Bowl Round Up

I am as giddy as Navin Johnson when he exclaimed "The new phonebooks are here!" It is the holiday season and that means it is bowl season. 68 teams will square off in 34 bowls over the next 3 weeks. You can bet that I will have a vested interest in each and everyone. Now granted, one football pool ensures that, so that is not all that impressive.

Big Ten Games:

Little Caesar's Pizza Bowl, formerly the Motor City Bowl - Ohio -2 Vs Marshall, Payout $750,000
This does not feature any Big Ten teams, what are you talking about RTS? Exactly. Thanks to Illinois', Michigan's, Purdue's and Indiana's crapiness the Big Ten could not fulfill all their bowl tie-ins. Thus Marshall steps in to complete one of the lamer bowl games. Don't get me wrong, Illinois vs Ohio would not be much more compelling, but hopefully the Big Ten could squeeze out a win and pad the bowl record.

Champs Sports- Wisconsin +3 Vs Miami , Payout $2.13 million
Wisconsin embodies the image of the Big Ten. A huge offensive line blocking for a abnormally large RB. It is grind it out football. If they fall behind by a couple of scores or have to go to the pass, it is game over for the Badgers. Wisco got shellacked in this game a year ago by FSU. Like Jimmy the Greek used to say "I like the Hurricanes by more than a field goal."

Insight- Minnesota -3 Vs Iowa St, Payout $1.2 million
The tag on the side of this blog reads, "Who the f cares?" The answer is RTS. I don't want to sound too condescending but this game is like the battle of Iowa's younger brothers. I generally root for both teams throughout the year and both teams have nice rivalries with Iowa. However, right or wrong, I feel that my team's program is better than these two. Am I an asshole? I am just being honest.

Outback- Northwestern +8 Vs Auburn, Payout $3.1 million
Kudos to Northwestern for making it to a New Years day bowl. It is well deserved. Down the stretch they beat Iowa and Wisconsin. NU don't go and F' it up. The Big Ten definitely needs to win this one or the Wisco game and I would say they have a better shot in this one. The Outback Bowl is great because it is the first game on New Years day. When I am hung over and want to do nothing more than lay on my couch and watch football, the Outback is there to comfort me.

Capital One- PSU -2 1/2 vs LSU, Payout $4.25 million
This should be a kick ass game w/ two big time programs squaring off . Now that Joe Pa has long walked Bobby Bowden, he now has the chance to put Les Miles on the hot seat next season. Even though he won a national title, the LSU faithful are wondering if Miles is competent. Despite the quality of this game, I see a new year's day nap sometime during the second qtr.

Alamo Bowl- Michigan St +7 1/2 Vs Texas Tech $2.25 million
Michigan St tortures their fans. They can follow up any quality win with a horrific loss. This was a team that was supposed to compete for the Big Ten title and possibly flirt with being undefeated. Instead they lost 3 of their first four including a loss to Central Mich by allowing 9 pts in the last 32 seconds. They lost to Iowa on the last play of the game and followed that up by losing to the Gophers. Maybe the fact that 8 players are suspended for beating up some frat guys, who were just minding their own god damn business when the football team started kicking their ass -yeah right, is good thing. I am guessing the pussy Jekyll shows up and Hyde is on suspension.

Rose Bowl- Ohio St + 3 1/2 Vs Oregon $17 million
The Rose Bowl has become the Big Ten/ ACC Challenge (sans this year). The Big Ten has not won since 2000 when Wisco beat Stanford. It is a toss up who is more desperate for the win OSU or the Big Ten. If you are not a Big Ten fan hoping this is the year the Big Ten breaks their funk, this one does not have a lot of sparkle.

Orange Bowl- Iowa +4 vs Georgia Tech $17 million
I was as disappointed as I could be at the announcement that the Hawkeyes made a BCS bowl. Yes, I was thrilled but I would have rather seen them go to the Fiesta and play Boise St as projected. I would like to see how Iowa and Boise measure up against each other. Now Iowa has to spend a month preparing for a an offense that they won't ever see again unless Navy pops up on the schedule. The good news is Iowa already plays a straight forward defense where everyone is responsible for a gap or man as opposed to a defense built on disrupting the offense with blitzes and people flying around the field. The bad news is Georgia Tech may only need a couple of big plays to outscore Iowa.

Other BCS Bowls:

Fiesta Bowl- TCU vs Boise St
Boy did they f*ck this one up. I don't care that they are both undefeated. The intrigue of both teams is to see how they play against the BCS schools. Would it be like Okl/ Boise again or Hawaii/ Georgia? Plus we already saw them play each other last year.

Sugar Bowl- Cincy vs Florida
Personally, for as big as this game is, it is not much of an attraction for me. We have already seen Tim Tebow cry and Cincy's coach may not be around anymore. I would not be surprised if Florida comes out flat like Bama did last year. On the flip side I could see Cincy's high powered offense go down Hawaii style. Either way, I will only really care about my football pool.

The BCS Championship- Alabama vs Texas
By the time this game rolls around on Jan 7, I will most likely be footballed out. It will have to be a heck of a game for me to make it all the way through. I am pulling for Texas just to keep the title out of the SEC.

Other bowls of note:

Worst bowl games- Humanitarian Bowl Idaho vs Bowling Green or the already mentioned Little Caesar's Bowl

Best match ups not yet mentioned- Holiday Bowl Nebraska vs Arizona and Chik-fil-A VT vs Tenn

Least deserving of the bowl bid they received- FSU in the Gator Bowl. Consider it a going away present.

Team that was screwed the most by their bid- Clemson in the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl. How did it happen? FSU.

Team that f'ed up their bowl chance- Kansas St, they went 6-6 but two wins were against FCS schools and only one can count for bowl eligibility. Were all the MAC teams booked when K St scheduled that second team? They also lost to Louisiana-Lafayette.