The T20Is will be played in Potchefstroom, Benoni and Kimberley from February 10 to 16, with all being day-night fixtures.
Pakistan will warm up for the ODI series with a 50-over game at Kimberley, followed by the three ODIs at Bloemfontein, Centurion and Durban from February 22 to March 1.
The second ODI will begin in the afternoon and will also be played under lights, while the warm-up, first and third ODIs will be day games.
T20I squad:
Fatima Sana (captain), Aliya Riaz, Ayesha Zafar, Eyman Fatima, Gull Feroza (wicket-keeper), Humna Bilal, Muneeba Ali (wicket-keeper), Nashra Sundhu, Natalia Parvaiz, Rameen Shamim, Sadia Iqbal, Saira Jabeen, Sidra Amin, Tasmia Rubab, and Tuba Hassan
ODI Squad:
Fatima Sana (captain), Aliya Riaz, Ayesha Zafar, Diana Baig, Gull Feroza, Muneeba Ali (wicket-keeper), Najiha Alvi (wicket-keeper), Nashra Sundhu, Natalia Parvaiz, Rameen Shamim, Sadaf Shamas, Sadia Iqbal, Sidra Amin, Syeda Aroob Shah and Tasmia Rubab
Pakistan Women’s tour of South Africa Schedule:
1st T20I – February 10 – JB Marks Oval, Potchefstroom (day/night)
2nd T20I – February 13 – Willowmoore Park, Benoni (day/night)
3rd T20I – February 16 – Kimberley Oval, Kimberley (day/night)
50-over warm-up match – February 19 – Kimberley Oval, Kimberley (day)
1st ODI – February 22 – Mangaung Oval, Bloemfontein (day)
2nd ODI – February 25 – SuperSport Park, Centurion (day/night)
3rd ODI – March 1– Kingsmead Stadium, Durban (day)
After five months of college football, the season is down to two teams and one game. But as we wait for Miami and Indiana to meet in their College Football Playoff title throwdown, it is time for our annual lookback on the postseason contests that led up to this one.
All of them.
Since Dec. 13, when the Cricket Celebration Bowl and Bucked Up LA Bowl kicked off 2,200 miles apart, this great nation has been covered up in bowl games. And those bowl games have been covered up in mayonnaise, eggnog, baked beans and Frosted Flakes.
If you don’t like fun, stop reading now. If you don’t love college football, stop reading now. And if you are one of those Ebenezer Scrooge/mall-parking-lot-road-rage Karens who spent their holidays trying to convince the rest of us that bowl games are outdated, stop … well, OK, you probably already stopped reading anyway. And that’s cool with us. Because it’s time for our annual celebration of all that is right with this greatest of sports at a time when so many are so obsessed with what is wrong.
Welcome to the 2025-26 edition of Best of the Bowls.
Best Performance by a Game Winner: Hawai’i’s two-headed QB
In the Sheraton Hawai’i Bowl, Rainbow Warriors starting quarterback Micah Alejado threw for 274 yards and three TDs, and rushed for another 33 yards, but suffered a hard hit in the closing seconds of the game with his team trailing Cal 31-28. Backup QB Luke Weaver, who hadn’t played since mid-September, came off the bench and threw a 22-yard TD pass with 10 seconds remaining to win the game 35-31.
Timmy Chang. Loyal to the soil. #BRADDAHHOOD x @CoachTimmyChang pic.twitter.com/9nRmqJpsEy
— Hawaii Football (@HawaiiFootball) December 25, 2025
The Tigers QB threw for 267 yards and three TDs, and nearly saved the day in the fourth quarter, but the team playing out the pre-Kiffin era string blew an early 14-point lead and lost to Houston 38-35 in the Kinder’s Texas Bowl.
Best Finish You Might’ve Missed: Rate Bowl
You might remember the Rate Bowl as the Artist Formerly Known as the Copper Bowl, but now you’ll know it as the Game Forever Known as the Golden Gophers’ Last-Second Dagger Bowl.
MINNESOTA WALKS OFF THE RATE BOWL ON A GAME-WINNING TD 🤯
THE GOLDEN GOPHERS WIN THEIR 9TH-STRAIGHT BOWL GAME 🔥 pic.twitter.com/da2gMvOcwM
— ESPN (@espn) December 27, 2025
Best Float: Prince Cheddward’s Dragon
OK, OK, yes, we know that nothing will supplant the Rose Parade when it comes to rolling street artistry. However, those flower-and-seed covered floats never come close to the Rose Bowl itself. Prince Cheddward rode into the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl atop a smoking dragon slathered entirely in Cheez-Its.
THE TRUE PRINCE OF CHEESE HAS RETURNED
Prince Cheddward is back on the throne here at the @CitrusBowl pic.twitter.com/5NQECCm0VW
— Daren Stoltzfus WESH (@DarenStoltzfus) December 31, 2025
Best Sideline Interview: Snoop Dogg
Dude doesn’t just sponsor a game, the Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl, he broke off the pregame interview of the game with his name because he looked up and saw he was game for making an actual play in the game with his name, fielding a kick in the end zone adorned with, yes, his name.
Snoop Dogg jumped out of the interview to catch the kickoff in his OWN bowl game 😂
(via @BleacherReport)
— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) December 28, 2025
Best Trophy You Already Know About: Pop-Tarts Bowl
What could possibly top a giant toaster that cooks human-sized Pop-Tarts, so giant that we all held our breath when one of those tarts leapt for its life? How about a trophy that is also a toaster (even if the coaches can’t figure out how to operate it)? If you don’t know about the Pop-Tarts Bowl accolade/kitchen appliance, then you need to read this story by the great Dave Wilson.
A Pop-Tart jumped off the toaster to escape its fate shortly after this. You can’t tell me this sport isn’t perfect. pic.twitter.com/4Jy2RSFDHH
— Michael Katz (@MichaelLKatz) December 28, 2025
Best Trophy You Need to Know About: Isleta New Mexico Bowl
During the first sunrise of September, on the sacred ground of the Zia Pueblo, Elizabeth and Marcellus Medina’s family gathers clay from the land their family has occupied for centuries, which is used to craft the pot that is awarded to the winner of the New Mexico Bowl every December. It is hand-painted except for one blank space reserved for the name of the winning team, carefully inscribed as soon as the game is over. One part history, one part art and all parts glory.
The New Mexico Bowl trophy is so freaking cool. A couple in Zia Pueblo hand crafts a new design every single year.
Here’s four of the designs we’ve seen between CSU and UNM the last few days pic.twitter.com/ohzKLWNOlc
— GFed (@GfedGoCrazy) October 8, 2025
Best Trophy the Coach Didn’t Want: Vrbo Fiesta Bowl
Miami’s Mario Cristobal, like Kirby Smart and others from the Saban coaching tree, has taken on his mentor’s model of postgame celebration following any win that isn’t a national championship. In his defense, Cristobal’s focus was to get his players on the stage instead of “all these extra people,” but when he was handed the golden football from atop the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl trophy he looked at it like he’d just opened a Christmas present that he thought was going to be a PlayStation but ended up being socks.
This entire sequence is incredible.
No notes.
Cristobal: “Can we get our players up here instead of all these extra people?”
VRBO lady: *Awkward speech that has way too many pauses and it’s clear she doesn’t know ball.*
Cristobal: *has zero interest in trophy*
Cinema. pic.twitter.com/q9bhWQhAef
— Adam Spencer (@AdamSpencer4) January 9, 2026
Still the Best Bowl Perk: NASCAR Ride-Alongs
No matter the name of its game, from Continental Tire and Meineke Car Care to Belk and Duke’s Mayo, Charlotte’s bowl game continues to both electrify and terrify its participants by taking them to Charlotte Motor Speedway for some 180 mph hot laps via the NASCAR Racing Experience.
Boogity, boogity, boogity 🏎️💨 pic.twitter.com/oRkzlXlQni
— Wake Forest Football (@WakeFB) December 30, 2025
Best Educational Experience: Is this where the dentist lost his tooth?
No doubt Nebraska was bummed to lose the SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl to Utah, but at least they were able to get in some great learning opportunities. Isn’t that right, Huskers wideout Dane Key?
Nebraska WR Dane Key may be prepping for a game in Vegas, but the highlight so far?
Seeing where The Hangover was filmed!😂 @KETV pic.twitter.com/YX0PTJuPT5
— Lauren Michelson (@LaurenMichelson) December 27, 2025
Best Surprise Game Tweeter: Steven Van Zandt
Social media can be the worst. But when Bruce Springsteen’s righthand man, aka Miami Steve, aka Little Steven aka Silvio Dante starts randomly live-tweeting about the Go Bowling Military Bowl because he likes East Carolina’s logo because it wears a bandana like he does, well, then social media can be the best. Especially when he kept on tweeting all the way through bowl season and into the CFP.
East Carolina Pirates! My new favorite team! My kind of logo!(and just got screwed on that bad call!) pic.twitter.com/edng7hTKIx
— 🇺🇸🇮🇱🇺🇦🕉Stevie Van Zandt☮️💙 (@StevieVanZandt) December 27, 2025
The ‘Hang It In the Louvre’ Award: Duke WR Que’Sean Brown
Brown did what Arizona State’s Jalen Moss had done earlier, taking a post-TD dive into a giant bowl of Frosted Flakes at the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl, but the image that emerged from Brown’s backward flop was pure art.
This is an all-time bowl game picture pic.twitter.com/vHS6wz3Llt
— CFB Kings (@CFBKings) December 31, 2025
The ‘Isn’t This Actually in the Louvre?’ Award: The Beaneater by Annibale Carracci
After Louisville defeated Toledo in the Bush’s Boca Raton Bowl of Beans, the Cardinals partook of said beans … and legendary social media follow @ArtButSports partook of some art education.
The Beaneater, by Annibale Carracci, 1580s pic.twitter.com/MtqaQvUOX6
— ArtButMakeItSports (@ArtButSports) December 24, 2025
The ‘Is There Something Opposite of the Louvre We Can Hang This In?’ Award: Holiday Bowl
The Trust & Will Holiday Bowl is an underrated classic, from BYU’s 1984 national title game to Kevin from “The Office” slinging eggnog over the coach’s head and onto photographers (which he did on purpose). But this year’s end zone paint jobs were like some sort of wintertime beach Rorschach test.
💪 POWER 💪 FOOTBALL 💪
📺 @CFBONFOX x @SMUFB pic.twitter.com/4qt5SlD25D
— ACC Football (@ACCFootball) January 3, 2026
Best Odd Couple: Butch Jones and Master Chief
The Xbox Bowl made its debut this year, played at The Star in Frisco, Texas. If you’re going to be an Xbox game then who else should present the trophy but the hero of THE Xbox game, Master Chief from Halo, who handed over the hardware to Arkansas State and coach Butch Jones. I can’t accurately explain why that juxtaposition is so funny, but you have to admit that it totally is.
Brand new sentence: Halo presents Arkansas State’s Butch Jones with the @XboxBowl game trophy. pic.twitter.com/gL8Fg45sFG
— Kara Richey (@Kara_Richey) December 19, 2025
Best Gatorade Bath Chase Won by Players: UTSA
As the Roadrunners finished off Florida International in the SERVPRO First Responder Bowl, head coach Jeff Traylor responded by dashing more than 50 yards to try to avoid getting doused in the cold December Dallas air, but the plastic sideline thingy did him in.
UTSA forced its coach to take a Gatorade bath after winning the ServPro First Responder Bowl 😂 pic.twitter.com/BK4AxymeQL
— ESPN (@espn) December 27, 2025
Best Gatorade Bath Chase Almost Won by Coach: Army
As the Black Knights put away UConn in the much-colder New England air of the Wasabi Fenway Bowl, Army head coach Jeff Monken ran a bazillion yards zigzagging like Barry Sanders before a definite should-have-been holding penalty against D-lineman Jack Bousum did the frozen deed.
Army coach Jeff Monken was juking his team to get out of the Gatorade shower 🤣 pic.twitter.com/pz2TTQdJom
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) December 27, 2025
Best Season: Bowl Season
The ratings were up, the fun was up, and transfer portal be damned, the football was up … especially for those who knew their time together was up, too.
This is why I love bowl games. The weirdness and all that is awesome, but really it’s about guys who’ve been through so much having one last game together. And for SO many it’s the final time they’ll wear a uniform. Call me a softie. But it’s true. pic.twitter.com/ktEZrkrHbW
— Ryan McGee (@ESPNMcGee) December 23, 2025
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