Bowl Discussion: January 2nd & 3rd

[Bored 0]

MONDAY

 

Outback Bowl: Iowa vs. #17 Florida, 11:00/8:00 AM, ESPN

 

Recent History

2005: #7 Georgia 24, #17 Wisconsin 21

2004: #13 Iowa 37, #15 Florida 17

2003: #11 Michigan 38, #17 Florida 30

2002: #14 South Carolina 31, #25 Ohio State 28

2001: South Carolina 24, #18 Ohio State 7

2000: Georgia 28, #20 Purdue 25

1999: #21 Penn State 26, Kentucky 14

 

Cotton Bowl: #15 Texas Tech vs. #13 Alabama, 11:00/8:00 AM, FOX

 

Recent History

2005: #15 Tennessee 38, #20 Texas A&M 7

2004: #19 Mississippi 31, #21 Oklahoma State 28

2003: #10 Texas 35, LSU 20

2002: #11 Oklahoma 10, Arkansas 3

2001: #9 Kansas State 35, #21 Tennessee 21

2000: Arkansas 27, #15 Texas 6

1999: #17 Texas 38, Mississippi State 11

 

Gator Bowl: #19 Louisville vs. #10 Virginia Tech, 12:30 PM/9:30 AM, NBC

 

Recent History

2005: #16 Florida State 30, West Virginia 18

2004: #23 Maryland 41, West Virginia 7

2003: #19 N.C. State 28, #9 Notre Dame 6

2002: #22 Florida State 30, #21 Virginia Tech 17

2001: #5 Virginia Tech 41, #15 Clemson 20

2000: #19 Miami 28, #16 Georgia Tech 13

1999: #14 Georgia Tech 35, #19 Notre Dame 28

 

Capital One Bowl: #18 Wisconsin vs. #9 Auburn, 1:00 PM/10:00 AM, ABC

 

Recent History

2005: #12 Iowa 30, #11 LSU 25

2004: #12 Georgia 34, #14 Purdue 27

2003: #20 Auburn 13, #12 Penn State 9

2002: #6 Tennessee 45, #16 Michigan 17

2001: #16 Michigan 31, #20 Auburn 28

2000: #9 Michigan State 37, #10 Florida 34

1999: #18 Michigan 45, #13 Arkansas 31

 

Fiesta Bowl: #6 Notre Dame vs. #4 Ohio State, 4:30/1:30 PM, ABC

 

Recent History

2005: #6 Utah 35, #21 Pittsburgh 7

2004: #5 Ohio State 35, #10 Kansas State 28

2003: #2 Ohio State 31, #1 Miami 24

2002: #4 Oregon 38, #3 Colorado 16

2001: #6 Oregon State 41, #11 Notre Dame 9

2000: #3 Nebraska 31, #5 Tennessee 21

1999: #1 Tennessee 23, #2 Florida State 16

 

Sugar Bowl: #11 West Virginia vs. #7 Georgia, 8:30/5:30 PM, ABC

 

Recent History

2005: #3 Auburn 16, #8 Virginia Tech 13

2004: #2 LSU 21, #1 Oklahoma 14

2003: #3 Georgia 26, #14 Florida State 13

2002: #13 LSU 47, #8 Illinois 34

2001: #3 Miami 37, #7 Florida 20

2000: #1 Florida State 46, #2 Virginia Tech 29

1999: #4 Ohio State 24, #6 Texas A&M 14

 

TUESDAY

 

Orange Bowl: #3 Penn State vs. #22 Florida State, 8:00/5:00 PM, ABC

 

Recent History

2005: #1 USC 55, #2 Oklahoma 19

2004: #11 Miami 16, #7 Florida State 14

2003: #4 USC 38, #5 Iowa 17

2002: #5 Florida 56, #10 Maryland 23

2001: #1 Oklahoma 13, #2 Florida State 2

2000: #8 Michigan 35, #4 Alabama 34

1999: #8 Florida 31, #15 Syracuse 10

[iggymcfly 0]

Let me just lead off by saying that I'm pissed that there are no games on New Year's Day this year.

 

Who really gives a fuck about Week 17 of the NFL anyway. 90% of the teams have nothing to play for and at least 4 teams would be significantly better off losing than winning.

 

Give me the Fiesta Bowl, god damn it!

[Guest Leelee]

90% of NFL teams having nothing to play for... or 100% of college teams playing in meaningless exhibitions. I'll take the NFL.

[The Czech Republic 0]

Hey don't knock the insight.com Bowl!

[Art Sandusky 0]

Which isn't one of the bowls put off by NFL games on Sunday. New Year's Day is for college football. CBS wasn't showing any bowls, and Fox only had the early Cotton Bowl, which would be over in time to at least show a 4PM game. ESPN has no primetime bowls, so they could still show the Sunday night game.

[gWIL 0]

At the very least I hope Notre Dame doesn't embarass themselves. I predict Notre Dame by a touchdown.

[therealworldschampion 0]

I have a feeling that Notre Dame is going to win tomorrow, giving Charlie Weis a month to prepare is not a good idea.

[Art Sandusky 0]

Ohio State's a lot more versatile than you think. They've got weapons too. OSU's just super-duper solid and plays sound football, and that's the kind of team that always has a shot against even much better opponents. How do you think Georgia beat LSU?

[therealworldschampion 0]

Tressel needs to utilize Ginn more tomorrow than he has this year. I have a feeling this will be a 38-34 type shootout.

[Damaramu 0]

I think Texas Tech has a really really good chance of beating Alabama. Tech can score on anyone and if they can hold Bama to 10 points or so(which i think they can) then they can win the game.

Having said that Alabama will probably score 50 while Tech scores 3 just to fuck with me.

[Art Sandusky 0]

Fuck that, Alabama's going to smash Texas Tech's offense.

[Hogan Made Wrestling 0]

Is there any way Notre Dame and tOSU can both lose?

[Slayer 0]

Fellow Michigan fan, right?

 

The only hope is a stray test-range missile finds its way to Tempe

[ANKLELOCK 0]

None of the Big XII's gimmicked shotgun offenses(Minus Texas of course) can hang with Bama's D. I've got the Tide by ten.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

Texas Tech is my slightly out-there flyer in the big bowls. Bama's offense was absolutely anemic at season's end, as they never came close to finding anyone to replace Prothro. Great as Bama's defense is, I think Texas Tech only needs to score maybe 20 points to win this one, and I think they will.

[iggymcfly 0]

I don't know about that. I actually picked Bama as well, but I do think their secondary's vulnerable. If you remember, last year, they had one of the top three defenses in the country, but then in their bowl game, they got absolutely picked apart by a dink and dunk passing attack. I really think Texas Tech is about as bad of a matchup as they could get.

 

In fact, I'm kind of rethinking the pick altogether. It's kind of like Oklahoma/Oregon where one team was clearly better over the balance of the season, but the other team's better in the head-to-head situation.

[Damaramu 0]

None of the Big XII's gimmicked shotgun offenses(Minus Texas of course) can hang with Bama's D. I've got the Tide by ten.

 

Yeah because thus far this bowl season the Big XII has proven that's it's just so bad. They can't win a game to save their lives.

[ANKLELOCK 0]

I have never claimed that the Big XII was a bad conference. But they DO have a lot of gimmick offenses run out of the shotgun(Tech, UT, OU, Missouri, Nebraska, ISU) and I personally don't think Bama will fall to that type of team.

[iggymcfly 0]

I still say the Big XII's a bad conference. The fact that they got some good bowl matchups doesn't change that. I can say that credibly since I also predicted that Oklahoma would beat Oregon.

 

Now, the one revelation that I have gotten out of the bowl season thus far is that the ACC's overrated as shit. Miami got the ever-loving shit kicked out of them, and Georgia Tech got picked apart by Utah. I think Florida State's in for an epic ass-kicking, and I wouldn't be surprised to see Louisville beat Va. Tech.

[Damaramu 0]

I don't think it's a case of bad bowl matchups for the other teams. Most of these games have been games where the Big XII was predicted to be blown out. They've won 4 games and lost the other 2 narrowly.

[Slayer 0]

I think I've figured out who to root for in the Fiesta Bowl, as a Michigan fan.

 

If OSU wins, it'd suck, but they don't get much out of it other than winning.

 

If Notre Dame wins, you'll need a blowtorch to remove the collective sports medias' hands and mouth from ND's tip, and they'd probably be #2 preseason next year behind whoever wins the title this year.

 

So OSU wins...

[Slayer 0]

Former FSU QB Chris Rix is sideline reporting for FOX at the Cotton Bowl.

 

For some reason, that just amuses me greatly

[lomasmoney 0]

No, I will never root for Ohio State in a game unless it directly helps Michigan. I hope ND beats them by 30, and becomes the #2 preseason team. I want as many teams in these big bowl games to look really really good so they can all be ranked ahead of Michigan in the preseason. They seem to play much better when they come into the season ranked like 15th

[Slayer 0]

I want as many teams in these big bowl games to look really really good so they can all be ranked ahead of Michigan in the preseason.

Considering their overall performance this year, I don't think you have much to worry about there

[Damaramu 0]

I think Texas Tech has a really really good chance of beating Alabama. Tech can score on anyone and if they can hold Bama to 10 points or so(which i think they can) then they can win the game.

Having said that Alabama will probably score 50 while Tech scores 3 just to fuck with me.

 

I knew it!

[iggymcfly 0]

I don't think it's a case of bad bowl matchups for the other teams. Most of these games have been games where the Big XII was predicted to be blown out. They've won 4 games and lost the other 2 narrowly.

 

Where exactly was the Big XII "predicted to be blown out"? Oklahoma and Iowa State were both 3 1/2 point underdogs. Missouri and Colorado were 7 point dogs, which still isn't all that huge of a spread. The only double digit underdog was Nebraska, and they would have lost to Michigan if not for the worst refereeing performance this side of the 1972 Olympics.

 

Oklahoma won because they matched up perfectly.

Kansas was supposed to win.

Nebraska won because of terrible officiating.

Colorado lost like they were supposed to.

Iowa State lost like they were supposed to.

Missouri pulled a big upset; I have no idea how they did it; congratulations.

 

For the record, the good matchups continue today, as Texas Tech gets their dream opponent in Alabama whose secondary is surprisingly vulnerable against a shotgun passing game. The odds reflect this as the Red Raiders are favored by 3 1/2.

 

Now I'm not trying to run down the Big XII here; they've had a very good bowl season. After the way things have transpired, I might even say that the Big XII is better than the ACC. However, as far as power conferences go, they're still below average, and they still don't really measure up to the Pac Ten, Big Ten, or SEC.

[Damaramu 0]

The #3 team in the Big XII just beat the #2 team in the Pac 10 though. And what are you going to say if the #1 team in the Big XII beats the #1 team in the Pac 10?

 

Who's this guy on color? Did he got to Alabama? Tech makes a good play on offense and he's busy finding a way to blow Bama.

[therealworldschampion 0]

Fox is going to be doing the national title game next year along with the Orange and Sugar Bowl, I wonder who they'll have doing PBP and color commentary for it. I'd imagine that Buck and Aikman would do the national title game.

[iggymcfly 0]

The #3 team in the Big XII just beat the #2 team in the Pac 10 though. And what are you going to say if the #1 team in the Big XII beats the #1 team in the Pac 10?

 

Who's this guy on color? Did he got to Alabama? Tech makes a good play on offense and he's busy finding a way to blow Bama.

 

Actually, I'd say the #2 team in the Big XII beat the #2 team in the Pac-Ten. (Oklahoma's more talented than Texas Tech.) And I knew it would happen too. The reason is that Oregon's biggest weakness is their run defense. Therefore, when they play the most one-dimensional running team in the Top 40, of course they'll have problems. Remember, that same #2 team lost badly to the #3 team in the Pac-Ten earlier in the year because they didn't match up as well.

 

As for Texas, I've never doubted their talent. I think that they're one of the five best teams of the last ten years, they're just not quite as good as this USC team. If they do win the Rose Bowl, I would give th conference more credit however, as I think you have to weight the talent of the top teams more highly than that of the cellar dwellers.

[Damaramu 0]

The OU that played UCLA is totally different than the OU that played Oregon.

 

Tech is really frustrating me right now. If I say nothing about the Big XII or doubt them then they start winning.

The moment I start pimping them they fuck up and lose. I started pimping them with that avatar and ISU lost. I need to take my avatar down! It's a jinx!