third annual bowl preview, 2007. (part 1)
in a world where there should be no national champion, where teams have underachieved to the point of "re-defining mediocrity," where the only exciting team the whole year went down in a flame of glory with their star qb on espn2, i give you my third annual bowl preview. it's gonna be much shorter, and much more scathing. enjoy.
pointsettia bowl. san diego. navy vs. utah.
this game would be more interesting if anyone cared about either team. is it a home game for navy at san diego?
i like utah in this one.
utah 27, navy 17
new orleans bowl. new orleans. memphis vs. florida atlantic.
why c-usa has any more than three bowl tie-ins is a mystery to me. they have SIX! and memphis lost to ole miss! i honestly think florida atlantic is the best team here. thus, despite not having any justification for this pick whatsoever, i'm taking the hoot owls.
fla. atlantic 38, memphis 35.
papajohns.com bowl. birmingham. southern miss vs. cincinnati.
i talked to a friend who was going to this game. dustin, a southern miss alum, had this to say:
"yeah, it would probably be a more exciting game if we didn't just get done playing these guys every year like three years ago." i couldn't agree more. southern miss should be the favorite team to support in what is nearly a home game. but cincinnati is a better team???
cincy 27, usm 24.
new mexico bowl. albuquerque. new mexico vs. nevada.
new mexico has a pretty good scam going. but nevada apparently has had some very close losses to good teams.
now, here is an interesting thought: why did nebraska fall so far so quickly? a first-blush look at their out-of-conference performance yields this monster win over nevada and that win at wake forest.
since new mexico's star running back isn't playing, i'll take the wolf pack.
nevada 35, new mexico 20.
las vegas bowl. las vegas. ucla vs. byu.
i think we should ban re-matches of lesser games during the year. if byu avenges this loss to ucla, it might be instructive to think of how good byu is on a national level, because here's a team that went undefeated in their conference, whatever the hell that means.
byu 31, ucla 21.
sheraton hawaii bowl. honolulu. boise state vs. east carolina.
this is probably the best example you can find of why the bowl season should be left around. despite the fact that this game is utterly useless, we've just generated an excuse for a bunch of players from east carolina to go to hawaii, a place that probably half of them would never get a chance to visit otherwise. it's the trip of a lifetime, and who cares about the result?
i'm just using this logic to soothe the wounds of the pirates after they get stampeded by boise in this one.
boise 56, ecu 24.
motor city bowl. detroit. purdue vs. central michigan.
here is an open question to the purdue students who read this: did they give away tickets to this one? what was the procedure for going?
this one has the possibility to draw regionally because it isn't that far for fans to go. and i want to invoke rule #1: no repeats of lesser games. in non-bcs games, i think it should be made a rule that the teams haven't played each other.
purdue 45, cmu 22. (same score as before)
holiday bowl. san diego. arizona state vs. texas.
in a perfect world, we would say that arizona state is a great, underlooked team that is exciting to watch. rudy carpenter is jake II, there is a cardiac quality to the team that makes them exciting to watch, and they got screwed by an unfair bcs.
unfortunately, people saw asu play this year, and it's a whole lot more likely that they were lucky, as they were undressed by usc and outplayed by oregon. but here's a nice thought: texas sucks. so some team has to win, and i think it's fair to say that mack brown is not a great big game coach sans vincesanity.
asu 27, texas 23.
champs sports. orlando. bc vs. michigan state.
i am not sure why people are leading me to believe this game will be close just because it is played in a bowl. boston college is surely the best team here, and matt ryan is a legitimate star. look for bc's defense to take control early, and look for a young msu team to be outmatched.
bc 31, msu 7.
texas bowl. houston. tcu vs. houston.
this should draw well, and i think houston's offense will be too much.
houston 35, tcu 24.
emerald. san fran. maryland vs. oregon state.
this bowl has stinker written all over it, but the silver lining to watching this game is the possibility of seeing emerald nuts commercials, which are among the most intelligent commercials shown on tv.
oregon state 14, maryland 9.
meineke. charlotte. uconn vs. wake forest.
this is a mildly interesting matchup, if only for the real possibility that wake forest doesn't believe the uconn punt returner's fair catch signal and lays him out.
no, really, uconn is a bush league program.
wake 20, uconn 10.
liberty bowl. memphis. central florida vs. mississippi state.
at last we come to a game with a plausible storyline: and what's better is the fact that george o'leary got a second chance and is doing something with it. memo to future programs- go hire this guy.
and for sylvester croom to sneak this team into a bowl this year is remarkable.
mississippi state 34, ucf 31.
pointsettia bowl. san diego. navy vs. utah.
this game would be more interesting if anyone cared about either team. is it a home game for navy at san diego?
i like utah in this one.
utah 27, navy 17
new orleans bowl. new orleans. memphis vs. florida atlantic.
why c-usa has any more than three bowl tie-ins is a mystery to me. they have SIX! and memphis lost to ole miss! i honestly think florida atlantic is the best team here. thus, despite not having any justification for this pick whatsoever, i'm taking the hoot owls.
fla. atlantic 38, memphis 35.
papajohns.com bowl. birmingham. southern miss vs. cincinnati.
i talked to a friend who was going to this game. dustin, a southern miss alum, had this to say:
"yeah, it would probably be a more exciting game if we didn't just get done playing these guys every year like three years ago." i couldn't agree more. southern miss should be the favorite team to support in what is nearly a home game. but cincinnati is a better team???
cincy 27, usm 24.
new mexico bowl. albuquerque. new mexico vs. nevada.
new mexico has a pretty good scam going. but nevada apparently has had some very close losses to good teams.
now, here is an interesting thought: why did nebraska fall so far so quickly? a first-blush look at their out-of-conference performance yields this monster win over nevada and that win at wake forest.
since new mexico's star running back isn't playing, i'll take the wolf pack.
nevada 35, new mexico 20.
las vegas bowl. las vegas. ucla vs. byu.
i think we should ban re-matches of lesser games during the year. if byu avenges this loss to ucla, it might be instructive to think of how good byu is on a national level, because here's a team that went undefeated in their conference, whatever the hell that means.
byu 31, ucla 21.
sheraton hawaii bowl. honolulu. boise state vs. east carolina.
this is probably the best example you can find of why the bowl season should be left around. despite the fact that this game is utterly useless, we've just generated an excuse for a bunch of players from east carolina to go to hawaii, a place that probably half of them would never get a chance to visit otherwise. it's the trip of a lifetime, and who cares about the result?
i'm just using this logic to soothe the wounds of the pirates after they get stampeded by boise in this one.
boise 56, ecu 24.
motor city bowl. detroit. purdue vs. central michigan.
here is an open question to the purdue students who read this: did they give away tickets to this one? what was the procedure for going?
this one has the possibility to draw regionally because it isn't that far for fans to go. and i want to invoke rule #1: no repeats of lesser games. in non-bcs games, i think it should be made a rule that the teams haven't played each other.
purdue 45, cmu 22. (same score as before)
holiday bowl. san diego. arizona state vs. texas.
in a perfect world, we would say that arizona state is a great, underlooked team that is exciting to watch. rudy carpenter is jake II, there is a cardiac quality to the team that makes them exciting to watch, and they got screwed by an unfair bcs.
unfortunately, people saw asu play this year, and it's a whole lot more likely that they were lucky, as they were undressed by usc and outplayed by oregon. but here's a nice thought: texas sucks. so some team has to win, and i think it's fair to say that mack brown is not a great big game coach sans vincesanity.
asu 27, texas 23.
champs sports. orlando. bc vs. michigan state.
i am not sure why people are leading me to believe this game will be close just because it is played in a bowl. boston college is surely the best team here, and matt ryan is a legitimate star. look for bc's defense to take control early, and look for a young msu team to be outmatched.
bc 31, msu 7.
texas bowl. houston. tcu vs. houston.
this should draw well, and i think houston's offense will be too much.
houston 35, tcu 24.
emerald. san fran. maryland vs. oregon state.
this bowl has stinker written all over it, but the silver lining to watching this game is the possibility of seeing emerald nuts commercials, which are among the most intelligent commercials shown on tv.
oregon state 14, maryland 9.
meineke. charlotte. uconn vs. wake forest.
this is a mildly interesting matchup, if only for the real possibility that wake forest doesn't believe the uconn punt returner's fair catch signal and lays him out.
no, really, uconn is a bush league program.
wake 20, uconn 10.
liberty bowl. memphis. central florida vs. mississippi state.
at last we come to a game with a plausible storyline: and what's better is the fact that george o'leary got a second chance and is doing something with it. memo to future programs- go hire this guy.
and for sylvester croom to sneak this team into a bowl this year is remarkable.
mississippi state 34, ucf 31.
posted by mike at 5:23 PM
3 Comments:
Open Response from a Purdue Student and season ticket holder:
I have no idea what the procedure for tickets was... I hate that team... The game should be closer than what you posted. Central Michigan may have improved and the second half of Purdue's season was an utter debacle as they completely underperformed. They had a week schedule (even by Big 10 standards...) and should have finished 9 - 3 (with losses to OSU, Michigan, and Penn State - They gave away losses to Michigan State and Indiana. I'll pick Purdue, but if CMU is Purdue is giving more than 7 points in the spread, I'll take the points...
Southern Miss/Cincy won't be a game... I think. Southern Miss fired its longtime and wildly successful (by mid-major standards) coach of something like 15 years or more. I don't care if it's basically a home game for Southern Miss - Cincy is good.
The FAU Owls, baby!!! Go Howard Schnellenberger!!!
By the way, I picked all the games the same in my ESPN bowl contest. Let's hope you're right.
Also, Mississippi State couldn't put more than 28 pts. up in a game at gunpoint. I'm guessing the score of the game will be more like 17-10.
that's true, but purdue was up 38-0 on cmu like two months ago.
i just don't see how cmu could improve enough to make it close. i don't believe.
you're right about mississippi state.
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