The 2022 Barstool Sports Arizona Bowl appears to be in the clear.
Tucson’s bowl game — which almost wasn’t played in 2020 and got canceled last year — is scheduled to kick off at 2:30 p.m. Friday at Arizona Stadium. Ohio (9-4) and Wyoming (7-5) have been in town all week, although it took some doing to get everybody here. Even the weather seems to be cooperating.
It rained the day the matchup was announced. It rained Wednesday, when representatives from the Bobcats and Cowboys met with local media. Friday? The forecast calls for 62 degrees with partly cloudy skies. Perfection.
A crowd of 30,000-plus is expected to attend the seventh version of the Arizona Bowl, signifying, at long last, a return to normalcy. Here are five storylines to watch:
1. Game on!
The simple fact that the game is happening is the biggest deal of all.
The Arizona Bowl nearly succumbed to the pandemic in 2020. San Jose State played with a skeleton crew. The stands were unoccupied.
The following year, Barstool Sports came on board as title sponsor. The matchup was set between Boise State — the highest-profile program in the Mountain West Conference — and Central Michigan of the Mid-American Conference.
Just days before the game was set to be played, the Broncos bailed because of COVID-19 issues. CMU jumped to the Sun Bowl. The 2021 Arizona Bowl was kaput.
Eric Rhodes, vice president of communications for the Arizona Bowl, equated it to reaching — and losing — the national championship game.
“We put in a bunch of work and came up short,” Rhodes said. “And man, it was a gut punch.”
The Arizona Bowl team briefly mourned its loss, regrouped and charted a path for a bigger, better bowl experience.
Wyoming has been here before — the Cowboys won the Arizona Bowl in 2019, the last time it was played in front of fans — so Craig Bohl and his crew knew what to expect. Still, he appreciates the Arizona Bowl’s mission. It’s a true community-oriented event.
Since 2015, the Arizona Bowl has generated approximately $4.5 million in charitable donations. Barstool Sports just awarded $1.2 million in grants to local businesses. The Arizona Bowl has accounted for an estimated $125 million economic impact on Tucson since its inception.
Still, the Arizona Bowl team isn’t making any assumptions until kickoff.
“I will believe it when the ball leaves the tee on Dec. 30 at 2:30 local time,” Rhodes said.
2. ‘Platform’ plaudits
The Arizona Bowl will not be broadcast in a traditional manner. It will be streamed, for free, via Barstool.TV. The Barstool Sports app is available on most streaming devices. Subscribers to Sling TV will have access to it via the Barstool Sports Channel.
The participants in the 2022 Arizona Bowl are excited about having a stage to themselves.
“College football is evolving,” Bohl said. “It’s a really popular sport. But just like these guys (his players) have talked about, their appetite to consume information is different than a guy like me. So to broaden that market, I think, is great. I applaud the Arizona Bowl and Barstool going into this venture.”
Ohio coach Tim Albin compared the exclusivity of the Arizona Bowl’s streaming arrangement to “MACtion.” Late in the season, the MAC schedules most of its games on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, giving the conference its own window on ESPN.
“Tuesday-night game, it’s a platform,” Albin said. “Just like Barstool Sports is a platform. It’s a great opportunity for us to get the Ohio brand out.”
As Rhodes noted, the NFL — the behemoth of professional sports in the U.S. — entered into a streaming agreement with Amazon for “Thursday Night Football.” The league is trying to appeal to a younger audience that doesn’t subscribe to a cable or satellite service. Barstool Sports already does.
“It’s 2022, almost 2023,” Wyoming athletic director Tom Burman said. “In full transparency ... we’d probably prefer to have over-the-air than streaming. But we’re doing this meeting right now via streaming (Zoom). Our fans, some of them still are adapting to that world, but they’re coming along.
“It’s an opportunity for us to grow our brand in a different space.”
Barstool’s biggest personalities will be participating in the production. Dave Portnoy and Dan “Big Cat” Katz will serve as game analysts. Katz also will sing the National Anthem. Jake Marsh will handle the play-by-play duties.
3. The best player ...
... on either team isn’t playing.
Ohio quarterback Kurtis Rourke, the Offensive Player of the Year in the MAC, suffered a torn ACL in his right knee on Nov. 15. Before getting hurt, Rourke had passed for 3,256 yards with 25 touchdowns and four interceptions. He ranks sixth nationally with a 167.7 efficiency rating — just ahead of Oregon’s Bo Nix and TCU’s Max Duggan.
“Obviously, we would not be here ... without Kurtis,” Albin said. “He had an unbelievable year. My heart breaks for him.
“I know Kurtis will battle back. He’s already off crutches and throwing. He’s in meetings every day, taking notes just like he always does.”
Rourke, a fourth-year sophomore from Oakville, Ontario, plans to return to Ohio next season. His older brother, Nathan, preceded him in Athens and was a three-year starter for the Bobcats from 2017-19. There’s no place Kurtis Rourke would rather be. Ohio was the only FBS school to offer him a scholarship.
“It’s definitely one of the places I would have considered heavily anyways,” Rourke said. “As a family, we knew what the program would bring ... and that was something we wanted to be a part of.”
In lieu of playing, Rourke is offering support to backup CJ Harris, who started the Bobcats’ final two games — a 38-14 win over Bowling Green and a 17-7 loss to Toledo in the MAC Championship Game.
“He’s very talented,” Rourke said. “He’s going out and having fun. That’s the advice I gave him. But he doesn’t really need that. He’s really been a confident player.
“It’s a big role to step into ... and I think he stepped into it really well. I’m proud of him.”
Wyoming quarterback Andrew Peasley arrived in Laramie via the NCAA transfer portal. He’ll start on Friday, when the Cowboys take on Ohio in the Barstool Sports Arizona Bowl.
4. He’s home
Harris’ counterpart, Andrew Peasley, came to Wyoming via the NCAA transfer portal. The move from conference rival Utah State has worked out well for both parties. But Peasley cautioned that the portal isn’t for everyone.
“If you’re at a place and you’re not sure if you’re gonna be able to find a new home, then I don’t think you should enter the portal,” said Peasley, who had graduated from USU before transferring. “Because it’s scary, and there’s a lot of guys in there.
“At the same time, for me, it worked out perfect. I found a home that I love.”
After the portal purged the Cowboys’ QB room last offseason, Bohl put the word out that he was looking for a new quarterback. He found Peasley. Almost a year later, the two recalled how their relationship developed.
“It was a hectic time for me,” Peasley said. “It was getting late. It was early January. The semester is coming up.
“I remember he called me (at) the airport, and that was kind of the talk. I was like, ‘Oh, this might be the spot.’ Next thing you know, we’re sitting in his office. And in my head I was like, ‘Now you’re stuck with me.’”
Bohl said Peasley was “the right fit” for Wyoming. But the veteran coach wasn’t completely sure at first.
“Quite frankly, I was concerned about it,” Bohl said. “I know he might have been concerned too. I can remember sitting in my office, and we’re looking at one another. Unlike the other experiences that you go through ... you’re making a quick decision. But it was the right decision.”
5. Motivation situation
Oftentimes, bowl games are decided by which team has more incentive to win. Does either participant in the Arizona Bowl have an edge in that area?
Wyoming turned its season around with a four-game winning streak from Oct. 8-Nov. 12. The Cowboys then lost by a field goal to Boise State and got blown out by Fresno State, the eventual MWC champ.
“One thing that’s great about the Arizona Bowl is the timing,” Bohl said. “(After) playing Fresno, who turned out to be an excellent football team, you’re licking your wounds. To get these guys back to play in a short amount of time when they just went through a rigorous season ... this span has really been good. It’s given our players a chance to decompress.
“My sense is we have a really hungry football team.”
Ohio finished with the best regular-season record in the MAC, including a 7-1 conference mark. Without Rourke, the Bobcats posted their lowest point total of the season in the league title game. They have a chance to reach 10 wins for just the third time in modern program history.
“I know that we’re going to find ourselves wanting it as hard as possible,” Albin said. “Coach Bohl’s team will do the same. It should be a hard-knocking, great football game.”
Catalina Foothills High School Falcons Band performed their Rose Bowl show for parents and friends on Dec. 27 at Catalina Foothills High School.
The band performed their 2023 field show "All Hallows Eve," a parade show and a rodeo roping demonstration. The band will perform at the 134th Rose Parade on Monday, Jan. 2, 2023. Video by Pascal Albright / Arizona Daily Star
