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

Ranking the 2013-14 Bowl Games

On the eve of the 2013-14 College Football Bowl season, let’s look at the best and worst games, to figure out which games to watch, and which ones to avoid.

5 Stars:

Rose Bowl Game presented by VIZIO – Stanford vs. Michigan State – If you love defense, this is the game for you.  Both teams have defenses that are among the best in the country.  This game will come down to which team can consistently put enough offense together to score more than the other.

VIZIO BCS National Championship – Florida State vs. Auburn – This game will be great for the exact opposite reason of the Rose Bowl.  Both of these teams have high-powered offenses, each featuring a Heisman finalist.  Florida State has the better defense, but Auburn has shredded some of the SEC’s best defenses in 2013.

4 Stars:

Discover Orange Bowl – Clemson vs. Ohio State – This game is very intriguing considering it is two teams that thought it would be their year.  All Ohio State had to do was beat Michigan State in the Big Ten Championship Game, and they are playing for a national title.  Clemson was dismantled by Florida State early in the year, and it kind of put them in a long-shot situation.

Chick-fil-A Bowl – Duke vs. Texas A&M – Two competing story-lines in this game.  First there is Duke, who shocked the world and made it to the ACC Championship Game.  Then there is Texas A&M, who had a somewhat disappointing season, especially considering the return of Johnny Manziel.

Valero Alamo Bowl – Oregon vs. Texas – This game gets 4-star quality considering it is Mack Brown’s final game at Texas.  Oregon is significantly better than Texas, but the question will be how much does emotions play a part of the game.

3 Stars:

 

Allstate Sugar Bowl – Oklahoma vs. Alabama

Outback Bowl – Iowa vs. LSU

Capital One Bowl – Wisconsin vs. South Carolina

TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl – Nebraska vs. Georgia

Hyundai Sun Bowl – Virginia Tech vs. UCLA

National University Holiday Bowl – Arizona State vs. Texas Tech

Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl – Ole Miss vs. Georgia Tech

Russell Athletic Bowl – Miami (FL) vs. Louisville

New Era Pinstripe Bowl – Rutgers vs. Notre Dame

Sheraton Hawaii Bowl – Boise State vs. Oregon State

Beef ‘O’ Brady’s St. Petersburg Bowl – Ohio vs. East Carolina

Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl – Fresno State vs. USC

2 Stars:

GoDaddy Bowl – Arkansas State vs. Ball State

AT&T Cotton Bowl – Oklahoma State vs. Missouri

AutoZone Liberty Bowl – Rice vs. Mississippi State

Advocare V100 Bowl – Arizona vs. Boston College

Belk Bowl – Cincinnati vs. North Carolina

Fight Hunger Bowl – BYU vs. Washington

Texas Bowl – Syracuse vs. Minnesota

Military Bowl Presented by Northrop Grumman – Marshall vs. Maryland

San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl – Utah State vs. Northern Illinois

Gildan New Mexico Bowl – Washington State vs. Colorado State

1 Star:

BBVA Compass Bowl – Vanderbilt vs. Houston

Tostitos Fiesta Bowl – UCF vs. Baylor

Heart of Dallas Bowl – UNLV vs. North Texas

Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl – Middle Tennessee vs. Navy

Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl – Michigan vs. Kansas State

Little Caesars Pizza Bowl – Pittsburgh vs. Bowling Green

R&L Carriers New Orleans Bowl – Tulane vs. Louisiana-Lafayette

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl – Buffalo vs. San Diego State