third annual bowl preview, 2007. (part 2)

and as long as you disappear, we'll just say you were never here.

alamo bowl. san antonio. penn state vs. texas a & m.

penn state thoroughly confuses me as a football team. my gut tells me that they should be able to stop texas a & m's running game and that they should be able to score some points and win this one. but i just don't know what to say about these guys.

take paterno and run?

penn state 24, texas a & m 13.

independence bowl. shreveport. alabama vs. colorado.

both teams have had flashes of brilliance this year.

that's the only nice thing i can say about this game, so i'll stop here.

colorado 31, alabama 23.

armed forces. fort worth. cal vs. air force.

an interesting thing happened along the way to cal's season of brilliance. their qb got hurt, and they just couldn't stop the losing. and so in some sense, i think that this game is completely out of air force's hands, because if cal shows up, this game will be a whitewashing. too much speed, experience, talent, etc.

will cal show up?

cal 38, air force 17.

humanitarian. boise. georgia tech vs. fresno state.

what's ridiculous is that georgia tech has actually played in this game before, namely in 2004, when they obliterated tulsa. since that game, i've been particularly wary of taking wac teams in any game, because i have a tendency to believe that they're not very good.

but nonetheless, i suspect that fresno state will win this game.

fresno state 31, ga. tech 28.

sun bowl. el paso. south florida vs. oregon.

if you had announced this as a bowl matchup a month ago, people might have tabbed this one for the fiesta bowl.

dennis dixon's injury and south florida's defense both let us down. and the football gods were merciless by assigning these two teams to el paso, a place where no fan should have to go for football. oregon hasn't won since dixon's injury, and they wont beat usf either.

usf 27, oregon 10.

music city. nashville. uk vs. fsu.

if florida state is missing 25 players, they shouldn't be able to beat kentucky. too much andre woodson in this one.

uk 35, fsu 17.

insight. tempe. indiana vs. oklahoma state.

neither one of these teams deserves to be in a bowl, particularly indiana, a team that ducked both michigan and ohio state in their big ten schedule. oklahoma state has enough offense to score some points in this one, and i think they'll win this one rather handily.

ok state 41, iu 21.

chick-fil-a peach. atlanta. clemson vs. auburn.

the obvious pick in this one is clemson, a team that sort of peaked toward the end of the season, with an explosive qb and talented running back. so it's instructive to note that auburn shut down two incredibly explosive offenses in arkansas and florida.

this one should be close.

auburn 17, clemson 13.

outback. tampa. wisconsin vs. tennessee.

wisconsin hasn't done anything meaningful all year except for upsetting michigan. tennessee is highly volatile, and rode a win over georgia way further than they should have been allowed to ride it.

so let 'em play on new years day. lol!

tennessee 24, wisconsin 17.

cotton. dallas. missouri vs. arkansas.

this is an absolutely fantastic game. these teams don't like each other at all, the game is in dallas and should be close to sold out, so it should be a fantastic atmosphere. both offenses are explosive. look for chase daniel to exploit the razorbacks' porous defense much more effectively than lsu did. and look for arkansas to run wild.

in a shootout...

missouri 45, arkansas 41.

gator. jacksonville. texas tech vs. virginia.

texas tech really messes coaches up in bowl games.

texas tech 38, virginia 21.

capital one. orlando. michigan vs. florida.

it's trendy to write michigan off for this one, but i think it might be useful to consider the following things: one is that michigan is still a proud team. another is that they are looking for a statement win. and they are defending their conference in this one. never underestimate that. they will be motivated.

and i think that's enough to make this one interesting.

michigan 35, florida 27.

rose bowl. la. usc vs. illinois.

take usc, but this one will be closer than you think.

usc 38, illinois 27.

fiesta. glendale. wvu vs. oklahoma.

i like oklahoma in this one by a bunch of points.

oklahoma 41, wvu 17.

orange. miami. va. tech vs. kansas.

virginia tech looks pretty good right now. kansas can score, but i don't think it will be enough.

vt 31, kansas 20.

international. toronto. rutgers vs. ball state.

lol!

rutgers 38, ball state 7.

gmac. mobile. bowling green vs. tulsa.

the mac's getting shut out in bowls this year.

tulsa 45, bowling green 28.

sugar. new orleans. georgia vs. hawaii.

i think georgia has enough defense in this one.

georgia 41, hawaii 21.

bcs. new orleans. osu vs. lsu.

the big ten will show heart in bowl games this year. they have to. for the sanctity of their conference, they must.

and i believe in tressel to an extent, but the facts are this:

1) this is a home game for lsu.
2) lsu has more offensive talent.
3) todd beckman is starting, as is matt flynn. so low-scoring is possible.

lsu 24, osu 14.