Today's Picks

62-62. Ugh. Today I iike Marshall laying 5 against UConn, am passing on the Sun Bowl, Washington -8 against Southern Miss, Duke +3 versus IU and, in a late switch, Tulse plus 14 in Frank Beamer's finale with Va Tech.

Bowl Picks

I am having a great start to the bowl season, which, of course, means I am going to tank any day now.
That said, I like Western Michigan to beat Purdue today and North Carolina State over a young Louisville squad. In the first game I am riding the team that wants this game more and in the second I have firm belief in Tom O'Brien as a bowl coach.

Today's Bowl Picks

My best bets today are probably Notre Dame and South Carolina. I have been 50-50 on bets and so I hope I hit the Notre Dame one. Their defense has been playing great ball and welcomes back Ian Williams to the front wall. Miami is so inconsistent that if they are "on" then this should be a classic game. As for the Gamecocks, I just think that they are a level above FSU. I went with USF and Georgia in the other two games.

Las Vegas Bowl

I had the great pleasure of meeting Matt Bauman, BYU (10-2) LB, recently at a National Football Foundation breakfast honoring both the incoming Hall of Fame class and top student-athletes like Bauman. A three-year starter, Matt has one more meaningful football game to play, the Las Vegas Bowl against Oregon State (8-4), before going to business school. He is waiting to hear from Stanford and Harvard.

I enjoyed speaking to Bauman, who is intelligent yet humble. He is proud of his team's success during his time there, although he is a bit disappointed with how the season played out. So even though this is the program's fifth straight visit to the Las Vegas Bowl, they are hungry to prove to the nation that they are a top team.

Despite his obvious talents, however, I, for the life of me, cannot imagine him capable of stopping Beavers RB Jacquizz Rodgers and the rest of the speedy Beavers. But Bauman and the Cougars D have confounded the experts before, as they did to open this season when shutting down the explosive Oklahoma O. But Oklahoma's offensive line was not ready for that one, and the Sooners' overall offense was not sharp in the first half of the season. The Beavers, meanwhile, are as fine-tuned at season's end as usual, scoring 31, 48, 42 and 33 pts in their final four games. QB Sean Canfield(284-406/3103y) had a fine regular season and played very well in the bitter Civil War loss to Oregon. Although the Beavers were down after that one, they enter tonight on a five-game postseason win streak and should be fine.

Of course, as much as BYU will struggle trying to stop the OSU O, the Beavers D will have a difficult time stopping sr QB Max Hall (pictured in last season's Las Vegas Bowl loss to Arizona) and the BYU O. Like Oregon State, the Cougars feature an experienced sr QB, in Hall (256-379/3368y), a 1,000y rusher in Harvey Unga (184/1016y) and a talented receiving target in TE Dennis Pitta (57/784y), who needs only two receptions to became the all-time leader in that category for TEs with 218 for his career. A balanced, dynamic offense is a main reason the Cougars have won 10 or more games for four straight seasons, joining Boise State, Ohio State and Texas as the only FBS teams to accomplish that feat.

The first bowl match-up of top 25 teams should be a barn-burner. Having praised the Pac 10 before, I will pick them to get win no. 1 in this postseason.

Pick: Oregon State 37 BYU 34.

New Orleans Bowl

With this game being played on an NFL Sunday, the few folks who would have cared may be footballed out by tonight's kickoff. The Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles are the big boys in this match-up with Middle Tennessee, having won 7 games against a tougher schedule. The Golden Eagles feature a sound defense and balanced offense, led by veteran RB Damion Fletcher and dynamic soph WR DeAndre Brown. The Golden Eagles scored 33 points per game this season. One factor that prevented Southern Miss from challenging for the Conference USA crown was the team's struggles away from home this season as they won only one game out of six played away from Hattiesburg.

Red hot Middle Tennessee, who enters the game riding a six-game win streak, is led by their defense which featured seven players who found themselves on the first or second team All Sun Belt team. DE Chris McCoy was co-defensive player of the year for his 20 tackles behind the line of scrimmage with seven sacks. McCoy was best against the bigger competition as he had a monster game in the team's win over Maryland (9 tackles, sack, FUM REC, blocked kick) and returned FUM 68y for TD against Clemson. On offense the Blue Raiders are led by QB Dwight Dasher (pictured), who passed for 2627y and 21 TDs and rushed for 953y and 9 TDs. He did throw 14 picks, however, and must keep the ball away from the Golden Eagles.

Southern Miss is favored tonight and is 3-0 lifetime in this bowl game. they are the pick, but in a close one against a hungry Blue Raider team enjoying their best year to date in FBS play.

Pick: Southern Miss 34 Middle Tennessee 31

Bowl Preview

The bowl season kicks off today with two under the radar games, the New Mexico Bowl pitting Fresno State and Wyoming and the St. Petersburg Bowl that set up Rutgers and Central Florida. What follows is a quick preview of the games with predictions:

The New Mexico Bowl does have one known commodity in Fresno State (8-4), who is making its 10th post-season appearance in past 11 seasons. Coach Pat Hill's Bulldogs played in this bowl a season ago, losing to Colorado State 40-35. This season's squad is led by RB Ryan Mathews, who led the nation with 151.27y rushing per game. Mathews rushed for 234y of his 1,664y season total against Boise State and will have no problem with Wyoming's rush D. Look for a monster game from the junior and then his announcement that he will turn pro. As for Wyoming (6-6), they are rebuilding with youth under new coach Dave Christensen and surprisingly made a bowl game with a .500 record. The Cowboys did not beat a FBS team with a winning record this year and will not do so today. The focus today for Wyoming will be on lessons learned as they get the bowl experience any young team needs while Fresno makes off with an easy win.

Pick: Fresno State 35 Wyoming 13

The St. Petersburg Bowl will feature two teams from the Sunshine State battling it out under the lights at Tropicana Field. Yeah, I know Rutgers is from my home state of New Jersey, but with so many recruits from Florida, the Scarlet Knights should feel very comfortable making this trip. But I like the other knights in this one, the Knights of Central Florida who are happier to be in a bowl game and have enough defense to contain the Scarlet Knights. The DE tandem of Jarvis Geathers (11 sacks) and Bruce Miller (pictured), the Conference USA defensive player of the year who had 12 sacks, will put pressure on frosh QB Tom Savage of RU and the UCF rush D, ranked 4th in the nation, will handle the Rutgers middling run game. With standout WR Tim Brown (51/1,051y) sidelined with a bum ankle, Rutgers is further limited on offense. I look for Rutgers's three-game bowl win snapped on late FG.

Pick: UCF 24 Rutgers 21