Bowl Selections Part 2

(1/1) Ticket City Bowl: Texas Tech (-9.5) vs. Northwestern

Ticket City is trying to make a run at StubHub and a great indicator of this game will be how much the going rate on Friday is for a ticket to this game. My guess is about the price of a Wendy's #1 with a medium frosty. When NW lost QB Dan Persa to an achilles injury November 13th, they lost not only a quality QB, but a team leader and the offense has predictably struggled with redshirt freshman Evan Watkins. The bigger issue has been the NW defense which has given up 118 pts and 848 rushing yards in their last two games, both losses to Illinois and Wiscy. Texas Tech started off slow, 1-3 in conference play, but has found their stride under new coach Tommy Tuberville and senior QB Taylor Potts to WR Lyle Leong (17 TD's) is a dangerous duo. The Cotton Bowl venue should help Texas Tech, but not as much as the Persa injury and the NW, so I am laying the points with the favorite.

(1/1) Outback Bowl: Florida (-7) vs. Penn State

I have to admit I like Texas Roadhouse better, and the Texas Roadhouse bowl in Tampa seems like a naturally confusing bowl game that is about right for this time of year. You have to wonder what Florida's motivation is going to be in a mediocre bowl after a disapointing season in Urban Meyer's final game. Meyer has been a great coach, but you have to wonder what his legacy would have been had he retired after last season? You know what they say, if you have two QB's you don't have any, so what does it mean when you have three like Florida? The Gator offense has been worse than inept and has been held to 7 points or less 3 times this season, so giving 7 points seems like a lot in this game. I will take the 84 year old coach who is coming back and using this game as a building block for next year over the 46 year old coach who is burnt out and done after this game.

(1/1) Capital One Bowl: Alabama (-10) vs. Michigan State

My vote for second best commercials of any bowl game this year. Bama continues their year long trend of being loved by Vegas and Nick Saban has had over a month to get his team over the most confounding loss of the college football season. Bama's two biggest issues this year were the Ingram/Richardson duo battling nagging injuries all season and their awful secondary play. The month break before this game should benefit both as Ingram and Richardson are healthy and Saban has had a month to teach DB play, his forte. Michigan State has won, but has not played well since before Veteran's Day and I think the talent disparity between these two teams will be too much for MSU to overcome, so I will lay the points in this SEC/Big 10 matchup.

(1/1) Progressive Gator Bowl: Mississippi State (-10) vs. Michigan

Progressive is a great name for Michigan's bowl since they get progressively worse as the season continues under Rich Rod. Michigan is 8-0 out of conference the last two years, but 6-18 in Big 10 play during Rich Rod's tenure. I think it is safe to say that conference record would be worse if Michigan played in the SEC West. Miss St. is solid in all three phases with their only losses coming to top 20 teams. Both teams will move the ball on the ground, but I like Miss. St. to pull away late and I don't mind laying the points with that Michigan D.

(1/1) The Rose Bowl presented by Vizio: TCU (-2.5) vs. Wiscy

Some day that won't sound weird; for my money the hardest game to feel confident about either way. TCU is third in the nation vs. the run and first in points allowed, but they have not played a team as committed to the run with a NFL type O-line and RB's like Wiscy. The TCU defense will either stop the run and turn this into a QB battle, where they and Andy Dalton will have the advantage, or Wiscy will pound them into the ground physically. With as much confidence as Mike Singletary QB decision I will take TCU and Andy Dalton to make the plays at the end of the game to win and cover.

(1/1) Tositos Fiesta Bowl: Oklahoma (-17.5) vs. UConn

Anything that ends in "tos" is good with me. So there is a bowl rematch (Nebraska/Washington) on a neutral field where the visitors won during the regular season by 35 and they are less of a favorite than Oklahoma is in this BCS game, ladies and gentlemen your 2010 Big East football conference. This is the matchup Oklahoma needed to break their 5 game BCS bowl losing streak. 17 and a hook are a lot of points, and UConn has been better lately, but I can't shake the thought of their losses to Temple, Rutgers, Michigan, and Cincy's fold up last year as the Big East representative.

(1/3) The Discover Orange Bowl: Stanford (-3) vs. VTech

Wouldn't this be a great playoff game, with the best 2 loss team vs. the best 1 loss team in the country? The 49ers should be on the phone right now with Jim Harbaugh, the way he has turned Stanford into a physical team that plays a pro style has been nothing short of remarkable. Stanford comes into this game with the 8th ranked scoring offense and the 11th ranked scoring defense and will face a team on an 11 game winning streak with a defense that has 14 INT's in their last 6 games. We will learn a lot about Andrew Luck and the ACC in this game. I like Stanford, Luck, and the ACC's 2-10 record in BCS bowls to take another hit.

(1/4) All-State Sugar Bowl: Ohio State (-3) vs. Arkansas

Anytime you have the President from "24" as your spokesman you are OK by me. So OSU is 0-9 in their last nine bowl games vs. the SEC and has 0.0 good wins this year and they are favored over an SEC West team? Arkansas has won 6 in a row while averaging 42.5 pts/game, and has 4 wins over top 25 teams. RB Knile Davis has added a new weapon to an offense that is better than a quarter of NFL teams. It is safe to say that I like Arkansas every which way and the SEC friendly Superdome will only help.

(1/6) GoDaddy.com Bowl: Miami OH (-1.5) vs. Middle Tennessee State

1 to 5 favorite to have the best commericals of any bowl game this year. Miami winning the MAC a year after winning 1 game seems to deserve more than a trip to Mobile, Alabama on the first Thursday in January. Most games it is very hard to hit a middle, but it looks pretty straight forward in this game, so I am taking the points.

(1/7) AT&T Cotton Bowl: LSU (-1) vs. Texas A&M

Two months ago I would have taken a Clippers finals future before I would have taken A&M to go to the Cotton Bowl. Coach Mike Sherman made a job saving move when he benched QB Jerrod Johnson for WR Ryan Tannehill, and shifted the offense focus to RB Cyrus Gray. The defense has also improved and this looks like a team on the rise after their 6 game win streak to close the season. LSU coach Les Miles rightfully takes a lot of heat for his decisions, but his team only has 2 losses, both to top 10 teams and an improved offense and rested defense has me laying the point with the favorite.

(1/8) BBVA Compass Bowl: Pittsburgh (-3) vs. Kentucky

BBVA Compass is a Sunbelt based financial institution, I would have needed over 20 guesses to get that one. Since Pittsburgh fired the Bernie Madoff of football I don't have much to say about this game, but I know I will not be taking a Big East team laying 3 points this bowl season.

(1/9) Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl: Nevada (-9.5) vs. Boston College

This game has been played in the San Francisco Giants home park since 02' and has previously been named the Emerald Bowl and Diamond Walnut San Francisco Bowl. Somehow BC has appeared in this bowl three times even though it is contracted to be a WAC/Pac-10 matchup, just another example of bowl season. I was one of 3 people on the East Coast awake when Nevada beat Boise, so I am riding Nevada in this one.

(1/10) BCS Title Game: Auburn (-3) vs. Oregon

The one and only game that means something, proving once again that the NCAA is the Wizard of Oz. Great offensive matchup as these two spread offenses will exchange more points than both of their respective basketball teams. I think the difference in this game will be Auburn's defensive line and Nick Fairley, the Oregon offense has been semi-slowed by powerful DL's and Fairley is the nation's best. Auburn QB Cam Newton has come up bigger and bigger in every situation that has presented itself this season and in a close game I will always take the team with the better QB.