I know, I know, it doesn't feel like bowl season-- It's just now Christmas, the casual fan hasn't even heard of most the bowls that have been played, and Notre Dame won a game-- this isn't the bowl season I remember from my youth. Regardless, bowl season is underway and those of us who have taken time to watch the games have been privileged to watch some good football. Most college football "fans" think that bowl games out of the major BCS bowl games are not worth their time. I guess these "fans" would rather watch some weak over played Christmas movie re-run in December than a football game between two solid football teams. I've never heard people who claim they are sports fans bitch and moan more about sports being on TV than I have in college football. Sure, many of the teams playing in the lesser bowl games have upwards of 5 losses, but that doesn't mean they aren't decent teams.
Take last year's Alabama team that defeated Colorado for example, they used it as momentum to become a national contender this season. Too bad the "purist" refused to watch last year's bowl game and had no idea the kind of machine Nick Saban was turning Alabama into.*
*JUCO transfer Terrance Cody and Freshman Julio Jones didn't hurt
What I have done below is take three "lesser" bowl games I feel people are overlooking and/or predicting wrong and examined them further. The percentages next to the title of each game is the percent of people prediciting a team to win according to our U-Pick 'Em Bowl Blitz challenge found on JOCK987.com. For example, even though I think Clemson will beat Nebraska I wrote Nebraska over Clemson below because 72% of our listeners think that is what will happen.
Gator Bowl: Nebraska (8-4) over Clemson (7-5) 72%-28%
Looking at Nebraska's 8-4 record in the dominant Big XII compared to Clemson's 7-5 record in the port-a-potty ACC its easy to see why 72% of people have jumped on the Cornhusker bandwagon. Luckily for Clemson and unfortunatley for most playing our U-Pick challenge bowl games don't care about a team's resume, especially when it comes to Clemson's.
Clemson was a sexy preseason pick for a National Championship dark horse by some "experts" even though anyone who claims to know anything about college football should know that a Tommy Bowden coached team with an inexperienced offensive line is good for at least three losses. Tommy B. went above and beyond the three losses he is good for leading his squad to four in their first seven games before resigned on his own terms.* Since he left Clemson has begun getting the [stuff] into gear and winning their last three games.
Nebraska...well I'm not really sure what about Nebraska is supposed to impress me. They lost all three games they played against ranked opponents by an average score of 25 points, heck they almost lost to Colorado at home the last game of the season. I struggle to find what game Nebraska played this year is supposed to make me think they'll roll over Clemson. Is it their 10 point win over Kansas at home? Their 2 point win over Baylor at home? Their overtime loss at Texas Tech?**
Neither one of these two teams is that great, but I'm going to go with the backfield Cullen Harper, C.J. Spiller, and James Davis over Joey Ganz, Marlon Lucky, and whoever else Bo Pelini wants to throw out there.
*I'm sorry, he resigned on his own term. Yeah, when your quarterbackand own brother think its time for you to go I'm sure you don't feel any pressure to resign...Tommy Tuberville resigning from Auburn just called BS on that.
**A close loss to a ranked team on the road may be impressive, but like I've said with Notre Dame's close loss to USC in 2005: Anytime you put a loss on your resume you are in trouble.
Cotton Bowl: Texas Tech (11-1) over Ole Miss (8-4) 94%-6%
How anyone can think this game is more than a coin flip is beyond me. Tech may win, but for such an overwhelming number of people to be so sure they'll win is beyond me. Mike Leach's team was thrust into the national spotlight after they beat a tired Texas team at home on the last play of the game after blowing a 19 point lead. They then parlayed that momentum into beating Oklahoma St., in a game that was closer than the final score indicated, to become the biggest fraud in college football. That fraud was exposed when Oklahoma bent them over a metaphorical prison cell bathroom and had their way with them, yet the BCS is still trying to convince me an 11 win team in the Big XII is worthy of a top 10 ranking. An 11-1 record in the Big XII should supposed to make opponents shake in their boots, but when you pad that record with wins over Eastern Washington, Massachusetts, and SMU it isn't so intimidating.
Before I go on I have to admit, Ole Miss football has been making my sports pants go crazy as of late. They have had two of my favorite sports books (The Blind Side and Meat Market) and three fascinating coaches (David Cutcliff, Ed Orgeron, and Houston Nutt) over the past five years. I'm one of the five people living outside of the state of Mississippi who watched the entire Egg Bowl this year. All my totally irrational Ole Miss man crush aside, I truly think the Rebels are a good team. They have your typical stiff, physical SEC defense, and they have proven they can beat the best of the best in their home state-- Florida in the Swamp.
I look for Ole Miss's defensive, lead by Greg Hardy, to get through Tech's O line and hit Graham Harrell like he has never been hit before. Texas transfer quarterback Jevan Snead and quark back Dexter McCluster will be able to score enough points to get a win for the Rebels.
International Bowl: Buffalo (8-5) over Connecticut (7-5) 55%-45%
I can see why people may want to jump on board the Turner Gill/Buffalo bandwagon, what I don't see is how anyone can stay on it after doing even the most basic back checking on this game. Buffalo beat Ball St. on national television, but what else did they do? They lost to both Eastern and Western Michigan, and nearly half their wins were after regulation. I don't trust any team that needed one overtime to beat Army, two overtimes to beat Bowling Green, and four overtimes to beat Akron. Turner Gill may or may not be the next great coach in college football, but this Buffalo team is not a great or even good team.
Any momentum that Buffalo may have had after beating Ball St. has long since been lost with the Turner-Gill-was-not-hired-because-Auburn-hates-black-people controversy. I refuse to believe a head coach leaving followed by that coach becoming the face of a racial discrimination controversy isn't some kind of distraction for a team. I'll take the team that won seven games from the Big East over the distracted team from the MAC anyday.
Now I guess I'll sit back and wait to be ridiculed when Nebraska takes down Clemson, Tech puts of 60 on Ole Miss, and the Buffalo/UConn game is cancelled for lack of interest. Saturday Afternoon Sports Talk with Adam Vaggalis and me goes on a 6 pm tomorrow, and will be on JOCK 98.7. You can also listen to it online via radiospringfield.com, and can email Adam and me during the show at jockstudio@radiospringfield.com.