College Football Bowl Picks

The College Football Bowl Season begins Saturday.  There are a couple of great match-ups, a few good ones, but a lot of mediocre games as well.  Many of these games provide the feeling of ‘why would I watch this?’

If you notice a couple games missing, those picks will come closer to the beginning of the College Football Playoff.

Last Week: 1-0 (1.000) [Got to keep it positive.]

Overall:  290-83 (.777)

R&L Carriers New Orleans Bowl [December 20th – 11:00 AM – ESPN]: Nevada vs. Louisiana-Lafayette

Gildan New Mexico Bowl [December 20th – 2:20 PM – ESPN]:  Utah State vs. UTEP

Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl [December 20th – 3:30 PM – ABC]:  #22 Utah vs. Colorado State (I’d pick the upset if Jim McElwain was still at Colorado State.)

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl [December 20th – 5:45 PM – ESPN]:  Western Michigan vs. Air Force

Raycom Media Camellia Bowl [December 20th – 9:15 PM – ESPN]:  South Alabama vs. Bowling Green (Going with the home team.)

Miami Beach Bowl [December 22nd – 2:00 PM – ESPN]:  BYU vs. Memphis

Boca Raton Bowl [December 23rd – 6:00 PM – ESPN]:  Marshall vs. Northern Illinois

San Diego Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl [December 23rd – 9:30 PM – ESPN]:  Navy vs. San Diego State (Going with the home team.)

Popeyes Bahamas Bowl [December 24th – 12:00 PM – ESPN]:  Central Michigan vs. Western Kentucky

Hawaii Bowl [December 24th – 8:00 PM – ESPN]:  Fresno State vs. Rice

Zaxby’s Heart of Dallas Bowl [December 26th – 1:00 PM – ESPN]:  Illinois vs. Louisiana Tech

Quick Lane Bowl [December 26th – 4:30 PM – ESPN]:  Rutgers vs. North Carolina

BITCOIN St. Petersburg Bowl [December 26th – 8:00 PM – ESPN]:  North Carolina State vs. UCF (Going with the home team.)

Military Bowl presented by Northrop Grumman [December 27th – 1:00 PM – ESPN]:  Cincinnati vs. Virginia Tech

Hyundai Sun Bowl [December 27th – 2:00 PM – CBS]:  #15 Arizona State vs. Duke

Duck Commander Independence Bowl [December 27th – 3:30 PM – ABC]:  Miami (FL) vs. South Carolina

New Era Pinstripe Bowl [December 27th – 4:30 PM – ESPN]: Boston College vs. Penn State

National University Holiday Bowl [December 27th – 8:00 PM – ESPN]: Nebraska vs. #24 USC

AutoZone Liberty Bowl [December 29th – 2:00 PM – ESPN]:  Texas A&M vs. West Virginia

Russell Athletic Bowl [December 29th – 5:30 PM – ESPN]:  Oklahoma vs. #17 Clemson (No faith in a Cole Stoudt led Clemson offense, even with the strong defense.)

AdvoCare V100 Texas Bowl [December 29th – 9:00 PM – ESPN]:  Arkansas vs. Texas

Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl [December 30th – 3:00 PM – ESPN]: Notre Dame vs. #23 LSU

Belk Bowl [December 30th – 6:30 PM – ESPN]:  #13 Georgia vs. #21 Louisville

Foster Farms Bowl [December 30th – 10:00 PM – ESPN]:  Maryland vs. Stanford (Got to go with the home team.)

Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl [December 31st – 12:30 PM – ESPN]:  #9 Ole Miss vs. #6 TCU

VIZIO Fiesta Bowl [December 31st – 4:00 PM – ESPN]:  #20 Boise State vs. #10 Arizona (Got to go with the home team.)

Capital One Orange Bowl [December 31st – 8:00 PM – ESPN]:  #7 Mississippi State vs. #12 Georgia Tech (The Bulldogs will prove why they were on top most of the year.)

Outback Bowl [January 1st – 12:00 PM – ESPN2]:  #19 Auburn vs. #18 Wisconsin

Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic [January 1st – 12:30 PM – ESPN]:  #8 Michigan State vs. #5 Baylor

Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl [January 1st – 1:00 PM – ABC]:  #16 Missouri vs. #25 Minnesota (This is a mis-match.)

Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl [January 2nd – 12:00 PM – ESPN]:  Houston vs. Pittsburgh

TaxSlayer Bowl [January 2nd – 3:20 PM – ESPN]:  Iowa vs. Tennessee (This is a mis-match.)

Valero Alamo Bowl [January 2nd – 6:45 PM – ESPN]:  #11 Kansas State vs. #14 UCLA (The Bruins will prove why they were a College Football Playoff pick at the beginning of the season.)

TicketCity Cactus Bowl [January 2nd – 10:15 PM – ESPN]:  Washington vs. Oklahoma State

Birmingham Bowl [January 3rd – 12:00 PM – ESPN]:  East Carolina vs. Florida

GoDaddy Bowl [January 4th – 9:00 PM – ESPN]:  Toledo vs. Arkansas State

College Football Week 5 Picks

Many schools are beginning their conference schedules this week, meaning the games get tougher, and the picks get even tougher.

There seems to be a lot more parity across college football this year.  Look at last week’s wins by East Carolina (over North Carolina) and Indiana (over Missouri) as examples; or it could simply be luck.

In case you missed them, don’t forget to check out the bowl projections.  They will be updated after next week’s games.

Last Week:  19-5 (.792)

Overall:  105-17 (.861)

#11 UCLA vs. #15 Arizona State

Texas Tech vs. #24 Oklahoma State

#1 Florida State vs. North Carolina State (This is normally a tough game for the Seminoles, but they got their scare from Clemson.)

Louisiana Tech vs. #5 Auburn

Arkansas vs. #6 Texas A&M (Interesting game for both teams, because it’s an opportunity to see if both teams are for real.)

#7 Baylor vs. Iowa State

#8 Notre Dame vs. Syracuse

Wyoming vs. #9 Michigan State

Memphis vs. #10 Ole Miss

Tennessee vs. #12 Georgia

Missouri vs. #13 South Carolina (Is the home-field advantage for the Gamecocks a greater advantage than a team wanting to put an embarrassing loss behind them?)

#16 Stanford vs. Washington (Upset game of the week.)

New Mexico State vs. #17 LSU

Oregon State vs. #18 USC

South Florida vs. #19 Wisconsin

Illinois vs. #21 Nebraska

Cincinnati vs. #22 Ohio State

UTEP vs. #25 Kansas State

Colorado State vs. Boston College

Western Michigan vs. Virginia Tech

Akron vs. Pittsburgh

Wake Forest vs. Louisville

Kent State vs. Virginia

North Carolina vs. Clemson (Which team has more to play for: one who lost to East Carolina or one who choked away a win against the #1 team in the country?)

Duke vs. Miami (FL)

Vanderbilt vs. Kentucky (A month ago, I thought this would be all Vanderbilt, but it has swung the other way.)

College Football Picks for Week 13

The season is winding down, and the college football schedule makers are loving the mess they have created.  Several games have a huge impact on conference championships, and ultimately bowl placement.

Last Week:  19-5 (.792)

Overall:  261-55 (.826)

#16 Northern Illinois vs. Toledo

Rutgers vs. #18 UCF (Big BCS implications in this game.)

Chattanooga vs. #1 Alabama

Idaho vs. #2 Florida State

Indiana vs. #3 Ohio State

#4 Baylor vs. #10 Oklahoma State (For the second straight week, Oklahoma State is in a game to determine the Big 12 Champion.)

#5 Oregon vs. Arizona

Citadel vs. #7 Clemson

#8 Missouri vs. #24 Ole Miss (Mississippi is too hot and cold to figure out, plus Missouri has one more week before its big battle against Texas A&M.)

California vs. #9 Stanford

Coastal Carolina vs. #11 South Carolina

#12 Texas A&M vs. #22 LSU (It is hard to go against LSU at home.)

#13 Michigan State vs. Northwestern

#17 Arizona State vs. #14 UCLA (UCLA starts a stretch of games to determine the winner of the Pac-12 South.)

New Mexico vs. #15 Fresno State

#19 Wisconsin vs. #25 Minnesota (Another game with big BCS implications.)

#20 Oklahoma vs. Kansas State

Memphis vs. #21 Louisville

#23 USC vs. Colorado

Old Dominion vs. North Carolina

Duke vs. Wake Forest

Virginia vs. Miami (FL)

East Carolina vs. North Carolina State (North Carolina State is in complete disarray.)

Pittsburgh vs. Syracuse

Alabama A&M vs. Georgia Tech

Boston College vs. Maryland

Mississippi State vs. Arkansas

Georgia Southern vs. Florida

Kentucky vs. Georgia

Vanderbilt vs. Tennessee (The Commodores are on a hot streak.)

College Football Week 2 Picks

Week One was a good week in my college football picks.  Not as good as last year, when I went undefeated in the first week.

This week, there are really only two marquee match-ups, South Carolina at Georgia and Notre Dame at Michigan.  Overall though, there are not really any upset picks in this week’s batch.

Last Week:  31-6 (.838)

#2 Oregon vs. Virginia

San Diego State vs. #3 Ohio State

South Carolina State vs. #4 Clemson

San Jose State vs. #5 Stanford

#6 South Carolina vs. #11 Georgia (It is hard to go against my alma mater, but Georgia QB Aaron Murray finally gets it done against South Carolina this year.)

Sam Houston State vs. #7 Texas A&M

Eastern Kentucky vs. #8 Louisville

UAB vs. #9 LSU

#12 Florida vs. Miami (FL)

#13 Oklahoma State vs. UTSA

#14 Notre Dame vs. #17 Michigan

#15 Texas vs. BYU

West Virginia vs. #16 Oklahoma (This game will be closer than people think.)

Syracuse vs. #19 Northwestern

Tennessee Tech vs. #21 Wisconsin

Southern Miss vs. #22 Nebraska

Buffalo vs. #23 Baylor

SE Louisiana vs. #24 TCU

Washington State vs. #25 USC

Wake Forest vs. Boston College

Middle Tennessee vs. North Carolina

Western Carolina vs. Virginia Tech

Old Dominion vs. Maryland

Duke vs. Memphis

Richmond vs. North Carolina State (Remember, seven FCS schools beat FBS schools last week.)

Miami (OH) vs. Kentucky

Western Kentucky vs. Tennessee

Toledo vs. Missouri

Alcorn State vs. Mississippi State

Samford vs. Arkansas

SE Missouri State vs. Ole Miss

Arkansas State vs. Auburn (Tempting to call the upset, but Gus Malzahn gets it done against his old school.)

Austin Peay vs. Vanderbilt