The Mulligan: A Fan's Case of What if's

Every sports season ends in with a bunch of what if questions. What if this happened and what if we didn't lose this player and so on. The most these situations happen is in college football due to the bowl system. Every team has a fan base that wishes that they had a mulligan against a particular opponent because if something went their way then their team would have won the game. That's what they believe so in this piece I will take a fun but journalistic look at one game the top teams lost to see if they have a case of whether a rematch would give provide a different result.

Air Force's - Week 2 @ Wyoming: This was a defensive battle in which Air Force had a 13-10 lead late in the 4th when Wyoming drove 75 yards in nine plays to take the lead with 58 seconds remaining. Two costly fumbles and drives stalling prevented some scoring opportunities for the Falcons in this game. However you have to finish drives and don't turnover the ball so they don't have a chance at a mulligan in this matchup. A 6-2 record with a chance to finish 8-4 or 9-3 is a great turnaround for a team that went 2-10 (0-8) last season.

Boise State - Week 5 @ Air Force: Seven turnovers! Yes you read that right SEVEN, including four interceptions by Grant Hedrick before getting pulled and Ryan Finley took over. The Broncos were down 28-0 in the 4th when they began to storm back scoring two quick touchdowns before Finley threw a pick sealing the game for the Falcons. This is an interesting one when it comes to a mulligan because, Air Force ran all over Boise and SEVEN turnovers are SEVEN turnovers.

Colorado State - Week 2 @ Boise State: Let me first say that I'm not a fan of conference games within the first couple weeks of the football season. Non-conference games prepare you for the conference schedule. This is the Rams only loss of the season and they were dominated in this loss. However I hear a lot that if CSU played at home that the result would be different. CSU has been a different team since then winning seven games in a row. However if the game is played at this point of the season this game would be a toss up. Boise would have the edge due to the home field advantage but if this was played on a netural field I would favor the Rams.

San Diego State - Week 2 @ North Carolina: The Aztecs were in control of this game until they allowed 17 fourth quarter points allowing North Carolina to steal a win 31-27. This is another interesting result because North Carolina dropped four straight games after that win. The Aztecs lost to Oregon State and both teams currently have the same number of wins (4). This game is one that if the Aztecs won they would be one win away from being bowl eligible.

Nevada - Week 3 @ Arizona: Another good game in which the Wolf Pack came back from a two touchdown deficit to tie the game at 21. Arizona responded with two scores of their own to push the lead to 14 and Nevada had a late score to make things interesting again. They couldn't pull it off though losing 35-28. A game in which they controlled the clock, played close to perfect football but came up just short. They have a very solid mulligan case because winning this game would have gave them back to back wins against the PAC 12.

Utah State - Week 4 @ Arkansas State: You could put Colorado State here but this game was a tough loss to swallow for Aggie fans. The defense caused four turnovers and dominated a defensive struggle. This was their first game without quarterback Chuckie Keeton who ended up being loss for the season the week before that. The Aggies gave up a lead late in the 4th, had a field goal blocked and failed to score in overtime losing to Arkansas State. If they would've won the team would have been 7-2 a half game ahead of Boise in the Mountain Division. However nothing could make up losing three starting quarterbacks in one season though.

Not every team truly deserves a mulligan, and at the end of the season it will be based on what if's. The bottom line is there won't be chances get to have replays that, will change the original result, but its always a debatable conversation to have.Hopefully your teams will take care of business and avoid the dreaded what if.