Bowl Precap, Part 1

Well, it looks like it's the last stop on our tour of the season. After the bowls, there really won't be much to add that you won't have already seen for yourself. The various bowl championships will have been decided, and we will all settle into the cold, bleak winter, punctuated only by the brief excitement of recruiting's final push, and National Signing Day. Then that's it for the long, gray months until spring football, which really only sharpens the appetite for the next season. Blech, now I'm getting depressed.

But before that depressing stuff happens, we have a boatload of games to watch, think about, and analyze interminably for the next three weeks. So let's get started! We'll deal with this whole shebang in two parts, because I don't have time to preview 34 games in two weeks.

New Mexico Bowl, Dec. 19

Wyoming vs. Fresno State

I know a lot of you aren't all that gonzo for this game, but you need to watch it: Ryan Matthews from Fresno State is incredible. I saw him in the game against Boise State and he really is jaw-dropping good. Boise State is no slouch on the defensive side of the ball and he made them look silly with three touchdown runs of 60 yards or longer. He is worth the price of admission alone. And for the reason of his presence, I predict Fresno State will win.

St. Petersburg Bowl, Dec. 19

Rutgers vs. Central Florida

This game, however, is a little tougher to figure. Rutgers has been a middling team all season, while Central Florida has been doing something, I'm sure, but I won't even pretend I know what it is... aside from giving Texas some trouble early in their game against them, which they seem to excel at. Anyway, I think if Rutgers can get their power game going, they should be fine. However, I don't think they will be able to do that against a pretty good Conference USA team. Central Florida drives home after a win in the Tropicana.

R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl, Dec. 20

Middle Tennessee State vs. Southern Mississippi

This game is remarkable for the incredible length of the two teams names, allowing them to combine for the longest pair of team names of all the bowls. We also have a game with a Middle Tennessee State team that I was very impressed with early in their loss to Missippi, and a Southern Mississippi team I was very impressed with early in their loss to Houston. Obviously, both teams couldn't pull out the big games, but they were facing some tough competition. I think this game should be a tough battle, but I expect Southern Mississippi to wear down their Sun Belt opponent and take the win.

Maaco Las Vegas Bowl, Dec. 22

BYU vs. Oregon State

You know, the Mormons sure do spend a lot of time in Las Vegas. What is this, their third straight year in the Las Vegas Bowl? The Oregon State folks are going to have to pick up a lot of the slack here. Personally, I would be willing to do that if I were an Oregon State fan. Particularly if my team wins, which I think Oregon State will do, because they are a pretty good team that fought their way through the toughest top-to-bottom conference this year in college football. Yes, I am saying that it was better than the SEC. I just wish the two conferences actually played each other in the bowls to show whether there is any truth to that claim.

San Diego Count Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl, Dec. 23

Utah vs. Cal

Speaking of long names, we come to one of my favorite bowls of the season. This bowl has routinely created some of the best matchups of the season, which is doubly impressive for the fact it is a pre-Christmas bowl. I would expect a game this good to be played on New Year's Eve at the earliest, yet here it is to warm our hearts in the days just before we are forced to deal with our families.

The Mountain West gets a coveted chance to knock off a Pac-10 big brother in this year's Poinsettia Bowl, and it is shaping up pretty well for the MWC. While not up to last year's level, Utah is proving to be a very durable brand name. Cal, on the other hand, could not live up to their big expectations as they fought through what proved to be a very tough conference. Utah won't have an easy time of it, but I predict the Utes will take home whatever the trophy is for this game.

Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl, Dec. 24

Nevada vs. SMU

Again, I have to ask when we started putting the apostrophe in Hawai'i? It was Hawaii for the entirety of my formative years, now it has an apostrophe. What did I miss? What was the reason for it? Is it a cultural thing for Hawai'ians, is it a pronunciation thing, or did a video game designer convince them that apostrophes make everything sound more exotic? Personally, I'm annoyed when they give space aliens a bunch of apostrophes in their names just to make them seem weird. That and the rampant overuse of the letters X and Z in names shows me that the designers are either trying too hard, or not trying at all.

Anyway, back to the Hawai'i (this is going to take some getting used to) Bowl. Nevada had a chance to win the WAC with a season-ending victory over Boise State, but they ended up dropping the ball. SMU wasn't anything special this year, except for the fact that they are going back to a bowl game for the first time since they received the now-legendary NCAA "death penalty". And they are returning thanks to the arrival of one Mr. June Jones, who took the University of Hawai'i to its greatest football successes. I'll take the returning hero to lead SMU to victory in the balmiest of the bowls.

Little Caesar's Pizza Bowl, Dec. 26

Ohio vs. Marshall

I ain't gonna lie here, it's hard to get fired up for this thing. Two green and white teams that were, once upon a time, conference rivals are now battling it out for mastery of Detroit's bowl. But it's still a bowl game, and they made it fair and square. There are a lot of teams who would like to have made it this far: Notre Dame (maybe), Michigan, Kansas, Kansas State, Illinois, NC State, Washington, Arizona State, and Colorado just to list off a few big names who will be home for the holidays. Those teams wish they were bowl material—like Ohio and Marshall.

Ohio is coming off of another solid season in the MAC, where they couldn't pull off the trick against a very good Central Michigan team in the MAC Championship. But I'll take the risk and go with the MAC in Detroit. Ohio wins.

Meineke Car Car Bowl, Dec. 26

North Carolina vs. Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh was right on the verge of their second BCS bowl when they scored a late touchdown against Cincinnati to take the lead in the Big East's de facto conference championship game. Then Cincinnati did what Cincinatti does: move the ball down the field in almost no time and score a touchdown. I don't know if Pittsburgh can rally after that disappointment. I think the final series in that game is running through their minds every time they get a spare moment to think. It's going to haunt them for a long time. It will still be haunting them against a UNC team that is tough to figure, but will actually be fired up for this game. I'll take North Carolina in this one.

Emerald Bowl, Dec. 26

Boston College vs. USC

And speaking of teams that won't be fired up, USC is limping into this game like they dislocated both kneecaps. 8-4 ain't what the Trojans are used to. The bits I saw of them during their late-season swoon, I got the general sense that this team lacked on-field leadership. Not that there weren't people saying the right things and trying to do things correctly, I just got the feeling that everyone was tentative and waiting for someone else to do something. It was as though everyone was holding a door open, saying, "No, I insist, after you."

USC is going to have a hard time finding the emotion that they feed off of so much. But they are still quite a lot better than Boston College, meaning they can and will sleepwalk to a win.

Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl, Dec. 27

Clemson vs. Kentucky

We have another interesting case here. We have an underachieving Clemson team and an overachieving Kentucky team. One of the best of the ACC takes on one of the lesser SEC teams. And it all happens in Nashville in what seems to be a pretty evenly matched bowl game. I'll take Clemson to ride C.J. Spiller to one more win.

Advocare V100 Independence Bowl, Dec. 28

Texas A&M vs. Georgia

We have two teams going in different directions here, with Georgia going backwards and Texas A&M going nowhere. Okay, sorry, that was a cheap shot; Texas A&M has improved from their dud of a last year. Still, I would have liked to see more improvement than 6-6. Georgia, however, is once again letting me down from my annual overrating of the Bulldogs. But 7-5 doesn't keep the checks coming in Athens. Mark Richt has done a good job there, but the return of Alabama will make it much more difficult for Georgia to pull in the SEC titles.

Anyway, back to this game. Georgia is largely punchless on offense and is iffy on defense. Texas A&M has an offense that is 100% or 0%, but has little defense. After more than four weeks off, I would expect the offense to come out at the 0% mark in this game—especially against an unfamiliar opponent. Georgia wins.

EagleBank Bowl, Dec. 29

UCLA vs. Temple

I will be interested to see how many people are going to show up to this game. I'm guessing that there won't be but a thousand or so UCLA fans in the stands for a game in Washington D.C. But Temple is another matter, since they are just up the road in Philadelphia, and it is Temple's first bowl game in some ridiculous number of years. I'm dead certain that Bill Cosby will be there. I'm hoping that a lot of other Temple alums will come out to see their team's triumphant return to the postseason. I'll even admit that I'm probably going to be rooting for traditionally terrible Temple to win. They won't. UCLA's fans will stay home happy.

Champs Sports Bowl, Dec. 29

Miami (FL) vs. Wisconsin

It's games like this that make me enjoy the bowls so much. Miami and Wisconsin are always on such different wavelengths that I sometimes forget they really are allowed play against each other. It would be like seeing a Canadian football team line up against an NFL football team and trying to figure out whose rules they were using.

John Clay is a scary good running back. He has a bruising style that is combined with a surprisingly fast 5th gear he can kick in once he breaks into open space. And Scott Tolzien is another quarterback in the Wisconsin mold: a seeming handoff specialist who you has a better-than-you-thought arm combined with excellent decision-making. However, Miami has serious explosiveness at wide receiver that is also scary good. Get those receivers into space and the other team had better be bringing some friends along if they want to keep things from getting out of hand.

The problem for Wisconsin is that they need to grind Miami and force them to defend long drives that keep Miami's offense off the field. But the more Miami's offense is off the field, and the more they fall behind, the more they will feel the need to pass the ball to score points. Which is exactly what they need to do to beat Wisconsin anyway. I've got to go with Miami here.

Roady's Humanitarian Bowl, Dec. 30

Idaho vs. Bowling Green

It's WAC vs. MAC on the blue turf of Boise. Considering Idaho played in a tougher conference and they are essentially playing a home game, I have to go with Idaho for the win in their rival's stadium.

Pacific Life Holiday Bowl, Dec. 30

Arizona vs. Nebraska

Nick Foles has been putting up some pretty good numbers for Arizona this year, but I have not been all that impressed with him when I've seen him play. He is good, but not great. His arm isn't bad, but it's not particularly powerful or accurate. Now he'd going to have to deal with a strong inside rush that can do things that most other teams across the nation can barely imagine. How do you stop a pocket quarterback? A strong inside rush is the best way I can think of. Now if Nebraska could get their offense rolling, this game could turn into a blowout. Nebraska wins a close one.

Bell Helicopters Armed Forces Bowl, Dec. 31

Air Force vs. Houston

It's the rubber match for these two schools, who played each other twice last year and split the series. It's tough to go against Houston in this one, so I won't.

Brut Sun Bowl

Oklahoma vs. Stanford, Dec. 31

Even if Andrew Luck weren't injured and possibly out for this game, I think I probably would have gone with Oklahoma. The Sooners' defensive line has been the once consistent for them all year, and the line of scrimmage is where you beat a big-back running team like Stanford. Oklahoma's offense will probably take a half to get moving, but they should be able to put the points up once they get the rust off. Oklahoma wins.

Texas Bowl

Missouri vs. Navy, Dec. 31

Navy has been the class of the service academies for the last few years, thanks to their ability to find good players and run the triple option better than anyone, all while playing solid defense that is good enough to keep the opposing team within striking distance. Sounds like a recipe for success to me. Navy wins.

Insight Bowl

Minnesota vs. Iowa State, Dec. 31

Both of these teams exceeded my expectations for them this year. Says a lot about my expectations for them. Both teams squeaked in by a 6-6 record. Both teams are attempting to show how deep their conference is this year. Unfortunately, they are doing it against each other, which will not impress anybody. Anyway, I think the Big Ten is better than the Big XII North, so I'll go with Minnesota to preserve a modicum of pride for the Big Ten.

Chick-fil-A Bowl

Virginia Tech vs. Tennessee, Dec. 31

How, exactly, does a 9-3 team that is ranked 11th in the country end up playing a 7-5 team in a bowl game? It says a lot for a conference's standing when their upper crust is playing the dregs of other conferences. It says even more when the other conference's dregs beat them anyway. Things get even more frustrating for ACC fans when Tennessee wins.