Jimmy Kimmel L.A. Bowl ranks high on list of must-watch bowl games. Jake Haener is why
Very soon, it will be tough to turn on the TV and not run into a college football bowl game either live or a replay.
There are 43, including the College Football Playoff national championship game to be decided Jan. 9 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood. Most provide little more than holiday programming for ESPN, which owns and operates 17 of the games, and exposure for bowl sponsors including SRS Distribution (a building products distributor), RoofClaim.com (a Florida roofing contractor) and TaxAct (no explanation needed).
Fresno State will play Washington State in the Jimmy Kimmel L.A. Bowl on Saturday, and the matchup has piqued the curiosity of some — for reasons other than the somewhat ubiquitous title sponsors. CBS college football reporter Tom Fornelli picked it as the eighth-best or most watchable game in a packed bowl lineup, and that’s up there considering New Year’s Six bowls grabbed four of the top seven spots on his list.
His reasoning: Bulldogs quarterback Jake Haener. “Have you ever seen Fresno State QB Jake Haener?” Fornelli wrote. “He’s an amalgamation of every underdog quarterback you’ve seen in a movie or television show about a football team. Haener is listed as 6-foot-1 and 201 pounds, which might be generous. Still, Haener is a gamer regardless of size. I’ve seen this kid take so many shots during his career, but he gets up every time and keeps going. Sometimes he gets up slower than others, and sometimes he moves gingerly, but he gets up every time. I love him. He’s the heart and soul of this Fresno State team that won the Mountain West.”
That’s obvious to anyone here in the San Joaquin Valley, so here’s another reason to tune in. The Bulldogs can finish with 10 or more wins for the fourth time in the past five non-COVID seasons and become the first 10-4 team in history that started out the season at 1-4, which would be a nice add to the legacy of coach Jeff Tedford.
The Bulldogs also had only three seasons with 10 or more wins between 1990 and 2016, before Tedford returned to his alma mater and flipped their fortunes on the football field.
Kickoff is 12:30 p.m. on ABC30.
The bowl lineup starts bright and early Friday with the Bahamas Bowl between Alabama-Birmingham and Miami (Ohio) at 8:30 a.m. and then the Cure Bowl between Troy and Texas-San Antonio at noon, with six games including the L.A. Bowl to be played on Saturday.
