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!