Games To Watch: Bowl Edition

Every single one. That’s right, on December 20, do yourself a favor and pull up your favorite chair in front of your gargantuan gazillion inch LCD HDTV, grab your remote, point it, and flip between ESPN, ESPN2, CBS, ABC, and FOX for the next 4 weeks. All of these games may not call your name, but I can't think of a good reason to miss any. You know how boxing schedules a slew of match-ups between boxers you’ve never heard of before the main event? Same thing here. Some of those matches turn out to be pretty good, and so will some of these. So, kick back. Relax. Order some pizza. Drink a beer. Or two. Or three. Argue over who should be playing for the title. After all, for college football fans this is the most wonderful time of the year, and with how this season has turned out anything goes.


BCS National Championship Game: #1 Ohio State v. #2 LSU
Ohio State plays your traditional Big Ten football: defense, defense, and more defense. They aren’t strangers to big games either, and this is a big as it gets. It’s a home game for the Tigers, who sport two dynamic, mobile quarterbacks, and QBs that can move are a problem for the Buckeyes. Ohio State’s only loss was to Illinois whose QB, Juice Williams, can certainly move around. Plus, Ohio State will have to be ready for both Matt Flynn and Ryan Perrilloux. Les Miles will use each as necessary. The Tigers average more total yards per game, more passing yards per game, more rushing yards per game, and they score more points per game. While they’ll be ready, 51 days will have passed since the Buckeyes played their last game. And by the time they play off that rust, the Tigers will be up by 21.
Picks—Randall: LSU Chris: LSU



FedEx Orange Bowl: #3 Virginia Tech v. #8 Kansas
Yawn. There a few non-BCS bow games that’ll be tons more electrifying than this one, but oh well. Playing their first (maybe second) real opponent all season, Kansas will struggle mightily to hang with the Hokies, especially when they’ve got the ball. Kansas QB, Todd Reesing, faces without a doubt his toughest challenge. He’ll have trouble connecting with anyone in the secondary, other than VT’s cornerbacks who’ll look more like wide-receivers by the time this thing is over. As far as churning out yards on the ground, forget about it. The Jayhawks may average 44 points per game, but they haven’t played anybody like VT. But wait, hasn’t this been the season of upsets?
Picks—Randall: VT Chris: VT

Tostitos Fiesta Bowl: #4 Oklahoma v. #9 West Virginia
This will be good if West Virginia shows up. Trust me, the Mountaineers are better—much better—than the way they played against Pitt that kept them out of the national title picture. And as embarrassing as that loss was, expect Rich Rodriguez to have his boys ready. God knows they’ll need to be. The Oklahoma Sooners are serious. They just convincingly beat the No. 1 team in the nation and probably think they belong in the big show, something that may serve to motivate the Sooners. By the way, they only allow 92 yards per game on the ground, which means Steve Slaton won’t make the highlight reel. They also average 43 points per game. One thing about the Mountaineers, though, is that they’ve played some defense this year. If that defense can hold the Sooners and Pat White find some big plays downfield, the Mountaineers might redeem themselves in the Fiesta Bowl. Maybe Rich Rodriguez ought to put a “Statute of Liberty” play in his back pocket. You know, just in case.
Picks—Randall: Oklahoma Chris: Oklahoma


Allstate Sugar Bowl: #5 Georgia v. #10 Hawaii
Undefeated Hawaii has Georgia on its mind. And the Warriors aren’t just glad to be in the Sugar Bowl, they want to win it. One way to do it: keep Knowshon Moreno off the field. If Moreno gets loose, that’ll be all she wrote. Doing just that isn’t necessarily how the Warriors play football; behind Colt Brennan they run a fast-paced offense that scores quickly. I doubt that Hawaii will try to fix something that isn’t broken, so that means that to have a chance the Warriors have got to play defense. Ranked 30th in the country in total defense, the Warriors haven’t broken any records on that side of the ball. Certainly, this is something they’ll need to look at before playing in the Super Dome—4,000 miles from Honolulu. But we’ve seen David slay Goliath before, and this has been that kind of season.
Picks—Randall: Georgia Chris: Georgia

Rose Bowl by Citi: #7 USC v. #13 Illinois
Because they run a spread offense, Illinois is the anti-Big Ten. QB Juice Williams manages a balanced offense using the explosive Rashad Mendenhall, the Big Ten’s second-leading rusher and Arrelious Benn in the passing game. This trio tore apart Ohio State, the nation’s top defense. But USC is by no means untalented on defense. They’ve got speed and lots of it. The talent doesn’t stop there. On the other side of the ball, the Trojans are also loaded. These two squads are almost dead even on total offense, with the Illini ranking 45th in the country and the Trojans ranking 47th. Still, many feel like the Rose Bowl should’ve swayed away from tradition and selected Georgia, a better match-up. With that, the Illini have got to feel like they need to prove that they belong in this game. They, however, face no small feat. But, then again, they didn’t face small feat when they knocked of Ohio State either.
Picks—Randall: Illinois Chris: USC


Poinesstia: Navy; Navy
New Orleans: Memphis; Memphis
Papajohns.com: Cincinnati; Cincinnati
New Mexico: New Mexico; New Mexico
Las Vegas: BYU; BYU
Hawaii: Boise State; Boise State
Motor City: Purdue; Central Michigan
Holiday: Texas; Arizona State
Champs Sports: Boston College; Boston College
Texas: TCU; TCU
Emerald: Oregon State; Maryland
Meineke Car Care: Wake Forest; UConn
Liberty: Central Florida; Mississippi State
Alamo: Penn State; Penn State
Independence: Alabama; Alabama
Armed Forces: Cal; Cal
Humanitarian: Fresno State; Georgia Tech
Sun: South Florida; South Florida
Music City: Florida State; Kentucky
Insight: Oklahoma State; Oklahoma State
Chick-fil-A: Auburn; Auburn
Outback: Tennessee; Tennessee
Cotton: Arkansas; Missouri
Gator: Texas Tech; Virginia
Capital One: Florida; Florida
International: Rutgers; Rutgers
GMAC: Tulsa; Bowling Green

Key: Randall's Pick; Chris' Pick