All the drama is on hold for now in college football. While some teams bask in the glory that is theirs to play in a BCS Bowl, a sleuth of other teams prepare to face reality. Reality for a lot of teams at this time of year is that they have fallen short, teams like Texas Tech, Missouri, and BYU might be having those feelings (0-12 Washington started to have those feelings months ago). At the end of the day, we all know that it’s a 12-game season and then the good teams play in a fundraising event. That is the very reason why we won’t see a playoff in Division I football, a lot of people will lose too much money. In traditional fashion of Sunday Headlines, here are the matchups of the first portion of bowls with a headline you might see attached to it and the JIB Picks are bolded:
Fresno State has yet to match their success they had with David Carr.
-12/20 – Eagle Bank Bowl ~ Navy vs. Wake Forest – “Wake Gets Revenge” The Deamon Deacons and Midshipmen met earlier in the season and Navy squeaked out a 24-17 win. In that game, Wake Forest had six turnovers. Wake Forest could conceivably commit about 3-4 turnovers and still come out of this one with a win.
-12/20 – New Mexico Bowl ~ Fresno State vs. Colorado State – “Bulldogs Get Rammed” In what could have been the best season Fresno State has had since Davis Carr, the Bulldogs stumbled their way through the season. Nobody saw the Bulldogs being as bad as they were and their season will end on a sour note.
-12/20 – magicJack St. Petersburg Bowl ~ South Florida vs. Memphis – “Bulls at Home in Win” When you are starved for bowl wins, it always helps to play one in your backyard. For those of you wondering, “magicJack” is a locally based telecommunications company in south Florida. I was hoping it was a new revolutionary and magical flapjack, in my dreams…
-12/20 – Pioneer Las Vegas Bowl ~ BYU vs. Arizona – “BYU Prevails Again in Sin City” BYU might start sponsoring this bowl next year, it is their fourth appearance in four years. If there ever was a disappointing 10-2 season, this was the one. After back-to-back 10-2 seasons, the Cougars wanted more…maybe next year.
-12/21 - R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl ~ Troy vs. Southern Mississippi – “Troy Wins With Defense” Southern Miss and Troy are #26 and #20 in the nation in total offense, they are pretty evenly matched in that department. The difference will come on the defensive side of the ball as Troy will prevail in this yawner.
-12/23 – San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl ~ Boise State vs. TCU – “Broncos Have No Fiesta at Poinsettia” If the Poinsettia Bowl officials goal was to make a bowl with the longest name ever, than they succeeded. In a matchup that is just as good as some BCS Bowl games, Boise State will ultimately succumb to the quick and powerful TCU defense. TCU’s only losses are to #1 Oklahoma and #6 Utah.
-12/24 – Sheraton Hawaii Bowl ~ Notre Dame vs. Hawaii – “” If Notre Dame’s boosters are hoping for a nice Christmas vacation to Hawai’i, they better not think about the football game. The Fighting Irish have backed themselves into a corner accepting this invitation. The critics were silenced when Notre Dame said that Charlie Weis will return next year, what will they say after this bowl loss? Stay tuned.
North Carolina head coach Butch Davis has made football relevant in December again.
-12/26 – Motor City Bowl ~ Central Michigan vs. Florida Atlantic – “Dan LeFevour Scorches the Owls” Central Michigan found itself out of the MAC Championship for the first time in two years as they took a back seat to Buffalo and Ball State. Florida Atlantic find themselves in their first bowl ever! Although unmemorable, it will leave them wanting more.
-12/27 – Meineke Car Care Bowl ~ North Carolina vs. West Virginia – “Tar Heels Like Unfamiliar Territory” North Carolina hoops: epic, historic, and successful. North Carolina football: forgetful, mediocre, and disappointing. This year; however, seem to be a turning point for the Tar Heels, but is yet to be seen if they can sustain their success next year. This is only one year after all.
-12/27 – Champs Sports Bowl ~ Florida State vs. Wisconsin – “Seminoles Don’t Get Badgered” Wisconsin started the season in the top 10 and fell hard and fast. They were a disappointment in a pretty weak Big Ten (with eleven teams). Florida State also fell, but only because the polls hyped them up too much, they never were and still aren’t that good.
-12/27 – Emerald Bowl ~ Cal vs. Miami – “Bears Weather Hurricane” The ACC shows it’s stink with it’s bowl affiliations. Every year I am sure the BCS bowl officials fight over who has to take the ACC Champion. They are currently under contract with bowls in Boise, ID and San Francisco, CA. They can’t even get a bowl on the Atlantic coast!
-12/28 – Independence Bowl ~ Louisiana Tech vs. Northern Illinois – “And the Winner is zzzzzzz” How many people that watch this game outside of northern Illinois and Louisiana is yet to be seen, my guess is not a lot.
-12/29 - Papajohns.com Bowl ~ Rutgers vs. North Carloina State – “Better Ingredients, Better Team: Rutgers” Seems that the whole reason for this bowl is to remind us that you can order Papa Johns pizza online at papajohns.com. They better pack the ads at the beginning of the game because it won’t be long before people flip the channel to a Rocky Marathon that I’m sure is on some channel.
Tags: NCAA
December 10th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
I totally agree with you about BYU, let’s hope that next year they will do better and get a bigger and better bowl offer!