Outback Bowl
Auburn -7.5 v Northwestern
After opening the season with wins over Towson St and Eastern Michigan the Wildcats lost to Syracuse and Minnesota, but then won 6 of 8 to end the season with an 8-4 record. The Wildcats have been known to give up on D what they get on O throughout the year so this may play into the hands of Auburn who scores a lot. Auburn won its first 5 games including blowouts over West Virginia and Miss St. and a nice win over Tennessee. They lose their next 3 games, won two and then lost the last 2 games at Georgia plus a close one to Alabama. Look for this game to be a score fest and fun to watch. As much as one may want to take the SEC over
the Big Ten I say take the over 55 and enjoy the first ‘Hangover Game’
of the year.
I am betting the over 55pts
========
Gator Bowl
West Va -2.5 v FSU
Blah blah blah, OK, it’s Bobby Bowden’s last game. Who cares? This 6-6
Fla St team is an underserving team to be playing on a New Year’s Day.
Yes, the Seminoles 6 losses were to bowl teams, but 2 of their 6 wins were to
non-bowl teams plus the D gave up 50 TD’s this year. Nuff said. West Va
on the other hand ended their season with wins over Pitt and Rutgers
after losing to #4 Cincy by 3 late. The Neers went 5-3 against bowl teams
and peaked late in the year. Noel Devine runs wild and I don’t care
that Weinke, Deion, Corey Simon and Tommy Polley are on the sidelines
for the game because they are not on the field.
I am betting West Va -2.5 pts to cover
============
Capital One Bowl
Penn St -2 v LSU
When there was a big game LSU had to win they always seems to lose.
Although the D is still awesome they just cant get their young offense
to score. The Tigers average just 300 total yards per game and they
have scored over 33 pts once this year and that was against Tulane.
The same situation applies for Penn St. The Nittany Lions lost the two
big games they needed to win. If you count the 6-6 Mich St., 6-6 Minn
and Temple wins then they were 4-2 against bowl teams. This game flat
out sucks in my opinion. Penn State has more big play guys, but I will
take LSU to pull off an upset with Les Miles getting his 3 weeks to prepare.
I am betting LSU +2 to cover
===============
Rose Bowl
Oregon -4 v Ohio St
Has Ohio State seen an offense like Oregon this year? Nope. Even USC
didn’t have the fire power the Ducks have on O. The Buckeyes lost 2
games by a total of 11 points to USC and Purdue and ended the season
with 5 straight wins. Now the leak of the alledged Pryor injury which
makes me think there is some gamesmenship going on. The Ducks scored
at will pretty much all year. They are unpredictable on offense and will keep
OSU on their toes, but as we are seeing in the early bowls the Pac 10 has no
defense. Oregon did give up 31 TD’s on D and over 329 yds per game. I like
Jim Tressel over Chip Kelly.
I am betting Ohio State +4 to cover
=========
Sugar Bowl
Fla – 12.5 v Cinci
Wos, is this not the Win one for the Gipper game of the bowl season?
Tebow and Meyer plus a new interim coach in Cincy. The Bearcats had two close
wins to end the season which exposed their suspect defense and gives this game
an aura of a blowout. I don’t want to get too analytical here, but Florida has given
up only 13 TD’s all year and when Cincy played a decent non-Big East team it
struggled on offense. Florida will come to play and play big.
I am betting Florida -12.5 to cover