13 - 7 After 20

Hey, but who's keeping score, right?

I almost pulled the sweep on Saturday except for a careless fumble by Navy that allowed BC to win with a last second field goal. I hope when he's an officer, that running back will leave the hand-grenade handling to those under his command.

We still have the Miami game tonight, but I wanted to get this posted today as I expect to be less concentrated on football tomorrow, at least until I head to Brussels to watch the Rose Bowl at an American sports bar. Fat Boy's is the place and it is located on the Luxembourgplein.

Outback Bowl

Penn State -vs- Tennessee

Well, I've made no mistakes rooting against the Big Ten so far, but I gotta believe Paterno still has some magic left. Besides, Penn State will never be a full-fledged Big Ten team to me, which in this case is a good thing. Tennessee is no slouch, but the Nitany Lions will come out on top.

Cotton Bowl

Auburn -vs- Nebraska

Nebraska is coming off an average season. Auburn's was slightly better and probably deserved a better opponent in the Cotton Bowl. As it is, Auburn is not playing for anything special this year while this game could make the Cornhusker's season a bit more of a success or failure. That should be incentive enough for the Big 12 to be guaranteed at least a .500 Bowl record this year.

Gator Bowl

Georgia Tech -vs- West Virginia

A good match-up. West Virginia had a "dissappointing season" at 10-2. Unfortunately for them, the Big East will no longer be WVU's personal stomping ground and they should be happy anytime their wins reach double digits. Georgia Tech is not in the Top 25 only because two of their losses happened at the end of the season. The ACC was not a power conference this year making their second place finish a little less impressive. Mountaineers should reach the peak of this one without two many bee stings.

Capital One Bowl

Arkansas -vs- Wisconsin

The Badgers feel they have something to prove having finished with only one loss, but being kept out of the BCS because the Big Ten is only allowed two teams. They do have something to prove because they padded their non-conference schedule with weak teams from weak conferences and didn't even play Ohio State in conference play. Arkansas, on the other hand, lost two close games at the end of the season to BCS teams LSU and Florida and only has a shellacking at the hands of USC to hang their head for, but that came in their first game of the season before this team meshed. The Razerbacks are going to remind Wisconsin why they don't play better teams in their non-conference schedule.

Rose Bowl

Michigan -vs- USC

USC was not the same, dominating team this year without their two Heisman trophy winners and the loss to UCLA at the end of the season was a shock to the entire country, but for traditionalists, this is a winner for the bowls. The Pac Ten -vs- The Big Ten in the Grandaddy of Them All and, quite probably, the best bowl game after New Year's Eve.

I have to admit, Michigan is not a great bowl team and the Rose Bowl has not always been kind to the Big Ten even when they were playing a weaker team. Nonetheless, I have to support my Maize & Blue and pick them to win this one. They are due.

Fiesta Bowl

Boise State -vs- Oklahoma

I got people coming over to watch this one if only to ask, "Where is Boise State located?". Well, it is in Idaho and the rumours are true, they play home games on a blue field and they finished the season undefeated...again. You might remember, they were one of 5 teams finishing the 2004 season undefeated and still were left out of the BCS. Not this time.

Oklahoma is a dangerous team that got a lot stronger as the season progressed. Their blemishes were earlier in the season and the conference they won is one of the more balanced in the country. Boise State plays in the WAC and their non-conference schedule did not include any superpowers althought they did dominate USC-killers Oregon State. They lost their last big bowl game, but I'm going to give them this one just to annoy the BCS system.

Orange Bowl

Louisville -vs- Wake Forest

Yes, this is a football game. I'm not sure the Orange Bowl would have ever expected this match-up between traditional basketball powers like these two, but both football programs just might be on this stage for awhile now that they've gotten this far.

Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm is on lists for next year's Heismann and he'll want to raise his stock with this national stage. The problem will come if he tries too hard to do so. However, with family living in the area, I have no choice but to pick the Cardinals. With only Rutgers as a blemish on their schedule, they just missed playing for the national championship and Big East pride. Incidently, for those of you keeping track, I realize my predictions for Big East wins contradicts a prior statement I made on the South Florida game, but that's before I took a better look as to who their opponents were.

Sugar Bowl

Notre Dame -vs- LSU

Brady who? Notre Dame is a beneficiary of a traditional schedule that sometimes is among the toughest in the country, but this year turned out to be very weak. They beat bowl teams such as Navy, Georgia Tech & Penn State, but when playing Rose Bowl bound Michigan and USC, they bombed leaving doubts to Quinn's ability to lead his team against top competition.

LSU lost earlier in the season to Florida and Auburn, but waltzed through the rest of the season including a solid win against Arkansas at the end of the season. If they bring their A-game, it will be a tad too much for the Irish and the Tigers might be looking at a number 2 ranking after the dust has settled.

International Bowl

Cincinnati -vs- Western Michigan

Feel sorry for the Canadiens. They could have had British Culture, French Cuisine and American Technology. Instead, they ended up with British Cuisine, French Technology and American Culture. Welcome to the inaugural bowl in "Mounty Land".

They don't get a marquee match-up, but they do get schools close enough to make the trip to Toronto and, as long as they stick with that formule, they should do ok. Cincinnati was Rutger's first loss and, going against my earlier statements about the Big East, they should win this one too. In an interesting storyline, the Cincy coach is taking over right before the bowl game and has already beaten Western once this year while at the helm of Central Michigan.

GMAC Bowl

Ohio -vs- Southern Miss

Nothing against MAC teams, but Southern Miss has not lost to a good team all year. Ohio has (Bowling Green). Strength of schedule and a Southern Belt, home-field advantage give the nod to the Golden Eagles. I actually hope I'm wrong about this one for the sake of MAC pride.

I'm waiting to write on the Fiesta Bowl and the national championship game between Ohio State and Florida as there is more than a week to go and you never know if maybe the entire OSU starting line-up might catch the measles, which is about the only way Florida would have a chance. Hope you'll check it out next weekend.