Bowl Mania

It's that time of year again, the time when I make a bunch of bold predictions about football teams I have never seen play and don't even have stats on. I just like to pick by name, mostly. Or mascot. As long time readers know, I support the bowl system, think the BCS was a stupid mistake, and don't think we actually need a national champion in college football. I'm still pissed the Rose Bowl joined the BCS. Anyway, here are my picks for the thirty two teams that will end their seasons with a win:

Dec. 19 New Mexico Bowl Mountain West vs. WAC Wyoming vs. Fresno State: FRESNO ST

Dec. 19 St. Petersburg Bowl Big East vs. C-USA, Rutgers vs. UCF: RUTGERS

Dec. 20 R&L Carriers New Orleans Bowl, C-USA vs. Sun Belt No. 1, Southern Miss vs. Middle Tennessee: SOUTHERN MISS

Dec. 22 MAACO Las Vegas Bowl, Mountain West No. 1 vs. Pac-10 No. 4, BYU vs. Oregon State: OREGON ST.

Dec. 23 Poinsettia Bowl, Mountain West vs. Pac-10, Utah vs. California, Dec. 24: CAL

Sheraton Hawaii Bowl, C-USA vs. WAC, SMU vs. Nevada: NEVADA

Dec. 26 Emerald Bowl, ACC No. 7 vs. Pac-10 No. 5, Boston College vs. USC: USC

Dec. 26 Meineke Car Care Bowl, ACC No. 6 vs. Big East, North Carolina vs. Pitt: PITT

Dec. 26, Little Caesars Pizza Bowl, Big Ten No. 7 vs. MAC, Ohio vs. Marshall: MARSHALL

Dec. 27 Music City Bowl, ACC vs. SEC Clemson vs. Kentucky: CLEMSON

Dec. 28 Independence Bowl, Big 12 No. 7 vs. SEC No. 8, Texas A&M vs. Georgia: GEORGIA

Dec. 29, Champs Sports Bowl, ACC No. 4 vs. Big Ten No. 4 or 5 Miami vs. Wisconsin: WISCONSIN

Dec. 30, EagleBank Bowl, ACC No. 8 vs. Army or C-USA, Temple vs. Army or UCLA*: (damn Army/Navy game! since there's no way Army beats Navy, I'll say UCLA).

Dec. 30, Pacific Life Holiday Bowl, Big 12 No. 3 vs. Pac-10 No. 2, Nebraska vs. Arizona: NEBRASKA

Dec. 30, Roady's Humanitarian Bowl Mountain West vs. WAC, Idaho vs. Bowling Green Dec. 30: IDAHO (this pick is for dad--he played at Idaho).

Texas Bowl, Big 12 vs. Navy or C-USA Missouri vs. Navy: NAVY

Dec. 31, Armed Forces Bowl, Mountain West vs. C-USA, Air Force vs. Houston: HOUSTON

Dec. 31, Brut Sun Bowl Pac-10 No. 3 vs. Big East/Big 12/Notre Dame, Stanford vs. Oklahoma: STANFORD

Dec. 31, Insight Bowl, Big Ten No. 6 vs. Big 12 No. 6 Minnesota vs. Iowa State: MINNESOTA

Dec. 31, Chick-fil-A Bowl, ACC No. 2 vs. SEC, Virginia Tech vs. Tennessee: VA TECH

Jan. 1, Outback Bowl, Big Ten No. 3 vs. SEC Northwestern vs. Auburn: AUBURN

Jan. 1, Capital One Bowl, Big Ten No. 2 vs. SEC No. 2, Penn State vs. LSU: (possibly the best game of the Bowl season: PENN STATE)

Jan. 1, Gator Bowl, ACC No. 3 vs. Big East/Big 12/Notre Dame Florida State vs. West Virginia: WEST VIRGINIA

Jan. 2, AutoZone Liberty Bowl, C-USA No. 1 vs. SEC No. 6, East Carolina vs. Arkansas: EAST CAROLINA

Jan. 2, International Bowl, Big East vs. MAC No. 4 or 5, South Florida vs. Northern Illinois: SOUTH FLORIDA

Jan. 2, AT&T Cotton Bowl, Big 12 No. 2 vs. SEC, Oklahoma State vs. Mississippi: OKLAHOMA STATE

Jan. 2, Papajohns.com Bowl, Big East vs. SEC UConn vs. South Carolina: UCONN

Jan. 2, Valero Alamo Bowl, Big Ten No. 4 or 5 vs. Big 12 No. 4, Michigan State vs. Texas Tech: MICHIGAN STATE

Jan. 6, GMAC Bowl, ACC vs. MAC, Central Michigan vs. Troy: TROY

Jan. 1, Rose Bowl, BCS - Big Ten vs. Pac-10 champion, Ohio State vs. Oregon: (though it pains me to say so) OHIO STATE

Jan. 1, Sugar Bowl, BCS - SEC champion** Cincinnati vs. Florida (The other great game of the season): Cincinnati.

Jan. 4, Fiesta Bowl, BCS - Big 12 champion** Boise State vs. TCU: (This is the BCS buster game. The winner of this will claim to be the national champion, probably get National Championship rings, and will become a huge threat to the continuation of the bowl tradition. and it will be a good game. tough to call. really tough). BOISE STATE

Jan. 5, Orange Bowl, BCS - ACC champion** Iowa vs. Georgia Tech: GEORGIA TECH

Jan. 7, BCS National Championship, BCS No. 1 vs. BCS No. 2, Alabama vs. Texas: (there are so many teams in the post season that are better teams than Texas: TCU, Boise State, Cincinati, Florida, and arguably Nebraaska. They don't stand a chance): ALABAMA