Sports

College Bowl Games to Feature Plenty of Local Stars

Make your viewing plans by checking out the list of who's playing where.

College football teams found out Sunday night where they would be playing bowl games this season, and there’s plenty of Chicago-area talent featured on the rosters.

Locally, at least four players with Joliet connections are headed to big games. Craig Slowik and Jake Stockman, both Joliet residents and Joliet Catholic Academy graduates who play for University of New York Buffalo, will be playing in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl on Dec. 21.

Another JCA grad, Ty Isaac of Shorewood who plays for the University of Southern California, will be at the Las Vegas Bowl on Dec. 21. He'll be joined by teammate Pat Hart, a Burr Ridge native who also graduated from JCA.

Find out what's happening in Jolietwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Local teams Northern Illinois and Notre Dame won’t be going back to BCS bowls as they did last year, but they still have bowl games and local guys to watch. The Huskies have 20 area athletes on the roster, plus a bunch more from non-Patch towns, and Notre Dame features nine. Mount Greenwood native Jordan Lynch, who was named a Heisman Trophy finalist, easily had the best season of the bunch, leading the Huskies to a 12-1 record with 4,557 total yards and 45 touchdowns as a passing and rushing threat.

There’s a lot of Big Ten representation as well, with local athletes on the roster for Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio State and Wisconsin.

Perhaps not surprisingly, 2012 Class 7A state champion Glenbard West has the most guys (six) on the list. Six athletes from Naperville are also on the list, with each one having attended a different high school.

And New Lenox native Jake Lembke, who attended Providence Catholic, is part of a team in the biggest game: He’s a deep snapper for the Auburn Tigers, who will play in the BCS National Championship against the undefeated and No. 1-ranked Florida State Seminoles.

See the full 2013-14 college football bowl schedule on ESPN.com.

Student-athletes featured in this article are from Patch towns or attended high schools in Patch towns, not all Chicago-area student-athletes. The sources used are the university athletics websites. If we missed anyone, give them a shout-out in the comment box below.


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