If you talk to a sports fan over the age of 35 they might be able to tell you what it was like when college football's bowl season mattered. However, mainly thanks to ESPN and their intention to have as many bowls as possible, despite the quality of the games or the teams, bowl season has become a drawn out process of little importance.
Of course, there is the national title game coming up in a little more than a week, but there are some other games that should provide us with a nice appetizer before the title game.
The Chick-fil-A Bowl is often one of the best games of bowl season and this year should be no different with a match up between LSU and Clemson. Clemson had a 10 win season but lost their two biggest games of the year, against Florida State and South Carolina. Their offense is spectacular while their defense is average on a good day. On the other hand, LSU's offense has been hot and cold throughout the season while their defense has been fantastic as usual. I think this game will come down to Clemson's ability to slow LSU down on the ground. If Clemson can stop the run, even a little bit, then they will have a chance to win the game. I don't think they can do it. Clemson will score, but LSU will be able to keep the dynamic Clemson offense on the sideline with a run game that will dominate, especially in the second half.
LSU 31 Clemson 24
The Outback Bowl matches up South Carolina against Michigan. The Wolverines came up just short as they tried to stop Ohio State's perfect season. Michigan is a good team, but not elite. Their offense is average as is there defense. South Carolina had a wonderful season that was just short of the best in school history. If not for a close loss to LSU in Death Valley, South Carolina, not Georgia would have been playing Alabama in the SEC title game for a chance to go to the national championship game. Unless South Carolina turns the ball over, a lot, then they will win the game.
South Carolina 26 Michigan 10
No real reason to spend a lot of time talking about the Rose Bowl. Stanford may be one of the best teams in the country at this point in the season and Wisconsin is mediocre. Wisconsin is also dealing with the fact that they are being coached by their Athletic Director because their coach left after the Big 10 title game to go to Arkansas. Stanford's physicality will be the difference in this game.
Stanford 30 Wisconsin 13
It is an embarrassment to college football that Northern Illinois is in the BCS. It is also a shame because you are wasting a chance to watch a good team in FSU play another team that might be able to give them a good game. Unless FSU decides to play their backups for the entire first half, this game will be over before half time. Northern Illinois is just not that good of a team.
Florida State 42 Northern Illinois 16
Florida is going to kill Lousiville. That is all.
Florida 28 Louisville 6
In the "What might have been" Fiesta Bowl, Oregon will play Kansas State. The Wildcats will be playing their last game with Colin Kline at quarterback and if you believe all of the rumors, the Ducks might be playing their last game with Chip Kelley as their coach. The question in this game is whether or not the Kansas State offense can score with Oregon. The Ducks' offense is as high octane as it gets and they play just enough defense to be aggravating. I think Oregon is just too good. Kansas State will play well and Kline will keep them in the game, but at the end of the day, Oregon will just score too much for the Wildcats.
Oregon 38 Kansas State 34
There are so many story lines in the Cotton Bowl, but to me, the most interesting one is that Texas A&M, newest member of the SEC takes on Oklahoma, a power of the Big 12, A&M's old conference. Johnny Football, Heisman in hand, will try and deliver A&M's 11th win of the season, more than any Aggie fan could have hoped for in their first year in the SEC. Meanwhile, Big Game Bob Stoops will try and reclaim the place that Oklahoma held for so much of the past decade. It will be Landry Jones' last game as a Sooner, but I don't think he will be able to get past A&M.
Texas A&M 24 Oklahoma 20
Georgia isn't playing in the biggest bowl game this year, and the game itself isn't as appealing as some other games, but make no mistake, this is a huge game for the Bulldogs. After coming ever so close against Alabama, Georgia has a chance to win 12 games this season, and begin to get ready for the 2013 season with a win. Last year, Georgia blew a huge lead to lose to Michigan State in the Outback Bowl and it hurt the Dawgs' perception nationally. This year, many pundits believe that Georgia deserved to play in the Sugar Bowl not the Capital One Bowl, so Georgia needs to take care of business and stomp Nebraska. This Nebraska team got killed in the Big 10 title game against a mediocre Wisconsin team so they have already shown that they can come up small on a big stage.
Nebraska quarterback Taylor Martinez told the media earlier this week that there wasn't anything special about Georgia's defense. He thinks that they are "an average Big 10 defense." Well he should talk to Sheldon Richardson, Missouri defensive lineman, about talking about Georgia's defense, and how they respond to trash talk before a game.
I wouldn't be surprised if Georgia jumped out to an early lead, just like they did last year, only this time, they will finish the game, and their season, in style.
Georgia 42 Nebraska 10
Have a safe and Happy New Year!
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