SATURDAY, DECEMBER 27
– Meineke Car Care Bowl: West Virginia vs. North Carolina (ESPN, 1pm) – This has been a bad year for the Mountaineers and UNC, well, this is basically a home game for them.  Also, watch this for Pat White, WV’s quarterback, he’s truly a special player.  So see him now before his soul is crushed next year when he wears a Detroit Lions uniform.
– Champs Sports Bowl: Wisconsin vs. Florida State (ESPN, 430pm) – FSU and UW have never faced each other and if my math is right, after this game, Wisconsin is never going to want to see the Seminoles again. They can’t stop the run so watch for FSU’s Antone Harris to have a terrific game.
– Emerald Bowl: California vs. Miami (ESPN, 8pm) – The U is on the way back to respectability, especially when they’ve got freshmen(!) like Sean Spence who can do stuff like this. But unless he becomes a one man wrecking crew, this is going to be a long day for the Canes.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 28
– Independence Bowl: Louisiana Tech vs. Northern Illinois (ESPN, 815pm) – Again, I question the NCAA’s sanity for putting up a bowl game against a gigantic NFL matchup.  At least no one outside the alumni will care enough to complain.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 29
– PapaJohns.com Bowl: Rutgers vs. NC State (ESPN, 3pm) – Might as well call this the rocket arm bowl.  Both teams have QB’s who can light the world on fire. Rutgers QB Mike Teel looks like he’s 14 years old, but god damn can he throw a football.   And for NC State, Russell Wilson, the gentleman of African descent pictured here. Both have bright futures ahead of them. This day should belong to Teel.
– Alamo Bowl: Northwestern vs. Missouri (ESPN, 8pm) – Ah, the Alamo Bowl, the last 3 years this has been a nailbiter for any team that’s involved. NU has 50+ years since they last won a bowl, and this year will probably be no different.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 30
– Humanitarian Bowl: Nevada vs. Maryland (ESPN, 430pm) – Yay, it’s the smurf turf game! Watch your High Def TV be very sad as it tries to compensate for that ungodly field. As for the game itself, Nevada QB Colin Kaepernick (who’s actually pretty cute) is that prototypical running QB who ends up getting crushed when he heads to the NFL.  As it is, Maryland doesn’t exactly have Tony Polamalu back there so he’ll have a good day.
– Texas Bowl: Rice vs. Western Michigan (NFL Network, 8pm) – Neither of these teams runs the ball. Um, pretty much at all.  Thank god Knute Rockne invented the forward pass. This is going to be a shootout of the highest magnitude and is pretty much anyone’s game.
– Holiday Bowl: Oregon vs. Oklahoma State (ESPN, 8pm) – And since no one gets the NFLN, this will be the marquis matchup of the evening.  You’ll think this was the run and gun days of old.  Seriously, this could be a 52-52 game going into OT.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 31
– Armed Forces Bowl: Air Force vs. Houston (ESPN, 12pm) – In the “we have too many damned bowls” category, I present this game.  These teams played earlier this season when AFA defeated UH 31-28.  I’ll say Houston returns the favor
– Sun Bowl: Pitt vs. Oregon State (CBS, 2pm) – As a Dolphins fan, I can tell you this rash of Pitt success is a fluke and Wannstedt will screw it up.  You watch and see.
– Music City Bowl: Vanderbilt vs. Boston College (ESPN, 330pm) – Great defenses + bad offenses equals a bad football game.  Simple as that.
– Insight Bowl: Kansas vs. Minnesota (NFL Network, 530pm) – They haven’t played for about 30 years and Minny has had some incredible wins this year, but I don’t see KU getting beat here.
– Chick-Fil-A Bowl: Georgia Tech vs. LSU (ESPN, 730pm) – LSU fell apart down the stretch. The Georgia Institute of Technology runs an old-school offense that’s going to give LSU absolute nightmares.  They’ve got 3 guys with over 600 yards rushing, and Jonathan Dwyer is the best of them (1300+ yards, a dozen TD’s).  He’s likely to have a monster game on this night, if LSU wants any chance of winning, they have to stop him.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 1
– Outback Bowl: Iowa vs. South Carolina (ESPN, 11am)  – Good lord, finally a January game! Iowa RB Shonn Greene is going to be a terrific running back in the NFL.  He’s as talented a runner as there is in college football.  And though Iowa is a favorite here, I wanna pick the upset for some reason.  Maybe it’s because I love Cocks so much.
– Capital One Bowl: Michigan State vs. Georgia (ABC, 1pm) – Will the SEC’s bowl dominance of the Big 10 continue?  UGa’s got a lot of pride to play for here, since they thought they should’ve been included with the big boys. MSU isn’t going to be able to hang with Georgia and Knowshon Moreno.
– Gator Bowl: Nebraska vs. Clemson (CBS, 1pm) – In the late 80s and early 90s this could have been a National Championship game.  Nebraska QB Joe Ganz isn’t only cute as a button, but he’s also a stats monster.  Now, that could be because the boy can ball, but it could also be because the Big 12 sucks.  I’ll go with the earlier since I want to give him the benefit of the doubt.

– Rose Bowl: USC vs. Penn State (ABC, 430pm) – Now we’re talking. The ultimate new school versus old school.  And in this case, you never go against the old man.  He’ll take you out behind the shed and beat you silly.

– Orange Bowl: Cincinnati vs. Virginia Tech (FOX, 830pm) – Frank Beemer’s going to have his boys ready for a war and that’s exactly what they’re going to get.  Va Tech is going to give them everything they can handle, but this game just means that much more to Cincy who’s going to be playing for elite recruits next season and the chance to really hang with the big boys.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 2
– Cotton Bowl: Ole Miss vs. Texas Tech (FOX, 2pm) – TTU is pissed.  Pissed pissed pissed.  They truly felt they should’ve been in a big BCS match-up.  But Mississippi are not to be taken lightly.  They’ve got an incredible pass rush, but I expect TTU to stomp them to prove their point.
– Liberty Bowl: Kentucky vs. East Carolina (ESPN, 5pm) -This is again a “there are too many bowl games” matchup.  ECU should be able to handle a rapidly deteriorating Kentucky team.
– Sugar Bowl: Alabama vs. Utah (FOX, 8pm) – Again, as a Dolphins fan, I say this for my analysis of this game.  Fuck. Nick. Saban. 

Phew.  That’s it for now.  More picks next week!

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The basic premise of the BCS is this: if you won 6 games and have any kind of national exposure, you get to play one more meaningless game between this Saturday morning when Wake Forest plays Navy in the EagleBank Bowl and ending roughly in the middle of next July when the University of Florida beats Oklahoma (sic) in the National Championship Game in Miami.

One of the fun things about seeing these games is seeing a ton of commercials for scam products you’ve never heard of (magicJack) or products you have no access to (Bell Helicopter).  Occasionally you’ll get a terrific football game, like BSU shocking Oklahoma last year.  More often than not though, the matchup favors one team heavily over another and you end up with scores like 56-3 and making the matchmakers look like morons for not getting the winning team into a higher tier bowl (Texas Longhorns, I’m looking in your direction).

So with all that said…  let’s make some picks for this week’s games:

December 20, 2008
Eaglebank Bowl: Wake Forest vs. Navy - WFU is the worst of the ACC teams to make a bowl.  Watch this game for Navy’s Triple Option package.
New Mexico Bowl: Colorado State vs. Fresno State – Pundits seem to think this one will be a shootout.  That’s code for saying both team’s defenses suck.
magicJack St. Petersberg Bowl: Memphis vs. South Florida – USF went from being darlings of the media to an also ran  pretty damned quick.  But, this is a home game for them.
Pioneer Las Vegas Bowl: BYU vs. Arizona - Mormons in Las Vegas! And hey, they’re ranked too.  I think the den of sin and iniquity that is LV will befoul the Cougs’ souls and lead to the mild upset.

December 21, 2008
R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl: Southern Miss vs. Troy - lol. They put a bowl game against the Giants-Panthers game.  Troy’s a good team, but no one’s going to watch this.

December 23, 2008
San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl: Boise State vs. TCU – It’s weird seeing BSU play anywhere other than Idaho where their blue field causes their opponents to go into hypnosis.  This one is going to be good. BSU in a squeaker.

December 24, 2008
Sheraton Hawaii Bowl: Hawaii vs. Notre Dame – Charlie Weis needs to be fired. Now.  The only reason ND is in this game is because they won the national championship 20 years ago. HI in a blowout.

December 26, 2008
Motor City Bowl: Florida Atlantic vs. Central Michigan – On paper, this is an easy call for CMU.  However, much like you never get into a land war in Asia, you never, ever, go up against Howard Schnellenberger in a bowl game.

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