It's that glorious time of year again where just about anyone with a stadium & a sponsor can host their own college bowl game. It wasn't always this way and once upon that time the bowl games actually meant something. Then cable television was born and so too were a countless number of craptastic games looking for any kind of an audience. This year there are actually 34 bowl games and it all kicks off on December 19th with the New Mexico Bowl and it all ends on January 7th when
12/19 - New Mexico Bowl -
One of
12/19 - St. Petersburg Bowl - Rutgers vs
This basically a home game for UCF and
12/20 – New Orleans Bowl – Middle Tennessee vs Southern Miss
Middle Tennessee is probably the best 9 win team that no one has ever heard of and they will be the best 10 win team that no one has ever of after the game. And let’s face it, no one really loses when they get to go to
12/22 – Maaco Las Vegas Bowl –
Nobody loses when they get to go to
12/23 – Poinsettia Bowl –
12/24 – Hawaii Bowl –
12/26 – Little Caesars Bowl –
Who cares who wins this game ? All that really matters is that once upon a time when I was a mascot for our local hockey team, I beat up the Little Caesars mascot. I hit him with a Domino’s box.
12/26 – Meineke Car Care Bowl –
Pitt was just one kick & one catch away from playing in the Orange Bowl. This may be a relative home game for the Tar Heels but this ball isn’t round.
12/26 – Emerald Bowl –
A great matchup of two underachieving overhyped programs that looks great on paper. Not sure if they have ever even played each other before. You might think I am “nuts” but BC cracks open a win in this one.
12/27 – Music City Bowl –
There is only two reasons to watch this game. The first is CJ Spiller of Clemson and the second is because it is the only game on that day. This game won’t even be close.
12/28 – Independence Bowl – Texas A&M vs
I lost interest in this game years ago when Poulan Weedeater dropped their sponsorship of the game. I lost even more interest when I saw the two teams playing this year. Just can’t ever pick the Aggies (unless they play Notre Dame) so the Bulldogs win this one.
12/29 – Eagle Bank Bowl – UCLA vs
I think the last time
12/29 – Champs Sports Bowl –
Wisco won’t be able to handle
12/30 – Humanitarian Bowl –
The best thing about this game is that it is being played on the SMURF TURF !
12/30 – Holiday Bowl –
I have no idea how to pronounce Ndamukong Suh’s first name but expect to hear it a lot as the Cornhuskers wear down the Wildcats out in
12/31 - Armed Forces Bowl – Air Force vs
I don’t think a platoon of F-16’s could help stop the bombing that Casey Keenum is going to lay down on Air Force.
12/31 – Sun Bowl – Stanford vs
How did such a crappy bowl game (
12/31 – Texas Bowl –
Yawn – though it will be fun to see Navy try to avenge their loss to Mizzou from 1961. Look for Mizzou to throw, throw & throw and Navy to run, run & run.
12/31 – Insight Bowl –
I wonder how many people on the Insight Bowl Selection Committee killed themselves after they got stuck with this game ? The Big 12 is better than the Big 10 but I am picking
12/31 – Chick Fil-A Bowl – Virginia Tech vs
This game is a lot more interesting on paper than it will be on TV. I’ll take the Hokies because somebody has to win and I can’t see a former raiders coach doing that.
1/1 – Outback Bowl – Northwestern vs
A Big 10 surprise and a SEC disappointment for the first game of New year’s Day.
1/1 – Capital One Bowl –
2 teams that both had BCS Championship aspirations early on that just couldn’t close the deal when they needed to do it. I love LSU and have never picked against them.
1/1 – Gator Bowl –
It kind of cracks me up that in Bobby Bowden’s farewell game as the Seminoles coach, he has to play in the “Gator” Bowl.
1/1 – Rose Bowl –
1/1 – Sugar Bowl –
This could have been a much better game if Brian Kelly hadn’t run away to go coach Notre Dame. It does still have an interesting storyline in that you have Tim Tebow’s final game and you have a
1/2 – International Bowl – South Florida vs
This would be an interesting matchup in early September. It’s a reason to change the channel in January. I’m going with the underdogs from
1/2 – Papajohns.com Bowl –
I hate all Steve Spurrier coached teams and Connecticut has played well all season losing it’s 5 games by a combined total of 15 points. The Huskies have an intangible to play for that the Gamecocks don’t. I like
1/2 – Cotton Bowl –
The Cotton Bowl used to be one of the Big 4 Bowl Games but now it has been relegated to 2nd tier status but it always gets a fun game to watch. I like both teams in this game so I really don’t care who wins but I will be putting my bowl picks pool money on OK State.
1/2 – Liberty Bowl – East Carolina vs
I really liked the way that East Carolina handled
1/2 – Alamo Bowl – Texas Tech vs
I like the San Antonio Riverwalk. I like Texas Tech. Not much else to say about this game other than it finishes off an extremely long day of football.
1/4 – Fiesta Bowl – TCU vs
In some ways this battle of Non-BCS Conference undefeated teams is a cop out because both of these teams would have beaten any BCS Conference team that they faced but in other ways it isn’t because this is a football fan’s dream matchup. Both teams can & do score at will. Both teams are exciting. Everyone remembers what
1/5 – Orange Bowl – Georgia Tech vs
A nice placeholder/palate cleanser game between the main course (Fiesta) and the dessert (BCS Championship). Neither team truly excites me but both will show up ready to play but like I said earlier, I once got a speeding ticket in
1/6 – GMAC Bowl – Central Michigan vs
Where is the outrage & outcry over the Central michigan’s coach taking the job in
1/6 – BCS National Championship Game –
Based on their conference championship games, this should be a blowout of snoozefest proportions with Heisman winner Mark Ingram rolling the Tide over Heisman also ran Colt McCoy & the Longhorns but I don’t like o use comparative scores when looking at a game like this. I think both conferences are overrated & over-hyped but these are indeed the best teams from both. The Longhorns are 5 point underdogs and I fully expect them to cover the spread. I also think that based on Bama’s performance against
So there you go. 34 games. 34 winners. Check back often to see why there is a reason that
And that is the view for now from Behind The Shades and on the sidelines…..swampy abides….
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