There are some pretty good matchups in the non-BCS games. The bowl selectors have tried to match teams up in such a way as to give the fan a good game. That said there are some selections that will just make you go, “Huh?”
Why are Notre Dame and Kentucky in this list at all? I know they were both 6 and 6 and that that is all that you need to be bowl eligible, but really now…. Notre Dame beat how many teams with a winning record? One. Navy was 8-4.
And Kentucky finished dead last in the SEC East with a 2-6 conference record. They won their first four (non-conference) games and lost their last three. The final one to Tennessee, a team that was 3-5 in the SEC and 5-7 overall.
Hawaii is not much better. They finished 7-6, 5-3 in the Western Athletic Conference. Good thing for the Rainbow Warriors that they get to play at home…against Notre Dame.
Enough of that. Here's how I see the bowls shaping up. [UPDATE: I inadvertantly left off two games that are to be played on Dec. 20: The Eagle Bank Bowl (Navy vs Wake Forest) and the New Mexico Bowl (Colorado State vs Fresno State) in my original post. Here's the revised format:
Non-BCS Bowl games: (The * indicates the favored team according to Vegas.com on Dec. 9th.)
| Date | Bowl | TV | Time | Matchup | My Pick |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec. 20 | EagleBank | ESPN | 11:00 AM | Wake Forest* (7-5) vs. Navy (8-4) | Navy |
| Dec. 20 | New Mexico | ESPN | 2:30 PM | Colorado State (6-6) vs.Fresno State* (7-5) | Fresno State |
| Dec. 20 | St. Petersburg | ESPN2 | 4:30 PM | Memphis (6-6) vs. South Florida* (7-5) | South Florida |
| Dec. 20 | Las Vegas | ESPN | 8:00 PM | BYU (10-2) vs. Arizona* (7-5) | BYU |
| Dec. 21 | New Orleans | ESPN | 8:00 PM | Southern Miss (6-6) vs. Troy* (8-4) | Troy |
| Dec. 23 | Poinsettia | ESPN | 8:00 PM | Boise State (12-0) vs. Texas Christian* (10-2) | Boise State |
| Dec. 24 | Hawaii | ESPN | 8:00 PM | Hawaii* (7-6) vs. Notre Dame (6-6) | Hawaii |
| Dec. 26 | Motor City | ESPN | 7:30 PM | Florida Atlantic (6-6) vs. Central Michigan* (8-4) | Central Michigan |
| Dec. 27 | Meineke Car Care | ESPN | 1:00 PM | West Virginia (8-4) vs. North Carolina* (8-4) | West Virginia |
| Dec. 27 | Champs Sports | ESPN | 4:30 PM | Wisconsin (7-5) vs. Florida State* (8-4) | Florida State |
| Dec. 27 | Emerald | ESPN | 8:00 PM | Miami (Fla.) (7-5) vs. California* (8-4) | California |
| Dec. 28 | Independence | ESPN | 8:00 PM | Northern Illinois* (6-6) vs. Louisiana Tech (7-5) | Louisiana Tech |
| Dec. 29 | Papajohns.com | ESPN | 3:00 PM | North Carolina St. (6-6) vs. Rutgers* (7-5) | Rutgers |
| Dec. 29 | Alamo | ESPN | 8:00 PM | Missouri* (9-4) vs. Northwestern (9-3) | Missouri |
| Dec. 30 | Humanitarian | ESPN2 | 4:30 PM | Maryland (7-5) vs. Nevada*(7-5) | Nevada |
| Dec. 30 | Texas | NFL Net | 8:00 PM | Rice* (9-3) vs. Western Michigan (9-3) | Rice |
| Dec. 30 | Holiday | ESPN | 8:00 PM | Oklahoma State* (9-3) vs. Oregon (9-3) | Oklahoma State |
| Dec. 31 | Armed Forces | ESPN | 12:30 PM | Houston* (7-5) vs. Air Force (8-4) | Houston |
| Dec. 31 | Sun | CBS | 2:00 PM | Oregon State* (8-4) vs. Pittsburgh (9-3) | Pittsburgh |
| Dec. 31 | Music City | ESPN | 3:30 PM | Boston College* (9-4) vs. Vanderbilt (6-6) | Boston College |
| Dec. 31 | Insight | NFL Net | 5:30 PM | Kansas* (7-5) vs. Minnesota (7-5) | Kansas |
| Dec. 31 | Chick-fil-A | ESPN | 7:30 PM | LSU (7-5) vs. Georgia Tech* (9-3) | Georgia Tech |
| Jan. 1 | Outback | ESPN | 11:00 AM | South Carolina (7-5) vs. Iowa* (8-4) | Iowa |
| Jan. 1 | Capital One | ABC | 1:00 PM | Georgia* (9-3) vs. Michigan State (9-3) | Georgia |
| Jan. 1 | Gator | CBS | 1:00 PM | Clemson*(7-5) vs. Nebraska (8-4) | Clemson |
| Jan. 2 | Cotton | FOX | 2:00 PM | Mississippi (8-4) vs. Texas Tech* (11-1) | Texas Tech |
| Jan. 2 | Liberty | ESPN | 5:00 PM | Kentucky (6-6) vs. East Carolina* (9-4) | East Carolina |
| Jan. 3 | International | ESPN2 | Noon | Buffalo (8-5) vs. Connecticut* (7-5) | Connecticut |
| Jan. 6 | GMAC | ESPN | 8:00 PM | Tulsa (10-3) vs. Ball State* (12-1) | Ball State |
Now for the BCS bowl Games:
Regardless of how you feel about Oklahoma being here instead of Texas, let's face it: they are the best team out there right now. The Sooners should dominate both sides of the ball and will make the Florida Gators look like the Geico Gecko.
And as for Texas? Just two words: Poor Buckeyes!
| Date | Bowl | TV | Time | Matchup | My Pick |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan. 1 | Rose | ABC | 5:00 PM | Penn State (11-1) vs. Southern California* (11-1) | Southern Cal |
| Jan. 1 | Orange | FOX | 8:30 PM | Virginia Tech (9-4) vs. Cincinnati* (11-2) | Cincinnati |
| Jan. 2 | Sugar | FOX | 8:00 PM | Utah (12-0) vs. Alabama* (12-1) | Alabama |
| Jan. 5 | Fiesta | FOX | 8:00 PM | Ohio State (10-2) vs. Texas* (11-1) | Texas |
| Jan. 8 | BCS Title Game | FOX | 8:00 PM | No. 1 Oklahoma (12-1) vs. No. 2 Florida* (12-1) | Oklahoma |
So there you have it. My picks for the 2008-2009 Bowl Season. Tell me where I went wrong.
1 comment:
Aaarrrgh! Anyone know how to get rid of the space atop the tables? It's not there in preview and there's nothing there in the editing views for me to remove. No HTML, No returns. Nothing. To. Remove.
Frustrating.
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