It’s finally bowl season, and that means there will be weirdly named college football games on at random times from now until New Year’s Day, and that’s a very exciting thing.

For those who are able to watch, there’s nothing better than big-time sports on during the middle of the work day. Whether it’s NCAA Tournament action, playoff baseball, bowl games, World Cup soccer or whatever else, it’s always nice to be able to be a little less productive and watch some important action.

Plus, it’s great background entertainment for when you have family over. Nothing gives you an excuse to get out of a conversation with an annoying relative like a big play in a bowl game.

Sit back and enjoy the action, folks. Here are this week’s questions for the SDS Mailbag:

Rachel:

It seems as if everyone is lobbying for an eight-team Playoff. How would you try to fix the current system before overhauling everything?

While I do think the College Football Playoff will eventually expand to eight teams, I believe there are ways to spice up the current four-team format as well. For example, the No. 1 seed should get to choose what opponent it wants to play.

Look at this year — are you telling me Alabama would have voluntarily chosen to play No. 4 Oklahoma when there’s a good case to be made that No. 3 Notre Dame is a better matchup for the Tide? I think Nick Saban would have passed the task of stopping Kyler Murray on to No. 2 Clemson.

The added benefit is that this system would also give the team that the No. 1 chooses to play a little extra motivation to prove that the top team made the wrong choice. I love everything about this idea.

A second idea is to let the top two seeds pick which New Year’s 6 bowl game they want to play in. For example, this year, Alabama probably would have chosen Atlanta and the Peach Bowl to play Oklahoma. Meanwhile, with Atlanta off the board, Clemson probably would have picked Miami and the Orange Bowl to take on Notre Dame.

A caveat I’d put in there is that if the top seeds repeat as either the No. 1 or No. 2 seed, they can’t pick the same NY6 bowl game two years in a row. Yes, the current system may lead to Clemson and Alabama alternating between Atlanta and Miami, but that’s up to other teams to stop them.

Then, it leaves open the possibility that, let’s say hypothetically, Clemson draws Georgia in the semifinal. If the Tigers had played in Miami the previous year, they could choose to go out to the Rose or Fiesta Bowls to completely blow things up and keep the Bulldogs away from Atlanta. I think these two ideas would make the four-team system a lot more fun.

BONUS: Last week, Dobbe’s bold pick of Navy to upset Army came up just short, though the Midshipmen gave their biggest rivals a great game. This week, he has three bowl picks for you:

  • Middle Tennessee (+7) vs. Appalachian State in the New Orleans Bowl — Too many points for one of my favorite teams of the year.
  • Ohio (-3) vs. San Diego State (and over on the 54 points) in the Frisco Bowl — Some nice midweek action. Ohio got embarrassed to end the season. They’ll embarrass SDSU.
  • Arizona State (+5) vs. Fresno State in the Las Vegas Bowl — Fresno has been overrated all year. Arizona State has been underrated all year. That equals an ASU victory.

Dobbe’s Locks season record: 11-12-1

Nate in Salt Lake City:

Which former SEC coach got the worst new job in the annual Coaching Shuffle? I had thought it would be Les Miles going to Kansas, but Hugh Freeze to Liberty may have just come in under the wire — emphasis on under.

I definitely thought it was strange that Freeze jumped at the Liberty job instead of waiting to potentially be hired as Auburn’s or Tennessee’s (or potentially even Alabama’s) offensive coordinator. However, it’s tough to fault a guy for wanting a head coaching job, and we don’t know what went on behind the scenes and if SEC commissioner Greg Sankey potentially had something to do with Freeze not ending up back in the conference.

However, I think he’ll be back in a big-time job sooner or later, but I can’t say the same for Miles. After missing out on the jobs he interviewed for last year, he basically had to jump at whatever job he was offered, as no one was going to hire him as an offensive coordinator in the SEC, apparently.

I think, should Freeze have even moderate success in the first two years at Liberty, he’ll be a hot candidate for a bigger and better head coaching job. Miles, on the other hand, is stuck at a school that has a huge hole to climb out of. Add in the fact that the team’s best player was just arrested on domestic battery charges and it could be a really long first year for the Mad Hatter. I just don’t see him turning Kansas into even a moderately successful program, so for that reason, I say he got the worst end of the deal compared to Freeze.

Ryan:

While Drew Lock has struggled at times this year, the amount of backlash from certain Mizzou fans seems a little unwarranted considering a good 2018 season and what he’s done for Mizzou football the past four years. While Kelly Bryant is a good one-year bridge, there isn’t a clear quarterback of the future. What would you say to a Mizzou fan — let’s call him Pete — that thinks this team is better off without Drew at quarterback? And what is your outlook for Kelly running the offense next year?

I’m not exactly unbiased when it comes to this question. Lock is my favorite college player since Chase Daniel, so I’m always going to look at the bright side when it comes to him. Yes, he throws some inexplicable interceptions, but he has been great for the program and should go down as a Mizzou legend.

To this hypothetical Pete, I’d say it’s ridiculous that he thinks the program will be better off without him. Pete sounds like a terrible person.

I think Bryant will keep the Mizzou offense humming along next season, as he makes the running game even more dangerous and guys like Larry Rountree III, Damarea Crockett and Tyler Badie will be back in the mix. He’ll have plenty of open passing lanes, and I think Derek Dooley can turn him around.

As for the long-term answer at quarterback, I’m interested in seeing 2019 commit Connor Bazelak, whom the coaching staff is high on. I would only play him in parts of four games next fall so he can preserve his redshirt, but if he can show some flashes of brilliance in limited action, I think he could turn into the next long-term starter for the Tigers.

Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

And now for your non-football question of the week …

@BoBrewer:

What do you put on your Waffle House hash browns?

I really like ketchup, but I don’t like them on hash browns, strangely. It’s in the top five for hash browns condiments, but just barely. Here’s how I’d rank the best things to put on hash browns:

  1. Egg yolk — Nothing like getting some of that delicious yolk dripping down through the crisp scattered hash browns.
  2. Smothered and covered — Onions and cheese? Yes please. Adding cheese to anything makes it instantly better.
  3. Hot sauce — I’m a fan of Cholula or Tabasco, but let’s be real here, Texas Pete’s is the best of the best.
  4. Syrup — When the syrup from your waffles drifts over and soaks the hash browns? Yeah, that’s pretty good eating.
  5. Ketchup — A fine option if you have nothing else, but I’d try to make sure you have something else.

Adding chili (topped) is fine, but at that point, the chili becomes the star and not the hash browns, so I left it out of the rankings.

Have a question for the SDS Mailbag? Tweet at us using #SDSMailbag or email me at ASpencer@SaturdayDownSouth.com.