2009 Bowl Game Picks
Now that the bowl game matchups have been set, it is time for my annual feature of picking the winners of the bowl games. I do this because for some people who read this blog, if I don’t give them a chance to ridicule me in public, they have nothing to say to me at all.
Also, last year I correctly picked 11 winners out of 18 bowl games that I picked for. Of course, one of those was the Toilet Bowl, and I always get that one right. A cynical friend of mine said that I did hardly better than you could expect from someone just picking the winners at random.
What do you think I’m doing? Sheesh.
So, here you go.
| Matchup | Pick | Comments | ||||
| New Mexico Bowl Fresno State vs. Wyoming |
Fresno State | Wyoming? They have football in Wyoming? | ||||
| St. Petersburg Bowl UCF vs. Rutgers |
UCF | This is like a home game for UCF, which is a pretty good team. | ||||
| New Orleans Bowl Southern Miss vs. Middle Tennessee State |
Middle Tennessee State | Why not? | ||||
| Las Vegas Bowl Oregon State vs. BYU |
Oregon State | Amber says so. | ||||
| Poinsettia Bowl Utah vs. California |
Utah | Karma. After all the hate issued in Utah’s direction, hopefully karma will make BYU lose and Utah win. | ||||
| Hawaii Bowl Nevada vs. SMU |
Nevada | Nevada is the second-best team in the WAC. Yeah, I know. | ||||
| Little Caesar’s Bowl Marshall vs. Ohio |
Marshall | Did you ever see any good movies about the Ohio football team? I rest my case. | ||||
| Meineke Car Care Bowl Pitt vs. North Carolina |
Pitt | Pitt should have won the Big East, if they hadn’t quit playing five minutes before the game ended. | ||||
| Emerald Bowl Boston College vs. USC |
Boston College | USC is so upset that everyone realized they are a sham, they will not be able to get their act together. Plus, BC is the alma mater of my pro football namesake. | ||||
| Music City Bowl Kentucky vs. Clemson |
Clemson | Despite nearly winning the ACC, Clemson got thoroughly schooled by South Carolina. But Kentucky is not South Carolina. | ||||
| Independence Bowl Texas A&M vs. Georgia |
Georgia | This is a tough pick on what seems like it should be a great game. Ultimately, this has to do with how Nebraska played Texas, somehow. | ||||
| EagleBank Bowl UCLA vs. Temple |
UCLA | As we all know, no team from a mid-major conference has any chance against any team from a BCS conference, because the BCS schools are better. | ||||
| Champs Sports Bowl Miami vs. Wisconsin |
Wisconsin | I don’t much care for Wisconsin, but every time I pick against them, I end up paying for it. | ||||
| Humanitarian Bowl Bowling Green vs. Idaho |
Idaho | How can we expect Bowling Green to do well if they are bowling on blue instead? The logic behind this pick is irrefutable. | ||||
| Holiday Bowl Arizona vs. Nebraska |
Nebraska | Two words: Ndamukong Suh. | ||||
| Armed Forces Bowl Houston vs. Air Force |
Air Force | Houston, you have a problem. Yes, I really did pick Air Force just so I could say that. | ||||
| Sun Bowl Oklahoma vs. Stanford |
Stanford | Have you seen Toby Gerhart play? | ||||
| Texas Bowl Navy vs. Missouri |
Navy | Hey, did you see the latest Star Trek movie? Awesome, huh. | ||||
| Insight Bowl Minnesota vs. Iowa State |
Iowa State | 3-5 in the Big 12 is better than 3-5 in the Big 10. | ||||
| Chick-Fil-A Bowl Virginia Tech vs. Tennessee |
Virginia Tech | Tennessee was way too inconsistent this year to pick them to win anything. | ||||
| Outback Bowl Northwestern vs. Auburn |
Auburn | I simply can’t pick against Auburn. | ||||
| Capital One Bowl Penn State vs. LSU |
Penn State | If there is such a thing as karma, Joe Paterno simply has to beat Les Miles. | ||||
| Gator Bowl West Virginia vs. Florida State |
Florida State | The Seminoles will rally behind their coach to let him end his career with a bowl game victory. | ||||
| Rose Bowl Ohio State vs. Oregon |
Oregon | The Big 10 is not really that good — certainly not as good as the PAC-10 this year. | ||||
| Sugar Bowl Florida vs. Cincinnati |
Florida | Sorry Cincinnati, but going undefeated in the Big East is nothing compared to a one-loss season in the SEC. | ||||
| International Bowl South Florida vs. Northern Illinois |
South Florida | Eh. | ||||
| Papajohns.com Bowl South Carolina vs. UConn |
South Carolina | The tragic loss of a teammate was enough motivation to get UConn to almost win many games, and that motivation will have the same result here. | ||||
| Cotton Bowl Oklahoma State vs. Ole Miss |
Ole Miss | Interestingly, Nebraska vs. Texas has a lot to do with this pick also. | ||||
| Liberty Bowl Arkansas vs. East Carolina |
Arkansas | When in doubt, go with the SEC. | ||||
| Alamo Bowl Michigan State vs. Texas Tech |
Texas Tech | The Red Raiders get up for what is essentially a home game against a Big 10 also-ran. | ||||
| Fiesta Bowl Boise State vs. TCU |
TCU | The last team to beat Boise State was TCU, who is so much better this year that they could compete with and maybe even beat pretty much anyone this year. | ||||
| Orange Bowl Iowa vs. Georgia Tech |
Georgia Tech | Iowa’s good, but their habit of coming from behind will get the best of them again. | ||||
| GMAC Bowl Central Michigan vs. Troy |
Troy | What the … ? What are these guys doing playing in January? | ||||
| BCS National Championship Texas vs. Alabama |
Alabama | Nebraska plays defense like the SEC. They almost beat Texas despite having no offense whatsoever. The difference between Alabama and Nebraska? Alabama has a better defense, and they also have an offense. | ||||
| Toilet Bowl Western Kentucky vs. North Dakota Culinary & Drama College |
ND C&D | ND C&D has flat-out owned — nay, pwned — this bowl the past few years. In a rematch of last year’s game, ND C&D will sub in the cheerleaders at halftime but will still end up blowing Western Kentucky out of the water. | ||||
There you go. Fire at will.
