Bowl Preview: Lesser Bowls

Dec. 18th, New Mexico Bowl (Albuquerque, New Mexico) BYU 28 versus UTEP 20
Dec. 18th, Humanitarian Bowl (Boise, Idaho) Northern Illinois 13 versus Fresno State 31
Dec. 18th New Orleans Bowl (New Orleans, Louisiana) Ohio 17 versus Troy 7
Dec. 21st O'Brady's Bowl (St. Petersburgh, Florida) Southern Miss 35 versus Louisville 20
Dec. 22nd Las Veges Bowl (Las Vegas, Nevada) #19 Utah 10 versus #10 Boise State 49
Dec. 23rd Poinsettia Bowl (San Diego, California) Navy 24 versus San Diego State 27
Dec. 24th Hawaii Bowl (Honolulu, Hawaii) #24 Hawaii 31 versus Tulsa 41
Dec. 26th Little Caesar's Bowl (Detroit, Michigan) Florida International 28 versus Toledo 21
Dec. 27th Independence Bowl (Shreveport, Louisiana) Air Force 17 versus Georgia Tech 21
Dec. 28th Champs Sports Bowl (Orlando, Florida) #22 West Virginia 24 versus NC State 13
Dec. 28th Insight Bowl (Tempe, Arizona) #12 Missouri 10 versus Iowa 13
Dec. 29th Military Bowl (Washington D.C.) East Carolina 42 versus Maryland 34
Dec. 29th Texas Bowl (Houston, Texas) Illinois 13 versus Baylor 31
Dec. 29th Alamo Bowl (San Antonio, Texas) #14 Oklahoma State 37 versus Arizona 17
Dec. 30th Armed Forces Bowl (Dallas, Texas) Army 20 versus Southern Methodist 21
Dec. 30th Pinstripe Bowl (Bronx, New York) Kansas State 20 versus Syracuse 3
Dec. 30th Music City Bowl (Nashville, Tennessee) North Carolina 16 versus Tennessee 17
Dec. 30th Holiday Bowl (San Diego, California) #18 Nebraska 28 versus Washington 6
Dec. 31st Meinke Car Care Bowl (Charlotte, North Carolina) South Florida 24 versus Clemson 14
Dec. 31st Sun Bowl (El Paso, Texas) Notre Dame 10 versus Miami Florida 21
Dec. 31st Liberty Bowl (Memphis, Tennessee) Georgia 20 versus #25 Central Florida 14
Jan. 1st Ticketcity Bowl (Dallas, Texas) Northwestern 21 versus Texas Tech 42
Jan. 1st Gator Bowl (Jacksonville, Florida) #21 Mississippi State 28 versus Michigan 45
Jan. 6th Godaddy.com Bowl (Mobile, Alabama) Middle Tennessee State 23 versus Miami Ohio 21
Jan. 8th Compass Bowl (Birmingham, Alabama) Pittsburgh 16 versus Kentucky 13
Jan. 9th Fight Hunger Bowl (San Francisco, California) #15 Nevada 31 versus Boston College 10

Picking a Bowl Game:

College's football's bowl season is one of the best times in sports.  Three weeks of college football games culminates in the exciting battle for the title of National Champion.  Many people like to pick the bowl games, or well, most of them.  When picking a bowl game there are many factors to look at and we begin with the first rule of picking a BCS Bowl Game:

(1) Never pick against the SEC, especially in BCS bowl games:  The Southeastern Conference finished a sub-par 5-3 last year, but fear not, they won both their BCS Bowl games.  The SEC has been the best conference in College Football for years.  You may not win every game (although you might) if you always pick with the SEC, but you will be over .500.

(2) Never pick against Utah: The Utes have the most impressive bowl resumès of the past decade, turning in 8 wins and nine straight.  The Utes, however, have to play Boise State in one of the best match-ups this season which sagways perfectly into our next rule...

(3) Never pick against Boise State:  They did lose to TCU two years ago, and while the Broncos are not playing in a BCS Bowl, they do have a high anticipated match-up against Utah.  With the last two rules, the Boise-Utah game is a tough pick.

(4) Always pick against Notre Dame: Even with high valued win against Hawaii last year, Notre Dame has earned zero respect for his lack of the Irish.  Their last true bowl win was against Texas A&M in 1994.  They play Miami Florida this year, which ones again sagways....

(5) Always pick with the Florida team: They went 3-1 last year...

(6) Go against the norm for the Big East: Pitt was the underdog against North Carolina and won, the same can be said for Rutgers against Central Florida, oh and Uconn beating South Carolina was the same deal.  The higher ranked boys from Cincinnati were pummeled by Florida (rule 5)...the exception to this rule,  South Florida who beat a horrible Northern Illinois team, but remember rule 5.

(7) Pick against the BCS Buster: Utah won in 2005 against Pitt, but if you use Rule 6, it was expected.  Also, Boise won last year, but that was against TCU which was another BCS Buster which leads us to rule (7B) A BCS Buster can only win against the Big East or another BCS Buster.

(8) Pick against "Big Game" Bob: Bob Stoops is a decent 5-6 in bowl games, but only 2-5 in BCS Bowl Games...and recently he hasn't fared so well, going 0 for his last 5, maybe it's a misnomer or maybe it's Oklahoma, anyway, their game against Uconn is ominous thanks to rules 6 and 8.

(9) Pick against the Heisman Winner: Yes Mark Ingram broke the curse last year, but the record before Ingram...1-9 and Quarterbacks were in the National Championship are 0-5.

(10) #2: Rule 10 is about #2...they are 6-2 in the last 8 National Championships.

Good Luck!!

College Football Week 13:

It's almost over as teams stagger into the final weeks of college football:

-There was only one upset, the Beavers of Oregon State beating USC as Matt Barkley ws injured.
-Boise State stomped Fresno and only Nevada remains for the Broncos who looked poised for a BCS Title Berth.
-Alabama will meet Auburn in the upcoming week to try and end the Tigers awesome season.
-Oklahoma and Oklahoma State will meet in the Bedlam game to decide who will play most likely Nebraska but possibly Missouri in the Big-12 Title Game. 
-LSU barely survived a seesaw game against Ole Miss and will now try to do a little hopping of the Busters in the BCS poll.
-If I hear one more pun on Andrew Luck's last name I may kill myself.
-For the first time ever, Texas is the only Big-12 South team not bowl eligible.

College Football Week 11:

I forgot to mention that week 10 was my bye week, but we're back here, week 11 and looking to get back on track after an excellent BCS article (check it out):

-Natty Bumpo: The biggest news comes from the Big 10 where Northwestern upset Iowa, breaking the awesome 4-way tie atop the conference.  Iowa will need some help and a win against the opportunistic Buckeyes of Ohio State this week to get back to a BCS bowl.

-Buh Bum Bum: All the teams in the top 10 won

-Fighting, Irish:  Notre Dame came up big getting me an UA win and getting one win away from bowl eligibility.

-Va Tech continues to shine, now 6-0 in conference and they keep trying to make it look like they know what I'm talking about.

In conclusion:  The season is coming together, the upcoming Auburn-Alabama game will decide everything for TCU and Boise as well as the overall national championship picture.

BCS Playoff:

While I have blatantly trumpet my disdain for the BCS Busters of College Football, I must concede to idea of a College Football playoff system.  Just two weeks ago or so I echoed the benefits of the current BCS system, but that veiled my want for a playoff because I was giddily preaching against TCU and Boise State.  The idea of a playoff would satisfy all the yayhoos who shout their disgust off the BCS from the rooftops, but moreover, would provide an opportunity for more teams and also give teams who might lose a game another shot.  Honestly, I love the meaningfulness of the regular season in college football, but the BCS has become better known for making mistakes and leaving teams out than for making the right choice.  It is extremely rare to find only two teams who are above the rest.  This season would normally play out that way, but the current love affair with non-BCS conference teams has wreaked another season of whinny from the pro-playoff conglomerate.  On the basis of having to pick a side (because this is America and there is no neutral), I must admit my pro-playoff attitude, but College Football cannot fully shun a meaningful regular season.  Everything must fit together perfectly, but it never will and people will always complain.  The goal (much like playing a zone defense) is to keep the holes in the system small enough that mistakes are minimal and bitchers are minuscule.  Here is my blueprint for a perfect playoff system based on an automatic bid from every conference on the premise of BCS rankings this season and a more basic blueprint for future season (based upon projected results):

#1 Oregon (BCS #1/ Pac-10 Champ) versus #16 Troy* (Sun Belt Champ)
#2 Auburn (BCS #2/SEC Champ) versus #15 Central Florida* (CUSA Champ)
#3 TCU (BCS #3/MWC Champ) versus #14 N. Illinois* (MAC Champ)
#4 Boise State (BCS #4.WAC Champ) versus #13 Pittsburgh* (Big East Champ)
#5 LSU (BCS #5/At-large) versus #12 Missouri (BCS #12.At-large)
#6 Stanford (BCS #6/At-large) versus #11 Virginia Tech (BCS #11/ACC Champ)
#7 Wisconsin (BCS #7/Big Ten Champ) versus #10 Michigan State (BCS #10/At-large)
#8 Nebraska (BCS #8/Big-12 Champ) versus #9 Ohio State (BCS #9/At-large)

*Teams are not in BCS top 16 but receive automatic bid for conference championship.

#1 Oregon advances to play #8 Nebraska
#2 Auburn advances to play #7 Wisconsin
#3 TCU advances to play #6 Stanford
#4 Boise State advances to play #5 LSU __________________________________________
#1 Oregon advances to play #4 Boise State
#2 Auburn advances to play #3 TCU _____________________________________________
#1 Oregon plays #2 Auburn for the National Championship

A Video and a Lesson on Football

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edD5hVLMwnE

A middle school coach developed that, and while it is a little mean to take advantage of the other team's naivety, it still makes for one hell of a YouTube video.  A play that is completely legal and made me proud to be a blogger.  It is what makes watching football played by kids better than the no nonsense stuff of the NFL.  The NFL is most exciting when the team does something out of the ordinary once a season.  The arbitrariness of football at the grade school, high school, and even the college level is what makes it so exciting.  The people out there aren't supposed to be mistake free.  They are not playing to make a salary, but to have fun and to win.  They play at their best at all times.

In Conclusion: The NFL is the worst type of football to watch because the straight-laced, no mistake, no chance football is humdrum and boring.  We like watching mistakes when players aren't the best to offer....like grade school.

College Football Week 9:

Week 9, just seven weeks removed from monster Saturday, produced some excitement as the BCS waters cleared a little for the sake of the BCS-er:

-This was Sparta!: Michigan State couldn't keep the Cinderella story of the season going as Iowa absolutely derailed Sparty in Kinnick Stadium.  The pink lockers were not a welcomed sight as Iowa jumped out to an 30-0 halftime lead....tough to comeback from.  The Hawkeyes finished off MSU winning 37-6.


-This was Columbia!: The Tigers of the Show-me State showed their upset of Oklahoma was simply another stunt in order to assist TCU and Boise State as the overhyped Big-12 continues to beat itself up.  Nebraska fresh off a loss to Texas two weeks ago took out their second straight undefeated opponent, but both were better than projected/suspected.  Now the Big-12 north is in favor of the Corn Huskers despite their loss to Texas.  It looks like the match-up of Oklahoma (3-1)-Nebraska (3-1) we didn't get to see this regular season is going down, but Baylor (4-1 in conference) lurks, waiting for their week 12 game against Oklahoma in Waco


-Va-Tech?:  Remember Virginia Tech?  That team I picked to go 11-1...win the ACC and be really good?  Well they started out 0-2 with losses to Boise and FCS James Madison.  Pollsters have been slwo to forget Va-Tech's early season struggles and the Hokies reeling off six straight wins and landed them at #22 in the country, but for the Hokies now, being 4-0 in conference is all that matters.  Ga-Tech, UNC, and Miami Florida are their next three opponents in the hardest and most important part of Va-Tech's schedule...suddenly my ACC pick is right there, looking to prove me right...yayay!


-Why we love the BCS:  everyone rags on the BCS as being flawed, but there are its good points:
1) Many teams participate in a bowl every year, and many win a bowl, pride baby!
2) Not only one team gets the trophy: Making it to the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight would be cool, but that's all you are....quick, name the Final Four teams from last year (Butler, Duke, Michigan State, West Virginia)....if you did that, good job, the first team was probably Duke, because they won...winners are memorable.  If I asked you who won the Rose Bowl last year, Ohio State.  You could probably name that even quicker than the Final Four teams.  Sugar Bowl? Florida, Orange Bowl? Iowa, Fiesta Bowl? Bosie State, National Champion? Alabama....My point is more teams win and more are remembered, pride baby.
3) Teams get more respect for scheduling and conferences: My favorite part, keeps teams that want to schedule FCS West and FCS Northsouth out of key games because SOS keeps their computer ranking down, allowing 1 loss teams or even other undefeated teams to jump them and get a better bowl spot (especially the BCS National Championship
4) More games: Fans get more for longer, Bowl season is awesome, next best thing to March Madness.
We all love the BCS.

-Oregon-Auburn?  Okay: The two of the more exciting teams to watch would run all over each other's (O-3rd, A-4th in rushing respectively) defenses.  It would be a fun National Championship Game, let's all root for these two guys!

In Conclusion: You win some (Va-Tech) and lose some (Cincinnati)