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Here is your holiday gift: college football bowl picks
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OK, so we would much rather have a playoff. But now that bowl season is here, for entertainment purposes only, we will provide you the winners against the spread of every bowl game.
We'll focus mostly on the teams we've followed the closest from Houston this year (those games are in bold), but all of these picks are legendary. They are guaranteed to win you money (unless you lose).
Keep in mind, bowl games are different animals. Some teams focus heavily on them. Others have already mentally checked out. Sometimes, ridiculous mismatches are created.
Hopefully, we have all of them worked out for you. These picks are -- of course -- for entertainment purposes only.
So as The Joker said in The Dark Knight:
Here...we...go:
Eagle Bank Bowl: Wake Forest (-3) over Navy. This time it's personal.
New Mexico Bowl: Fresno State (-3) over Colorado State. Should be close, but Fresno gets it done.
St Petersburg Bowl: South Florida (-11 1/2) over Memphis. South Florida isn't THAT good, but should have enough to cover.
Las Vegas Bowl: BYU (plus-3) over Arizona. LOVE BYU getting points.
New Orleans Bowl: Troy (minus-4 1/2) over Southern Miss. This might be the toughest game on the entire board to pick. Give Troy a slim edge.
Pointsetta Bowl: TCU (minus-2 1/2) over Boise State. Both these teams deserved better. TCU's defense is world-class. Vegas has this line right -- TCU SHOULD be favored. The Frogs' only losses were at Oklahoma and at Utah. They should have beaten Utah.
Hawaii Bowl: Hawaii (plus-1) over Notre Dame. Irish will have no idea what hit them. Hawaii rolls.
Motor City Bowl: Central Michigan (minus-6) over Florida Atlantic. MAC teams are better than people think.
Meineke Car Care Bowl: West Virginia (minus-1) over North Carolina. Nice matchup; Pat White goes out on a high note.
Champs Sports Bowl: Florida State (minus 5 1/2) over Wisconsin. The Seminoles have too much talent. They also underachieve almost as much as Wisconsin.
Emerald Bowl: Miami (plus-8) over Cal. Canes could win this one outright, and Randy Shannon will have his team geared up. Take the points and run.
Independence Bowl: Northern Illinois (minus-1 1/2) over Louisiana Tech. Biggest "who cares?" game on the docket.
Papa John's Bowl: Rutgers (minus-7 1/2) over NC State. Rutgers is one of the hottest teams in the country. This one could get ugly.
Alamo Bowl: Northwestern (plus 13 1/2) over Missouri. Missouri should win, but the Tigers aren't good enough to give up that many points against anybody, especially an underrated Big 10 school that should keep the score close.
Humanitarian Bowl: Maryland (plus 2) over Nevada. Like the Terps outright in this one.
Texas Bowl: Rice (minus-2 1/2) over Western Michigan. Rice has been one of the best bets of the year all season long. They lost three games -- at Texas, at Tulsa and at Vanderbilt. The Vandy game came on the heels of Hurricane Ike. Without that distraction, the outcome could have been different. Rice has three of the best offensive players you've never heard of -- James Casey, Chase Clement and Jarrett Dillard. Go to the bank.
Holiday Bowl: Oklahoma State (minus-3) over Oregon. The Cowboys are the best 9-3 team in the history of the world. Their losses came to Oklahoma, Texas and Texas Tech. They wore down a little late, but this is a great team with a terrific quarterback (Zac Robinson), awesome WR (Dez Bryant) and a world-class offensive line. Oregon will score, but hard to see them keeping up with the Cowboys.
Armed Forces Bowl: Houston (minus-3) over Air Force. A rematch of a game Air Force won by three earlier this year. But it was a game that should never have been played. It was moved from Houston to Dallas ahead of Hurricane Ike, and then moved up again. The conditions were ridiculous. Houston is a much better team and has evolved over the course of the season. They should be healthier on defense than they were the last two games of the season. Cougars cover easily.
Sun Bowl: Oregon State (minus-2) over Pitt.
Music City Bowl: Boston College (minus-3 1/2) over Vanderbilt.
Insight Bowl: Kansas (minus 9- 1/2) over Minnesota.
Chick-Fil-A Bowl: LSU (plus 4) over Georgia Tech. The Tigers win this outright.
Outback: Iowa (minus 3 1/2) over South Carolina.
Gator Bowl: Nebraska (plus 2 1/2) over Clemson.
Capital One: Georgia (minus 7 1/2) over Michigan State.
Rose: USC (minus 9 1/2) over Penn State
Orange: Cincinnati (minus-2) over Virginia Tech
Cotton: Mississippi (plus 5) over Texas Tech. The Red Raiders can't be too excited about a Cotton Bowl appearance after a season that belongs in the BCS. Mississippi has the kind of team that will give them fits. Tech probably wins a close one, but don't be surprised if Ole Miss gets the upset.
Liberty: Kentucky (plus 3) over East Carolina.
Sugar: Utah (plus 10) over Alabama. Tide rolls, but 10 points is way too many. Utah keeps it close.
International: Buffalo (plus 4 1/2) over UConn.
Fiesta: Texas (minus 8 1/2) over Ohio State. All this bunk about Texas not being excited about the Fiesta because they should be playing for the national title? Well, there is probably something to it. But this Horns team is as good as any in the country, will play with a chip on its shoulder, and has too much speed for Ohio State. Horns will be sluggish early, then roll.
GMAC: Tulsa (plus 3) over Ball State. Tulsa has struggled of late, but a healthy Golden Hurricane will points up against anyone. Ball State is losing its coach.
BCS Championship: Florida (minus-3) over OU. I reserve the right to change my mind on this one. Analysis to come.
There you go. Enjoy the bowl season!
Check out Tom Kessler's bowl predictions: http://www.examiner.com/x-1749-Arizona-Sports-Examiner~y2008m12d19-College-football-bowl-game-predictions
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