Bowls, Jan. 1-7

Here we go kids. Are you ready for this? All times central.

• Outback Bowl, Penn State vs. Tennessee (10:00am, ESPN): I hesitate to call this heavy-weight. Neither team is really in the top tier of their conference this year, but I see UTenn as a more solid team that should pull out a victory.
• Cotton Bowl, Nebraska vs. Auburn (10:30am, FOX): Name programs, to the rescue! The Big 12 North still sucks, though, and if Auburn's offense shows up to this game they should prevail.
• Capital One Bowl, Arkansas vs. Wisconsin (Noon, ABC): Don't look, but Wisconsin's only loss all year was to Michigan. The only reason they're not in a BCS bowl is because OSU and UMich are. While I like the SEC in the Outback Bowl, I have go with the Big Ten this time around.
  
• Gator Bowl, Georgia Tech vs. West Virginia (Noon, CBS): I honestly can't believe we're playing in a New Year's Day Bowl. This hasn't happened since I've been there, and indeed, not since the last time Tech was a Gator Bowl (I'd guess, too tired to look it up).
  Obviously, WVU worries me. And Tech has had a lot going on behind the scenes. Of course, you'd think Tech would be at a disadvantage without their starting quarterback, but our starting QB has, for lack of a better word, sucked in his last two and now he can't play. Taylor Bennett, you best be stepping up.
  WVU's backfield worries me. There's a ton of speed back there, and I watched those guys run all over Maryland. Tech's defense blitzes hard and often, and the question is whether or not we can stay with the ball no matter where it goes. The soft spot of our defense - the secondary - is not as big of a concern here because WVU does not pass very well. (A sort of Arkansas of the Big East, perhaps?) Corners and safeties blitz a lot in our defense, and I expect to see 8 guys in the box a lot.
  On offense, Tech need to use the best damn WR in the country to exploit WVU's dreadful secondary. Expect, however, to see a healthy dose of #22 from the backfield. That's not really a bad thing, though.
  Overall, this game will be very tough for the Jackets. I'm not one, however, to predict my team to lose. Bowl games present a quandry - unless you're playing in Glendale for the crystal football, none of these games really matter. But the intangible factors do matter. Everyone at Tech remembers the bad taste of the Emerald Bowl last year and absolutely rotten offense in the past two games. WVU can score in bunches, the question is, will Tech's offense show up? We need at least two touchdowns, something we only accomplished once in our last four games, and that was against Duke. The Jackets really need this to show that this season wasn't a fluke.
• The Rose Bowl Game, Michigan vs. Southern Cal (4:00, ABC): Man, this is weird. This is ABC's 2nd and last bowl broadcast - the rest of the BCS games are on FOX. As much as I hate Musburuger, I dislike FOX announcers on the whole and I'm not that optimistic. Anyway, I always like watching the Rose Bowl, but we have two very disappointed teams here. I fell Michigan is the better team here, and should win as long as they are not overcome by bitterness.
• Fiesta Bowl, Oklahoma vs. Boise State (7:30, FOX): I like rooting for the little guy as much as anyone else, and will probably take a rooting interesting the boys from the blue turf. But, seriously, I don't see how they can beat Oklahoma. This is BSU teams is not nearly as good as that Utah team that last busted the BCS. Look for scoring, but look for OU to win by at least two scores.
• Orange Bowl, Wake Forest vs. Louisville (Jan. 2, 7:00, FOX): So, uh, Wake is a pretty decent team. They execute well and take their time on offense. Louisville does the same thing, except they can throw the ball and put up some points in a hurry. I like rooting for the ACC and teams like Wake, but I don't know how they can prevail over Louisville. They will really need to take the Cardinals out of there game to do so...
• Sugar Bowl, LSU vs. Notre Dame (Jan. 3, 7:00, FOX): Notre Dame is here for one reason - to sell more tickets. I'm not sure they need the help, though - LSU should have well more than a simple majority of the fans. ND has failed to beat any major oppenent they've played this year. Their best win remains - you guessed it - the opening weekend victory against Georgia Tech. Look for LSU to win a rout.
• International Bowl, Western Michigan vs. Cincinnati (Jan. 6, 11:00am, ESPN2): This is sort of anticlimactic, you might say. I say it helps re-whet your appetite for college football leading up to the title game. The scheduling quirk is probably a result of the 31st being a Sunday, which means NFL games rule the roost. And I like Cincy here.
• GMAC Bowl, Ohio vs. Southern Miss (Jan. 7, 7:00, ESPN): C-USA isn't exactly a power conference, but Mobile is 100 miles from Hattiesburg so this should pretty much be a home game for USM. I like them to win.

I'll do a separate preview for the title game. For the time being, though, can we scratch "it'd take too long" off the list of reasons not to have a playoff since the bowls now go into the second week of January. Just sayin'.

Bowl Season is Officially Here!

Well kids, apparently ESPN feels the same way I do, since they busted out Herbstreit and Fowler for the Holiday Bowl. Cal's taking TAMU to task at the moment, and bolstered by our Internet connection not sucking for the time being, here's the predictions for the games up to the first (confusingly, Tito's times are Eastern and mine are Central!):

• Music City Bowl, Kentucky vs. Clemson (ESPN, noon): Clemson totally outclasses Kentucky in probably every phase of the game. Clemson may be disappointed they fell to the Music City, but at least they're east of the Mississippi. Clemson rolls.
• Sun Bowl, Oregon State vs. Missouri (CBS, 1:00): Sweet, the first non-ESPN game of the year! (NFL Network doesn't count.) It's tough to get a read here, except that I think the Beavers are pretty decent and Mizzou sucks.
• Liberty Bowl, Houston vs. South Carolina (ESPN, 3:30): For reasons I don't exactly recall, I picked Houston. I'm sure I had a good reason for doing so and I stand by it.
• Insight Bowl, Texas Tech vs. Minnesota (NFL, 6:30): Uh, TTU should win. Same no one will get to see it.
• Champs Sports Bowl, Maryland vs. Purdue (ESPN, 7:00): I see Purdue as a sort of "Georgia Tech of the Big Ten" due to their strong engineering program and a skewed male/female ratio (though they have 30,000 undergrads and it's only 58:42, but eh), so I have a soft spot for them. But not soft enough. Much like VPI, Maryland finished their season strong and I like their chances.
• Car Care Bowl, Boston College vs. Navy (Dec. 30, ESPN, noon): I hate to admit this (as the soon of an Army grad), but I like watching Navy's offense. Who doesn't love a well-oiled triple option machine? Unfortunately, the machine tends to break down against teams that don't suck, as the Midshipmen lost 34-0 to Rutgers and lost 38-14 to Notre Dame. Boston College is probably not that much worse than Rutgers and certainly better than Tulsa, who also beat Navy, so I like BC here.
• Alamo Bowl, Texas vs. Iowa (ESPN, 3:30): I'll go out on a limb here an say that Sun Belt officials probably won't be working this game. I'll also say that Iowa is pretty boned unless Texas is just really depressed or something.
• PeachChick-fil-a Bowl, Virginia Tech vs. Georgia (ESPN, 7:00): Okay, let's see. I hate UGA, and VPI, while not exactly my favorite team ever, is in my conference. They've also finished the season red hot, though I guess you could say UGA has as well with consecutive victories over the teams we at this site like. (Ugh.) That said, more of UGA's offensive lineman got arrested/suspended, so VPI's defense should be able to take them to task. VPI should also fill their 50% of the dome against the exceedingly obnoxious UGA fans.
• MPC Computers Bowl, Nevada vs. Miami (FL) (Dec. 31, ESPN, 6:30): The Miami players, confused over this "snow" shenaniganry, without a coach, and, oh, yeah, in damn Boise, Idahoa will probably not be terribly excited. I think Nevada wins. That said, the Humanitarian Bowl was a much better name. And for the record, I like the blue turf. There, I said it.

Check back Sunday for the big New Year's Day Preview bash!

The Bowls, 12/28-12/31

Well, it looks like I was pretty much wrong about UCLA. Somehow the Bruin defense that held USC's offense to 7 points gave up 37 to anemic Florida State. (We have Patrick Cowan to thank for the Seminoles' other seven points.) Time to set myself up for more ridicule! Commentary will be light; I'm about to leave for my grandparents' house. (All times Eastern, fools.)

Oklahoma State vs. Alabama, PetroSun Independence Bowl (Dec. 28, 4:30 PM, ESPN): I hope Alabama loses, but that's only because I'm an Auburn fan.

Rutgers vs. Kansas State, Texas Bowl (Dec. 28, 8 PM, NFL Network): It's kind of sad that Rutgers, once the favorite for the Big East BCS bid, is now relegated to playing long-gone Kansas State on a channel few people can watch. The Scarlet Knights will ride all over the Wildcats in retaliation for such an assignment.

Texas A&M vs. California, Pacific Life Holiday Bowl (Dec. 28, 8 PM, ESPN): Texas A&M finally won a big one against Texas about a month ago, and California still hasn't recovered from the embarrassments of their performances against Tennessee and USC. I say the Aggies take the momentum from a victory here into next season.

Clemson vs. Kentucky, Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl (Dec. 29, 1 PM, ESPN): Kentucky made a bowl game? (Clemson wins.)

Oregon State vs. Missouri, Brut Sun Bowl (Dec. 29, 2 PM, CBS): Oh man. I don't even care about this one.

Houston vs. South Carolina, Autozone Liberty Bowl (Dec. 29, 4:30 PM, ESPN): Steve Spurrier will curse out all of the officials at least twice each as Houston almost proves itself decent against a mediocre SEC opponent. The Gamecocks will pull it off and regroup to wreak havoc on the SEC's national title hopes next year.

Texas Tech vs. Minnesota, Insight Bowl (Dec. 29, 7:30 PM, NFL Network): Not the NFL Network again!

Purdue vs. Maryland, Champs Sports Bowl (Dec. 29, 8 PM, ESPN): Neither of these teams matter, and neither does this game.

Navy vs. Boston College, Meineke Car Care Bowl (Dec. 30, 1 PM, ESPN): Prepare to see those annoying Meineke Car Care commercials ad nauseum. Blech.

Please, make it stop...

Texas vs. Iowa, Alamo Bowl (Dec. 30, 4:30 PM, ESPN): Texas is playing in the Alamo Bowl, which is awesome, considering the school is pretty close to San Anton'. Unfortunately, Matthew McConaughey will probably be too busy promoting his lame-0 film We are Marshall to jump around on the sidelines and provide some much-needed distraction from the Longhorns destruction of the Hawkeyes.

Georgia vs. Virginia Tech, Chick-fil-A Bowl (Dec. 30, 8 PM, ESPN): Georgia is so fickle this year. They lost to Vanderbilt and Kentucky then managed to beat Auburn and Georgia Tech. Virginia Tech only lost two games and somehow didn't get any media attention this year. I'm not really sure who to pick here. Chick-fil-A will probably win.

Miami (FL) vs. Nevada, Bowl (Dec. 31, 7:30 PM, ESPN): Miami (FL) has fallen farther than any other team in Division I-A. It was just years ago that they were setting win-streak records and winning national championships. Now they are overrun by thugs and controversies and losing games left and right. They will probably barely beat Nevada.

This post is kind of weak. Hopefully I'll make another post before New Years' Eve to close out the season and redeem myself.

Bowl Previews

Well, the internet connection here at the asimsports compound kind of sucks, so here's a whole batch of stuff right through the 28th:

• Motor City Bowl, Central Michigan vs. Middle Tennessee State (ESPN, 6:30 CST): Well, about the only thing of interest to me is that I know a guy who went to MTSU. Unfortunately for him, CMU should roll.
• Emerald Bowl, Florida State vs. UCLA (ESPN, 7:00 CST): I assume that this game is still played at whatever they're calling Pac Bell Park these days (AT&T Park I think, but whatever), which should give UCLA a slight home field advantage. I can't forsee anyway that FSU would be into this game - I watched their game against Wake when they just absolutely quit, and then they lost to Florida. FSU also still doesn't have an offense, as far as I know. UCLA should roll.
• Independence Bowl, Oklahoma St. vs. Alabama (ESPN, 3:30 CST): I know a couple things about this game. OSU is a decent team, and I hate Alabama and they just fired their coach. So I like OSU here.
• Texas Bowl, Kansas State vs. Rutgers (NFL Network, 7:00 CST): Rutgers wraps up their dream season with a bowl that has it's like 4 name in 5 years and no one will watch because it's on the NFL Network. Whoops. Kansas State isn't very good and Rutgers should win, you know what they say about "if a tree falls in a forest and no one's around..."? Yeah.
• Holiday Bowl, California vs. Texas A&M (ESPN, 7:00 CST): Now here we go. I don't feel like it's bowl season for real until the Holiday Bowl, usually because it provides the first real matchup of the season. I'm still a bit baffled the Holiday didn't take Texas - despite TAMU's victory over UT, I still feel the latter is probably a better team. At any rate, I like the Bears here.

That's it, kids! Tune in the 28th or 29th for the remainder of the non-Jan. 1 bowls.

Hawaii Bowl Preview

A little late, but yeah....I don't have much to write, just want to keep up the streak. Anyway.

Hawaii has a decent team this year. However, it's hard to predict what they'll do against this Arizona State squad. They played Oregon State in their last regular season game and despite the massive home field advantage for the Warriors they still lost.

Once again, Hawaii has the home field advantage here. Will they be able to pull it off against a Pac-10 team this time? I think ASU is not nearly as good as OSU, so they have a shot and I've picked Hawaii to win. We'll see what happens.

To Hell With Georgia/More Bowl Predictions

Lots of stuff on the plate the next couple of days.

• Georgia @ Georgia Tech (FSN, 6:00 PM CST) in basketball. Tech has struggled since their victory over Memphis in Maui. It's hard to take away much of anything from the blowout over Centerary Monday night other than that Morrow shot well, which may indicate he has a finally recovered from an off-season injury. Georgia is playing very inspired ball right now and beat Gonzaga earlier this week. Tech has played with little inspiration, especially on defense. Hopefully we can crank it up tonight.
• New Orleans Bowl, Troy vs. Rice (ESPN2, 7:00 PM CST): WTF, mate? Rice makes a bowl for the first time since 1961, Troy makes a bowl for the second time in their history. No idea who is going to win this. C-USA is obviously a better conference than the Sun Belt, but I mean, we're talking about Rice here. I've seen Troy in person this season, but I'm not sure that helps. I don't even know if Rice still runs that wishbone/flexbone offense - I'd have to guess not since they have a WR who's caught 20 TDs. Troy runs a wide open offense - usually 4 or 5 WR on the field at a given time. I expect some points to be scored, but the question is who will come out on top? I picked Troy here, but it could go either way.
• Papajohns.com Bowl, East Carolina vs. South Florida (ESPN2, Noon CST): There is nothing remotely interesting about this game except that it's being played down in Birmingham at the legendary Legion Field. Expect to see lots of Iron Bowl footage during the game. I probably won't even be able to see it. Also, I thought the ".com" thing died like 3-4 years ago? Even the Insight.com Bowl is now the Insight Bowl. Just silly. I also like USF for what that's worth.
• New Mexico Bowl, New Mexico vs. San Jose State (ESPN, 3:30 CST): Did You Know that SJSU has their own passenger jet plane? It's true - I saw it while I was landing at San Jose's airport. It was one of those old tri-engine jets from the early 70's, like the DC-10 or the Lockheed 1101 or some such. Anyway, while New Mexico has home field advantage here, they're just not a good football team. SJSU is back from the basement of the WAC and should take care of business.
• Armed Forces Bowl, Utah vs. Tulsa (ESPN, 7:00 CST): The Mountain West started well, but I don't see New Mexico winning and I don't see Utah winning either, though I don't really know to be honest. Tulsa should be much more motivated than Utah's previous bowl opponent, and Tulsa is a lot closer to Fort Worth than Salt Lake City is, so I give Tulsa the edge.

That takes care of the bowls through Saturday. I'll put something up about the Hawaii Bowl on Saturday night or sometime Sunday. Enjoy the holidays and the bowl games, kids!

Hehehehehe

In a recent article in the Macon Telegraph:

Georgia Tech's Calvin Johnson expects one-on-one coverage from West Virginia's secondary, which allowed 236 passing yards per game this season.

"We see opportunities there," Johnson said of watching film of WVU's cornerbacks, "so yeah, we're looking forward to it."

Opportunities indeed. Hopefully we can take advantage of them.

In The News; Las Vegas Bowl

Couple of news items of interest to, well, me before I talk about tomorrow's bowl game.

• FSN fires one of my least favorite announcers ever. It's hard to explain how idiotic I thought Bob Rathburn was. My only question is whether or not he's going to continue doing other FSN broadcasts, namely, college basketball and baseball. Now only if FOX would fire Joe Buck and ESPN would fire Joe Morgan, we'd be in business.
  
• CB Kenny Scott and QB Reggie Ball declared academically ineligible. I don't have a lot to say about this, except I remember being on that field after that Auburn game and carrying Reggie off. Times have changed mightily since then.

So, the Las Vegas Bowl: BYU-Oregon. Oregon is an okay Pac-10 team, meanwhile, BYU is the best Mountain West team. It's hard to get a read on that, though. BYU lost to both of the BCS conference teams they played (Boston College and Arizona), but if there were any justice in this world Oregon would be 6-6. Oregon has also lost 3 straight games, including a loss to their rival. Meanwhile, BYU hasn't lost since September 16th and beat their rival. The edge, for me, has to go to BYU - these are two teams heading in completely opposite directions. That said, I only like the Stormin' Mormons by a touchdown, so I'm not certain of this one.

Also, my completely bowl predictions have been uploaded, and the link to your right is updated with the new URL.

"Live" commentating the Poinsettia Bowl

Because no one asked for it, I'll be talking about the game for the rest of the night, just for no other reason than because I can. The comments will be in the, well, comments.

The Bowls, 12/19-12/27

There are less than two hours left before the bowl season starts, but I guess now is as good a time as ever to make my predictions on the first week and a half of the postseason. Here are my thoughts (all times Eastern)...

TCU vs. Northern Illinois, The San Diego County Credit Union Bowl (ESPN2, Dec. 19, 8 PM): The CFP picked TCU, and I don't see why to go against it. Northern Illinois lost to Western Michigan, Iowa, and Toledo. Ouch.

BYU vs. Oregon, The Pioneer Pure Vision Las Vegas Bowl (ESPN2, Dec. 21, 8 PM): Oregon's only marquee win was the non-win against Oklahoma. BYU looked better in comparison. The Mormons, I mean, Cougars will continue to an 11-2 season.

Rice vs. Troy, The R&L Carriers New Orleans Bowl (ESPN2, Dec. 22, 8 PM): Man, how do teams like Rice and Troy get to play in December? There are definitely too many bowl games. I don't even know who the R&L Carriers are. I'm so annoyed that I'm not going to make a prediction here.

Is college football related to highway transit? Not really.

South Florida vs. East Carolina, The Papajohns.com Bowl (ESPN2, Dec. 23, 1 PM): South Florida beat West Virginia and was very close to doing the same to Rutgers. East Carolina lost to Navy, UAB, and Rice. Also, East Carolina's mascot is a pirate. I'm definitely picking South Florida.

New Mexico vs. San Jose State, The New Mexico Bowl (ESPN, Dec. 23, 4:30 PM): New Mexico lost to Portland State, a Division I-AA school. Even with New Mexico's home-field advantage, I'll stick with San Jose State.

Utah vs. Tulsa, The Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl (ESPN, Dec. 23, 8 PM): Tulsa at BYU, 25-49. BYU at Utah, 31-33. Go Utes!

Hawaii vs. Arizona State, The Sheraton Hawaii Bowl (ESPN, Dec. 24, 8 PM): Hawaii will probably beat lackluster and quarterback-less Arizona State (I bet the Sun Devils wish they hadn't let Rudy Carpenter go). Hawaii QB Colt Brennan will throw for 1,424 yards in the first half out of frustration with the awards committees. In the second half, he will throw a pass around the world into the end zone, just for kicks.

Central Michigan vs. Middle Tennessee State, The Motor City Bowl (ESPN, Dec. 26, 7:30 PM): This matchup is so uninteresting that it can only be described by the tagline for Alien vs. Predator: "Whoever wins, we lose."

UCLA vs. Florida State, The Emerald Bowl (ESPN, Dec. 27, 8 PM): This is the first bowl game of the season that I am actually going to try to watch. UCLA just came off a huge defensive win against USC, the greatest offense of all time. Florida State just came off a moral victory against Florida, holding the Gators to only three touchdowns and scoring two of their own. I think the Bruins will turn their momentum into bowl season victory, but it will not be easy.

I'll be back the night of the 27th to close out the calendar year.

It's Bowl Time!

That's right folks, it's bowl time! I'm looking forward to it...since it's exceedingly likely I won't be able to upload the predictions anytime soon, I'll say it here:

Garret Wolfe nonwithstadning, TCU has a good football team this year. Teams from the MAC usually don't. I say 28-21 in a shootout for TCU, which is basically my way of saying "I don't really know who's going to win, but I like TCU better for whatever reason."

More to come in a few days, hopefully.

My BCS Complaints and Heisman Ballot

I was going to write about how Michigan should be in the championship game instead of Florida, but Gene Wojciechowski from ESPN.com said it better than I ever could have. I'm not saying that the two teams aren't close, but when you take out all your SEC/anti-Big Ten biases the Wolverines make a better case. That's all I'm going to say about the BCS standings for now. I may come back sometime next week with a more thorough comparison of the two teams.

Here's my Heisman ballot and the method behind my madness:

3. Darren McFadden: McFadden ran for 1,558 yards and 14 touchdowns. He also threw for 3 touchdowns on 8 passing attempts with one interception. Injured at the beginning of the year, his development as a player is what kept Arkansas' title hopes alive (since Casey Dick, their quarterback, is awful). He's a sophomore, which means he will be back next year to do some more damage in the SEC. I hope Auburn figures out how to tackle by then.

2. Troy Smith: Troy Smith dominated every defense he played. Like Peyton Manning in those Sprint commercials, Smith has a "laser, rocket arm" that he uses to throw a football wherever he wants on the field. He threw for 2,507 yards, 30 touchdowns, and only five interceptions. Those stats are ridiculous. Smith is the first Ohio State quarterback since some guy named Tippy Dye, who played in the 30s, to beat Michigan three times in a row. "So," you may be wondering, "if Troy Smith is this amazing, why don't you rank him number one?" The answer is...

1. Vince Young: Let's all be real for a second. Vince Young got robbed of the Heisman Trophy last year. Reggie Bush, as good as he was, was only the second-best player in the nation. Young proved that during the 2006 Rose Bowl when he dominated USC once and for all. Plus, Young's presence made it possible for Texas to beat Nebraska this season, and his spirit was with Oregon State and UCLA when they beat USC. Finally, he is already a pretty good NFL quarterback. C'mon, folks. Let's make up for last year's mistake.

Feel free to post your unconvincing pro-Florida/pro-Quinn/anti-Young arguments here. I'll be back before the 19th to predict the first round of bowl games.

Good Luck Rich

You're going to need it.

Edit! I spoke too soon! He definitely made the right call here.

New Bowl Predictions Up

These are the final predictions of the year. After the schedule is set, I'll start predicting games.

That's all I really have to say right now.

Edit: Final bowl schedule is up. More to say probably after finals next week.

So Long, Farewell...

I'm sure you are all dying to read about how my predictions turned out. Die no more!

"Calvin Johnson has been shut down all year, and Reggie Ball hasn't done too well without him. Wake Forest hasn't put up many points either this year. I'm expecting a close defensive struggle. Neither team will score more than thirty points, but it's impossible to pick the winner. No one seems to want the ACC title this year."

Once again, Reggie Ball and the Tech offense he "leads" looked awful. The quarterback hit the Johnsons a few times, but most of his passes were not on target. I still can't figure out why the Yellow Jackets continually called deep shots downfield when Ball kept missing his receivers. Ball's scrambles seemed impulsive and didn't produce many yards. I was right about the close defensive struggle, but I should have said the two teams would score less than thirty points combined. This was probably the worst game of the day for those watching TV. Due to the drizzly weather, the fans in the stands probably didn't have much fun either.

"USC returns to the Rose Bowl nearly eleven months after Vince Young denied them a second straight national championship. UCLA almost upset Notre Dame at home, but USC just smashed Notre Dame, so that doesn't mean much. The Trojans will win, but I will get my hopes up anyway and spend the entire game yelling at the television."

I did spend the entire game yelling at the television, but not in vain. UCLA's defense stepped up in a big way, and the final interception was amazing. I think Vince Young's spirit was with quarterback Patrick Cowan, whose scampers down the field were just enough to put the Bruin offense in scoring position. The Trojans' title hopes were destroyed in the Rose Bowl for a second straight season. (Ironically, they might lose in the stadium again in the Rose Bowl [bowl] on New Year's.)

After the game, Carroll looked dumb-founded, and Booty looked like the pretty-boy quarterback I now expect to see at USC. Seriously, does Carroll recruit his quarterbacks from the sets of soap operas? Here's my question before I move on to other games: Now can the media stop talking about USC? I doubt it. ESPN has probably already projected the Trojans to win the next ten (if not twenty) national championships.

"You're going to change the score so we win, right?" "No."

"Will Arkansas rebound from a close loss to LSU? Will Florida rebound from a string of flat offensive performances? Both will probably happen, making this matchup the best game of the day. I'm pulling for Florida for the sake of BCS controversy, but the Razorbacks will probably be so upset about last week that they'll win."

It wasn't the best game of the day, but this was one of the wildest I saw all season. Chris Leak threw two interceptions and fumbled to himself twice in the nightmare that was the Florida quasi-option offense. Inside his own ten, Arkansas punt returner Reggie Fish attempted to catch a football that even Auburn's Tre' Smith would have avoided. The Gator recovery in the end zone, followed by a beautiful touchdown run by Percy Harvin, put the game out of the reach of the Razorbacks. I was wrong about the Arkansas win, but the BCS controversy was right on target.

The Big East might not be on par with the nation's other top conferences just yet, but it sure can produce a thriller. Last night's matchup was one of the most exciting games I saw all year. Kicker Jeremy Ito had another chance for glory, but his 52-yard field goal attempt to win the game fell short. I was disappointed when Scarlet Knight quarterback Mike Teel failed to complete the two-point conversion that would have sent the game into a fourth overtime. It has been exciting to see a program like Rutgers come so far (even if their schedule is worthless).

Yesterday was a bittersweet ending to the 2006 college football regular season. It produced some great televised matchups, but now I have to find something else to do with my weekends. I'll be back later this week to post my Heisman ballot and complain about the final BCS standings.

Football, TV, Saturday

Well, I'm watching Southern Miss and Houston go at it right now for the C-USA title and I figured, eh, let's do this.

Noon- Connecticut @ Louisville (ESPN): Whet your palate with this Big East tilt. A UL win here and a Rutgers lost in Morgantown sends UL to a BCS bowl.

1:00- Georgia Tech vs. Wake Forest (ABC): I've been asked numerous times this week if I planned on going to Jacksonville. My answer was, and is, no. I have a project due Monday, blah, blah, you don't care. However, I care greatly about graduating in two weeks....
So what do I think about this game? Well, it's tough to get a read on it. Obviously, Reggie needs to play better. The main key is whether or not Wake's misdirection will cause our fast defense to overpersue. We shall see.

2:30- Army vs. Navy (CBS): My Dad is an Army grad (class of '73), so I feel obligated to say "GO ARMY BEAT NAVY", despite the fact Army probably doesn't have a chance. :(
Also rooting for former GT head coach Bobby Ross, who during his tenure here won a national title.

3:00- Stanford @ California (FSN): The Big Game isn't, well, terribly big this year. But did you know that GT's official fight song, "Up With the White and Gold" (though, of course, "Ramblin Wreck is much more famous") was stolen from Cal during GT's trip to the 1929 Rose Bowl (GT won, by the way)? Compare this to this lyrics for "Up With the White and Gold" I posted last week. (Though, of course, I like this Cal song better....)

4:30- USC @ UCLA (ABC): I think we're all aware what's on the line here, and I think most of us are also aware UCLA doesn't have a chance.

6:00- Florida vs. Arkansas (CBS): Well, just down the road from here there's playing a conference championship game. Arkansas's situation seems pretty similar to ours, honestly. Both teams are coming off disappointing losses to major rivals. It'll be interesting to see if either, or both, can recover. UF, meanwhile, is looking to put an impressive game together, but I think it'll be too little, too late.

7:45- Rutgers @ West Virginia (ESPN): Battle for the Big East! Kind of.

8:00- Nebraska vs. Oklahoma (ABC): Two traditional Big 12 powers! Still surprised OU made it, I mean, they only lost the best RB in the country and all. And I think the most insightful thing one can say about Nebraska is what my Dad said last weekend: "Man, it's weird to see Nebraska throw the ball all over the place." Indeed.

12:00am, Sunday- Oregon St. @ Hawaii (ESPN): I love it when BCS teams use a trip to Hawaii as, basically, a bowl game. Thing is, OSU is a decent squad and all (they beat USC), but Hawaii isn't bad either. If I'm still conscious, I'll watch.

And that's it, folks! Have a good weekend, and Go Jackets!