The better of the bowl games

In my previous blog I had listed a few of the bowl games that were in the "who cares" category.  I am retracting that statement.  Even though I dont care, there are many people who do: namely the players, players' family, students, alumni, fans and ESPN (ok, i really dont care what ESPN thinks but they do care if people watch).  And the pizza bowl ended like a champ!  I will preview the BCS bowls in the near future and the Championship game in a separate blog, so, in the Christmas spirit, I bring you the bowl games that more people care about and that I find intriguing:

Nebraska vs. Washington in the Holiday Bowl - i know, i know they already played this year in Spokane and Nebraska smoked em, but I think the Huskers are a little down about the way their season ended on a sour note in the Big 12(10?) championship.  Jake Locker of UW is looking to redeem himself after having an awful year and being picked to be one of the top picks in the draft.  I still think Nebraska wins the game, but Washington will make it closer than last time.  Prediction: Neb 26 UW 17

Notre Dame vs. Miami in the Sun Bowl - ND has had a pretty down year in Brian Kelly's first year at the helm and Miami fired their coach.  This should tell you how bad Miami has been this year.  After all the talk about Jacory Harris being the next Mike Vick, all he has done is put his team in bad positions, throw interceptions and get injured.  I see ND playing well and holding Miami in check most of the night.  ND has more to play for and Miami is just ready to be done with the season. Prediction: ND 34 UM 10

South Carolina vs Florida St. in the Chick-fil-a Bowl - USC won the SEC East for the first time in the history of the program and beat the then #1 bama during the season.  They also beat UF for the first time in forever to win the East.  They lost to a very average Kentucky team (albeit on the road) and ran into a buzzsaw in Auburn in the SEC Championship, but overall they had a very good year.  Florida St. lost a couple games they should have won and lost to a very good Virgina Tech team in the ACC champ game.  USC features one of the best running backs in the country that also happens to be a freshman and one of the best receivers in the country in Alson Jeffrey.  He can torch you and jump over you and he is only a sophomore.  I know the class doesnt matter in the game but i hate it cause Auburn has to go to Columbia next year to play.  Tough, tough game.  I think USC plays really well despite Stephen Garcia being a total idiot most of the time.  FSU has a really good defense and if they can stop Lattimore and make Garcia beat them, he wont and FSU will win.  USC has to be able to establish the run and allow Garcia to make easy throws where he doesnt have to think too much.  I love this matchup!  Prediction:  USC 24 FSU 27

Alabama vs. Michigan St. in the Capital One Bowl - Michigan St. comes into this game with an 11-1 record with the one loss being a bad one to Iowa.  They did, however, beat Wisconsin and Michigan and Penn St.  Bama comes in with a 9-3 record with those losses coming in the final 7 games ending with a crushing loss to Auburn at home.  For those who dont know, Auburn overcame a 24-0 deficit and beat bama 28-27.  Bama began the year ranked #1 and were cruising toward another title shot after a resounding victory over (then unknown) overrated and outmatched Florida.  They then lost to USC and later to LSU and then to Auburn.  Only the loss to AU was at home.  bama is a good team that has a young(er) defense without a true leader since McClain and Arenas went to the NFL.  Normally, I would pick bama to win in a landslide but bama's heart is in question.  They havent been able to finish games this year and have not looked like the typical team that Saban coaches.  bama had huge aspirations this year and to finish 4th in the SEC West was not one of them.  I have to interject here: when the 4th place team in your division finishes 9-3 and ranked 16 in the BCS, you have the best division in football.  back to the game, this is a letdown for bama espcially after almost beating auburn to probably get to a BCS game (Sugar Bowl most likely).  Michigan St. feels slighted after losing out to a team they beat (Wisconsin) to the Rose Bowl and I think are looking to prove to people they deserved to be in the Rose.  bama is just the team to do this against, too.  They are the defending national champs and are nationally known so who better to look good against than them.  MSU is licking its chops to play well against bama.  If bama comes out and plays like they did in the first half against auburn, they win this game big.  If they come out flat, MSU still may not win.  That's how big the talent gap is when it comes to these two teams.  The only thing is that bama's do everything safety Mark Barron is out with a torn pectoral muscle.  This is huge and cannot be overlooked.  I still think bama can stop MSU, though, but can MSU stop bama?  bama's offense can be very good at times but other times, they look awful and very predictable.  Prediction: MSU 20 Bama 24

Florida vs Penn St. in the Outback Bowl - This is very interesting in that Urban Meyer resigned earlier this month and Joe Paterno has been at PSU forever.  Urban says he is coaching in the bowl game but what will Muschamp do?  Sit in the stands?  Florida has had a really bad year (7-5) and Penn St. hasnt been great either.  PSU starts and freshman QB and Brantley for UF has not played well.  If PSU can pressure Brantley into making quick decisions and therefore mistakes, I think PSU has a good shot.  UF's defense has not been very good either but I havent seen PSU play well with fast defenses (aka SEC) so I think I still give UF the advantage here.  How will the duel coaches work?  Sounds like a disaster to me, but UF can probaly overcome that.  Prediction:  PSU 17 UF 28

Mississippi St. vs Michigan in the Gator Bowl - I like this matchup because I want to see how MSU defends Denard Robinson if he is available to play (due to injury).  Mullen (MSU's coach) says that Robinson is the most dangerous and athletic player he has seen this year.  Really Dan?  didnt you play against Auburn and Cam Newton?  Ok, ok sour grapes, but whatever.  Im not sure if MSU can stop michigan but MSU has been pretty good against the run this year.  the kicker is that Michigan's running game comes mainly from Robinson taking off and that is a hard thing to defend.  MSU has looked good at times and other times, like against bama, they have been atrocious.  Chris Relf is not a very good QB and makes many mistakes.  Michigan also played in the highest scoring game in the history of modern fooball, so Michigan's defense hasnt played well either.  This is a tough game to call. Prediction:  MSU 31 UM 25 

LSU vs Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl - This game will be a slugfest with both defenses playing well most of the time.  Forget about LSU giving up 30+ points to ole miss at home, they will be ready to play.  The question is LSU's offense.  Which team will show up?  If Jefferson is on and throwing short, accurate passes and running when needed, LSU will be tough to defend.  I honestly dont know much about TAM except they looked really good against Oklahoma and Nebraska.  Two of the three losses they had were really close against Ok St. and Arky.  The one big one was a blowout loss to Missouri (30-9).  I think it will be low scoring and I think Les Miles will have the horseshoe one more game.  Prediction: LSU 16 TAM 10

 Tomorrow, hopefully, I will tell you about Christmas at our house.  It was alot of fun and the kids had a great time!