Bowl Projections

I wanted to also give my predictions on the college bowl games with just a short reasoning, if I have any, just for fun. Here is the list. I plan on coming back to it to see how I did.

Eaglebank Bowl
Navy vs Wake Forest
Pick: Navy
Reason: Navy is a slight underdog, but they won earlier in the year against Wake Forest, on the road. Being in DC will draw a large Navy crowd, I think.

New Mexico Bowl
Fresno State vs Colorado State
Pick: Fresno State
Reason: Fresno State has more talent, leads in some rankings, and won more games. CSU has a first year coach which may not prep them fully for post season.

Magicjack St. Petersburg Bwol
South Florida vs Memphis
Pick: South Florida
Reason: Has enough talent to be at least ranked at one point and won against UCF, where Memphis did not.

Pioneer Las Vegas Bowl
Brigham Young vs Arizona
Pick: BYU
Reason: BYU is ranked and has won more convincingly. They have also won the past 3 Las Vegas Bowls. Arizona is bowling for the first time in a while. Arizona's run defense kinda sucks too.

R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl
Troy vs Southern Miss
Pick: Troy
Reason: Winner of Sun Belt and most of their losses come from pretty good teams. Not much else.

San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl
Boise State vs TCU
Pick: TCU
Reason: A tough pick, but the MWC was a tougher conference and TCU showed they can play. Boise can win bowl games as shown in 2007 Fiesta and have been putting up some crazy points.

Sheraton Hawaii Bowl
Notre Dame vs Hawaii
Pick: Hawaii
Reason: A home game for them and the Irish have a terrible coach, a pretty bad team that hasn't won much against good competition, and just cannot win bowl games.

Motor City Bowl
Central Michigan vs Florida Atlantic
Pick: Central Michigan
Reason: Has a home crowd and a better record. Vegas says by 7.

Meineke Car Care Bowl
North Carolina vs West Virginia
Pick: North Carolina
Reason: NC has a home crowd and has competed well with Big East competition.

Champs Sports Bowl
Florida State vs Wisconsin
Pick: Wisconsin
Reason: Tough pick. Wisconsin has done well in bowls, even if this is a let down year. Florida State QB could have some issues after being pulled and has thrown pretty many picks. Wisconsin has a great tight end and is representing the Big Ten. Taking down Bowden in Florida is key. Hopefully they have improved after losing some pretty ugly games.

Emerald Bowl
California vs Miami
Pick: California
Reason: Cal has home crowd, has a good running offense, and leads in several stats. Miami has lost some stinkers in the ACC. Vegas by 7.

Independence Bowl
Louisiana Tech vs Northern Illinois
Pick: Louisiana Tech
Reason: Not much here in the most uninteresting bowl. Home crowd and a better record. Did surprisingly well in the WAC they don't belong.

papajohns.com Bowl
Rutgers vs North Carolina State
Pick: Rutgers
Reason: Both teams turned their seasons around toward the end. Rutgers won by some hefty margins and leads in most stats. Vegas by 7.

Valero Alamo Bowl
Missouri vs Northwestern
Pick: Missouri
Reason: Would love to root for the Big 10, but feel Missouri leads in too many stats and Northwestern had too easy of a schedule. Missouri has Chase Daniel. Pat Fitzgerald is one heck of a coach though, maybe he can surprise me.

Roady's Humanitarian Bowl
Nevada vs Maryland
Pick: Nevada
Reason: Nevada has a crazy offense and puts up a lot of yards. Nevada has a stats advantage. Maryland can't be consistent.

Texas Bowl
Rice vs Western Michigan
Pick: Rice
Reason: Has a home crowd, a great passing offense against a bad passing defense, and did well in their conference.

Pacific Life Holiday Bowl
Oklahoma State vs Oregon
Pick: Oklahoma State
Reason: Convincing offense against injury prone Ducks. Only lost to the top teams in the country.

Bell Hellicopter Armed Forces Bowl
Air Force vs Houston
Pick: Air Force
Reason: Air Force won when they matched up earlier in the year. Both have good offenses. Houston didn't fare too well against the MWC.

Sun Bowl
Pittsburgh vs Oregon State
Pick: Oregon State
Reason: I would like to pick Pitt, but they are out matched statistically. Oregon State did pretty well once they figured some stuff out. Both seem rather lopsided on rushing.

Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl
Boston College vs Vanderbilt
Pick: Boston College
Reason: Better record and more convincing as a team. Vandy is Vandy and took advantage of easy competition early on. BC showed they have grit to outlast others in the ACC. Leads in stats. Only challenge will be home crowd.

Insight Bowl
Minnesota vs Kansas
Pick: Kansas
Reason: Kansas is the far better team. I think Minnesota is pretty bad and only had some luck early on with turnovers, evidenced by them dropping their last few games. Kansas leads in stats.

Chick-Fil-A Bowl
Georgia Tech vs LSU
Pick: Georgia Tech
Reason: Looks to be a good match up, but Georgia tech showed it can beat the SEC. Home crowd should help.

Outback Bowl
Iowa vs South Carolina
Pick: Iowa
Reason: At the very least, for making our loss not look so bad and representing the Big 10. Iowa is hot now that they have their QB controversy settled. Shonn Greene should have a good day. If nothing else, it'll be close.

Capital One Bowl
Georgia vs Michigan State
Pick: Georgia
Reason: I'm hoping for an upset, but Sparty has been blown out in big games this season. Lots of running, should be over by 3.

Gator Bowl
Clemson vs Nebraska
Pick: Nebraska
Reason: New coach at Clemson doesn't have his team together yet, while Nebraska leads in most stats and has performed well in the Big 12 considering the competition.

Rose Bowl
USC vs Penn State
Pick: Penn State
Reason: I have to pick my team, right? Seriously, as long as we don't change our game plan now without Devlin, we should be fine, or an extremely close game, probably low scoring as well. If we continue to run Clark, they might not be expecting it. With Paterno on the sidelines, hopefully it will help and not hinder. With USC disappointed, it may give us an edge. 2 very even teams, should be a good match up. I don't like how we have to play in LA though. How about we come to Chicago for a neutral field?

Orange Bowl
Cincinnati at Virginia Tech
Pick: Cincinnati
Reason: Much better record even among QB controversy. VT had to beat a team they already lost against against.

Cotton Bowl
Texas Tech vs Mississippi
Pick: Texas Tech
Reason: Much better team with a better record. Vegas by 6.

Autozone Liberty bowl
East Carolina vs Kentucky
Pick: East Carolina
Reason: ECU showed it can win big games against better opponents and it can win it's conference. With everyone healed and rested, should be a big win for ECU.

Sugar Bowl
Alabama vs Utah
Pick: Alabama
Reason: As much as I want to pick Utah, I have to lean toward Alabama. To go almost undefeated in the SEC, is a bit more of a challenge than the MWC. Saban should have his team ready, he was able to coach them almost doubling their wins.

International Bowl
Connecticut vs Buffalo
Pick: Connecticut
Reason: No real convincing stats either way, but I think UConn's talent and defense will make the difference.

Fiesta bowl
Texas vs Ohio State
Pick: Texas
Reason: Texas is a great team, with completing 78% of their passes. It will be interesting to see if an OSU defense has any effect, but I feel OSU won't score enough to keep up.

GMAC Bowl
Ball State vs Tulsa
Pick: Tulsa
Reason: Ball State had a great season and all, but I think they may be out matched here. Both teams are 2nd place in their conference, but Tulsa has the offensive stats that Ball State doesn't.

National Championship Game
Oklahoma vs Florida
Pick: Florida
Reason: I think Florida's defense will make the difference. Having Tebow be dual threat should entertain and prove useful. Should be high scoring. but close. Oklahoma has a habit of losing BCS games.