There are officially way too many bowl games to pick so these are basically all quick picks as I do not have the time nor the desire to breakdown Western Michigan vs. Cincinnati. So from tonights Poinsettia Bowl to the National Championship game here are all my selections. And well why just pick a bowl game when you can rate whether or not you care to watch the game as well. So in addition I give each Bowl game a grade as to how watchable I personally believe the game is.
Poinsettia Bowl - TCU vs. Northern Illinois, C+, The Poinsetta Bowl gives us a last look at Garrett Wolfe, and he faces off against one of the toughest run defenses in the land. He gets stuffed and the Horned Frogs take it home. Pick: Horned Frogs
Las Vegas Bowl - BYU vs. Oregon, B-, BYU has gone under the radar for much of the season and ended up finishing the regular season in the top 25. The Ducks went in the opposite direction starting out high and plummeting during the Pac 10 season. I do like watching their QB though and think he will carry them to the victory. Pick: Oregon
New Orleans Bowl - Troy vs. Rice, F, Ya got no interest in this game, Rice is usually the worst team in the country, how did they make a bowl, I'll have better things to do on Friday night. Pick: Troy
Papajohns.com Bowl - South Florida vs. East Carolina, C-, The Big East really needs to win as many bowls as possible so they can give a "Look what we did last year" when another one of their teams will appear to be on the brink of a title bid. South Florida showed some good games during the season and I think they will take this one home for the Big East. Pick: South Florida
New Mexico Bowl - New Mexico vs. San Jose St., F, Why do so many schools play in Bowls that they host, I find this incredibly lame, I'm picking San Jose St. for spite. Pick: San Jose St.
Armed Forces Bowl - Utah vs. Tulsa, C, So the theme of these early games appears to be Mountain West / WAC teams that I don't care much about, give me Urban Meyer and Alex Smith and I'll tune in. I'll go with Utah anyway because they should have some leftovers from the Meyer years. Pick: Utah
Hawaii Bowl - Hawaii vs. Arizona St., B+, Any game involving Hawaii is entertaining, they play little defense and always score a bunch of points, too bad this is going up against a big NFL day. Arizona St. fired its coach, they'll have nothing in this game. Pick: Hawaii
Motor City Bowl - Central Michigan vs. Middle Tennessee St., F, Ya um don't care about any directional Michigan team, sorry I just don't. Pick: Central Michigan
Emerald Bowl - Florida St. vs. UCLA, C, Honestly of all the perennial superpowers the most unwatchable in recent years has been Florida St. with their meager offense. Throw in the fact that they stink this year and have a departing Offensive Coordinator and I expect a low scoring dullfest. Pick: UCLA
Independence Bowl - Alabama vs. Oklahoma St., C-, Why not just call this one of the man 6-6 bowls, like 6-6a. Both teams don't deserve a bowl trip. Despite the firing of Shula I'll pick Alabama simply because the SEC is much better than the Big 12. Pick: Alabama
Holiday Bowl - California vs. Texas A&M, B+, This could be the last team we see both Jackson and Lynch in a Golden Bear uniform. Both are incredible playmakers and should transition well into the NFL. Despite that, I think the tough running game up front behind Jorvorskie puts A&M over the top. Pick: Texas A&M
Texas Bowl - Rutgers vs. Kansas St., C-, I have no interest in watching K St. play, basically its a shame that Rutgers got saddled with such a lame Bowl game after their great season. One dropped pass in the end zone and they went from the Orange Bowl to some stupid game on the NFL Network. Pick: Rutgers
Music City Bowl - Clemson vs. Kentucky, C+, I have minimal interest in watching an ACC vs. SEC matchup considering how badly the ACC got whooped up on during their rivalry week. If Clemson can't beat Kentucky, then the ACC might as well roll out the white flag in the remainder of their bowl games. Pick: Clemson
Sun Bowl - Oregon St. vs. Missouri, C+, The Beavers came on down the stretch of the season, while Missouri went in the opposite direction. The Pac 10 gets one favorable matchup versus a Big 12 opponent. Pick: Beavers
Liberty Bowl - Houston vs. South Carolina, B-, I like the cock and shoot, and apparently the Houston coach is willing to vote his team into the top 20 so they must be good right? I feel as if Spurrier wants a nice feather in his cap and will get this one done. Pick: GameCocks
Insight Bowl - Texas Tech vs. Minnesota, C, Finally the first lame Big 10 team gets into a Bowl matchup. The Golden Gophers won a few games down the stretch to get in yippy. Hopefully Leach will bring his A shootout game to make this one entertaining. Pick: Texas Tech
Champs Sports Bowl - Purdue vs. Maryland, C+, Question: Why is Purdue 8-5? Answer: Because they didn't play Michigan or Ohio St. Aka the shadiest 8-5 record in all the land. Pick: Maryland
Meineke Car Care Bowl - Navy vs. Boston College, B-, The Eagles have one of the best bowl records in the land in recent years, but their coach is bailing on them to go to an inferior team in their own conference, should be interesting to see how they respond. Personally, I feel they still outclass Navy. Pick: Boston College
Alamo Bowl - Texas vs. Iowa, B+, The almighty overrated Kirk Ferentz brings his "National Champion Hopeful" utter losers into Texas to face off against the Longhorns, it will be interesting to see if he gets beat down so badly by Mack Brown that within the media he goes from being the best young coaching prospect, to completely overrated. Pick: Texas
Chick-fil-A Bowl - Georgia vs. Virginia Tech, A-, More ACC vs. SEC showdown games where the ACC is much more highly thought of this season around the country. Personally I like the way Tech played defensively down the stretch run of the season and have a hard time believing they won't shut down Georgia's shaky offense. However, if Kentucky wipes out Clemson my opinion will quickly change. Pick: VaTech
MPC Computers Bowl - Miami vs. Nevada, B, Why is this watchable? For the hilarity factor of course. How shamed must the U be to travel up to the smurf turf in Boise Idaho to play a meaningless bowl versus a WAC team. Lets see if Big Ears goes out with a W. Pick: Miami
Outback Bowl - Tennessee vs. Penn St., B, Why did Tennessee lose games this season, well a finger could certainly be pointed in the direction of Erik Ainge's injury. Without him Tennessee struggled offensively. Now with much time to heal he should be able to score on Penn St. defense enough to defeat the worthless Penn St. Offense. Penn St. lost to everyteam better than them, Tennessee fits that mold. Pick: Tennessee
Cotton Bowl - Auburn vs. Nebraska, A-, The Big 12 gets a nice fortitude matchup vs. the preseason SEC favorite. This will be a nice way to spend your breakfast on New Years with a bagel and watching two old school teams pound each other. Pick: Auburn
Gator Bowl - West Virginia vs. Georgia Tech, B+, The electric White and Slaton vs. Calvin the Giant. West Virginia should end up scoring a ton of points assuming White will be recovered by January 1st. Reggie Ball will still be unable to make passes on target, but atleast you will get a last look at Calvin in those pretty gold jerseys. Pick: West Virginia
Capital One Bowl - Wisconsin vs. Arkansas, A, This really is the watermark game to see whether or not Florida or Michigan should truly have been in the National Championship game. The #3 team in the Big 10 vs. the #3 team in the SEC, both are possess strong running games, but very different in their dominance. Other than the Rose and the title game, this game interests me most. Pick: Wisconsin
Rose Bowl - Michigan vs. USC, A+, The granddaddy of them all, with a classic Big 10 Pac 10 showdon, between two teams that are bitter that they lost out on a chance for the national title game. This game arguably will pit as many if not more NFL caliber players against each other than does the title game. With Lloyd's Rose Bowl track record, I think the Wolverines will be fired up enough to take this trophy home and hopefully build up enough momentum to go into the 2007 with immense confidence and motivation.
Fiesta Bowl - Oklahoma vs. Boise St., B, The Smurf Turf Warriors off the turf against Adrian Peterson = Trouble? I don't really know what to expect from either of these teams. Could the Sooners experienced a little Ewing Theory? Could Boise St. truly be a National Power. This game will give us some solid answers. Pick: Oklahoma
Orange Bowl - Wake Forest vs. Louisville, B-, Wake Forest is a great story, but a tremendously boring team to watch. The ACC championship game was absolutely painful to watch. I just don't see their offense matching up to Brohm's Cardinal offense. Pick: Louisville
Sugar Bowl - Notre Dame vs. LSU, B-, Question: Why are the Fighting Irish terrible in bowl games? Answer: They always play in bowl games where they are less deserving of their appearance than their opponent. This is easily the case for this years Sugar bowl, this game will be very entertaining if it stays competetive, I just have a feeling that it won't. Pick: LSU
International Bowl - Cincinnati vs. Western Michigan, F, Why are there bowl games in between BCS games, ugh, like I'm going to have any interest in this game. Pick: Cincinnati
GMAC Bowl - Ohio vs. Southern Miss, F, See above comments. Pick: Southern Miss
National Championship - Florida vs. Ohio St., A+, Why does everyone seem to be counting out the Gators? 50 Days off, I repeat 50 days off. Do you expect OSU to come out with all cylinders blaring, when they've amounted 50 days of rust. I expect this game to be a struggle to the wire, with Troy Smith pulling a game winning drive down the stretch, because he's one of the best big game QBs in College History.
Poinsettia Bowl - TCU vs. Northern Illinois, C+, The Poinsetta Bowl gives us a last look at Garrett Wolfe, and he faces off against one of the toughest run defenses in the land. He gets stuffed and the Horned Frogs take it home. Pick: Horned Frogs
Las Vegas Bowl - BYU vs. Oregon, B-, BYU has gone under the radar for much of the season and ended up finishing the regular season in the top 25. The Ducks went in the opposite direction starting out high and plummeting during the Pac 10 season. I do like watching their QB though and think he will carry them to the victory. Pick: Oregon
New Orleans Bowl - Troy vs. Rice, F, Ya got no interest in this game, Rice is usually the worst team in the country, how did they make a bowl, I'll have better things to do on Friday night. Pick: Troy
Papajohns.com Bowl - South Florida vs. East Carolina, C-, The Big East really needs to win as many bowls as possible so they can give a "Look what we did last year" when another one of their teams will appear to be on the brink of a title bid. South Florida showed some good games during the season and I think they will take this one home for the Big East. Pick: South Florida
New Mexico Bowl - New Mexico vs. San Jose St., F, Why do so many schools play in Bowls that they host, I find this incredibly lame, I'm picking San Jose St. for spite. Pick: San Jose St.
Armed Forces Bowl - Utah vs. Tulsa, C, So the theme of these early games appears to be Mountain West / WAC teams that I don't care much about, give me Urban Meyer and Alex Smith and I'll tune in. I'll go with Utah anyway because they should have some leftovers from the Meyer years. Pick: Utah
Hawaii Bowl - Hawaii vs. Arizona St., B+, Any game involving Hawaii is entertaining, they play little defense and always score a bunch of points, too bad this is going up against a big NFL day. Arizona St. fired its coach, they'll have nothing in this game. Pick: Hawaii
Motor City Bowl - Central Michigan vs. Middle Tennessee St., F, Ya um don't care about any directional Michigan team, sorry I just don't. Pick: Central Michigan
Emerald Bowl - Florida St. vs. UCLA, C, Honestly of all the perennial superpowers the most unwatchable in recent years has been Florida St. with their meager offense. Throw in the fact that they stink this year and have a departing Offensive Coordinator and I expect a low scoring dullfest. Pick: UCLA
Independence Bowl - Alabama vs. Oklahoma St., C-, Why not just call this one of the man 6-6 bowls, like 6-6a. Both teams don't deserve a bowl trip. Despite the firing of Shula I'll pick Alabama simply because the SEC is much better than the Big 12. Pick: Alabama
Holiday Bowl - California vs. Texas A&M, B+, This could be the last team we see both Jackson and Lynch in a Golden Bear uniform. Both are incredible playmakers and should transition well into the NFL. Despite that, I think the tough running game up front behind Jorvorskie puts A&M over the top. Pick: Texas A&M
Texas Bowl - Rutgers vs. Kansas St., C-, I have no interest in watching K St. play, basically its a shame that Rutgers got saddled with such a lame Bowl game after their great season. One dropped pass in the end zone and they went from the Orange Bowl to some stupid game on the NFL Network. Pick: Rutgers
Music City Bowl - Clemson vs. Kentucky, C+, I have minimal interest in watching an ACC vs. SEC matchup considering how badly the ACC got whooped up on during their rivalry week. If Clemson can't beat Kentucky, then the ACC might as well roll out the white flag in the remainder of their bowl games. Pick: Clemson
Sun Bowl - Oregon St. vs. Missouri, C+, The Beavers came on down the stretch of the season, while Missouri went in the opposite direction. The Pac 10 gets one favorable matchup versus a Big 12 opponent. Pick: Beavers
Liberty Bowl - Houston vs. South Carolina, B-, I like the cock and shoot, and apparently the Houston coach is willing to vote his team into the top 20 so they must be good right? I feel as if Spurrier wants a nice feather in his cap and will get this one done. Pick: GameCocks
Insight Bowl - Texas Tech vs. Minnesota, C, Finally the first lame Big 10 team gets into a Bowl matchup. The Golden Gophers won a few games down the stretch to get in yippy. Hopefully Leach will bring his A shootout game to make this one entertaining. Pick: Texas Tech
Champs Sports Bowl - Purdue vs. Maryland, C+, Question: Why is Purdue 8-5? Answer: Because they didn't play Michigan or Ohio St. Aka the shadiest 8-5 record in all the land. Pick: Maryland
Meineke Car Care Bowl - Navy vs. Boston College, B-, The Eagles have one of the best bowl records in the land in recent years, but their coach is bailing on them to go to an inferior team in their own conference, should be interesting to see how they respond. Personally, I feel they still outclass Navy. Pick: Boston College
Alamo Bowl - Texas vs. Iowa, B+, The almighty overrated Kirk Ferentz brings his "National Champion Hopeful" utter losers into Texas to face off against the Longhorns, it will be interesting to see if he gets beat down so badly by Mack Brown that within the media he goes from being the best young coaching prospect, to completely overrated. Pick: Texas
Chick-fil-A Bowl - Georgia vs. Virginia Tech, A-, More ACC vs. SEC showdown games where the ACC is much more highly thought of this season around the country. Personally I like the way Tech played defensively down the stretch run of the season and have a hard time believing they won't shut down Georgia's shaky offense. However, if Kentucky wipes out Clemson my opinion will quickly change. Pick: VaTech
MPC Computers Bowl - Miami vs. Nevada, B, Why is this watchable? For the hilarity factor of course. How shamed must the U be to travel up to the smurf turf in Boise Idaho to play a meaningless bowl versus a WAC team. Lets see if Big Ears goes out with a W. Pick: Miami
Outback Bowl - Tennessee vs. Penn St., B, Why did Tennessee lose games this season, well a finger could certainly be pointed in the direction of Erik Ainge's injury. Without him Tennessee struggled offensively. Now with much time to heal he should be able to score on Penn St. defense enough to defeat the worthless Penn St. Offense. Penn St. lost to everyteam better than them, Tennessee fits that mold. Pick: Tennessee
Cotton Bowl - Auburn vs. Nebraska, A-, The Big 12 gets a nice fortitude matchup vs. the preseason SEC favorite. This will be a nice way to spend your breakfast on New Years with a bagel and watching two old school teams pound each other. Pick: Auburn
Gator Bowl - West Virginia vs. Georgia Tech, B+, The electric White and Slaton vs. Calvin the Giant. West Virginia should end up scoring a ton of points assuming White will be recovered by January 1st. Reggie Ball will still be unable to make passes on target, but atleast you will get a last look at Calvin in those pretty gold jerseys. Pick: West Virginia
Capital One Bowl - Wisconsin vs. Arkansas, A, This really is the watermark game to see whether or not Florida or Michigan should truly have been in the National Championship game. The #3 team in the Big 10 vs. the #3 team in the SEC, both are possess strong running games, but very different in their dominance. Other than the Rose and the title game, this game interests me most. Pick: Wisconsin
Rose Bowl - Michigan vs. USC, A+, The granddaddy of them all, with a classic Big 10 Pac 10 showdon, between two teams that are bitter that they lost out on a chance for the national title game. This game arguably will pit as many if not more NFL caliber players against each other than does the title game. With Lloyd's Rose Bowl track record, I think the Wolverines will be fired up enough to take this trophy home and hopefully build up enough momentum to go into the 2007 with immense confidence and motivation.
Fiesta Bowl - Oklahoma vs. Boise St., B, The Smurf Turf Warriors off the turf against Adrian Peterson = Trouble? I don't really know what to expect from either of these teams. Could the Sooners experienced a little Ewing Theory? Could Boise St. truly be a National Power. This game will give us some solid answers. Pick: Oklahoma
Orange Bowl - Wake Forest vs. Louisville, B-, Wake Forest is a great story, but a tremendously boring team to watch. The ACC championship game was absolutely painful to watch. I just don't see their offense matching up to Brohm's Cardinal offense. Pick: Louisville
Sugar Bowl - Notre Dame vs. LSU, B-, Question: Why are the Fighting Irish terrible in bowl games? Answer: They always play in bowl games where they are less deserving of their appearance than their opponent. This is easily the case for this years Sugar bowl, this game will be very entertaining if it stays competetive, I just have a feeling that it won't. Pick: LSU
International Bowl - Cincinnati vs. Western Michigan, F, Why are there bowl games in between BCS games, ugh, like I'm going to have any interest in this game. Pick: Cincinnati
GMAC Bowl - Ohio vs. Southern Miss, F, See above comments. Pick: Southern Miss
National Championship - Florida vs. Ohio St., A+, Why does everyone seem to be counting out the Gators? 50 Days off, I repeat 50 days off. Do you expect OSU to come out with all cylinders blaring, when they've amounted 50 days of rust. I expect this game to be a struggle to the wire, with Troy Smith pulling a game winning drive down the stretch, because he's one of the best big game QBs in College History.
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