Texas Bowl
Illinois Fighting Illini vs. Baylor Bears
I see Baylor winning a close one here.  The teams are very equally talented, but the Bears have a more balanced offense. The Bears can expect to see a lot of running from Illinois led by running back Mikel Leshoure. Quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase should add to the rushing as he is more comfortable running with the ball than passing. On the other side, Baylor is led by quarterback Robert Griffin III and running back Jay Finley.  Griffin III is also dangerous running the ball, but is a much better passer than his counterpart. I like the Bears pulling this one off by a score of 21-17.

Bowl Predictions: Part 5

So both the Mountaineers and Mizzou lost yesterday and I have picked the wrong team to win in five straight games to bring my record down to 4-7.  This prediction thing is not working out as I planned.  Turnovers are playing a huge part in these bowl games as West Virginia turned the ball over five times and the game winning score in the second game came off of a 72-yard interception return. There are three games today and I’m confident I can turn this losing streak around.

Military Bowl Presented by Northrop Grumman
East Carolina Pirates vs. Maryland Terrapins
I really like the Pirates offense with Dominique Davis Davis throwing the ball and Jonathan Williams running it, but their defense is horrendous. Maryland should be able to whatever they want against offense. Danny O’Brien should have fun going against the awful defense.  The Maryland defense should be good enough to handle Davis and should be able to intercept him at least once as they rank in the top ten in turnover margin.  I see Maryland winning 30-17.

Bowl Prediction: Part 4

Georgia Tech gave away the game last night after turning over the ball four times including two muffed punts.  Air Force took advantage and sent the Yellow Jackets to its sixth straight bowl loss. The loss also sent my bowl record to 4-5. There are two really good games tonight to watch and let's hope I can sweep the to go over .500.

Champs Sports Bowl
West Virginia Mountaineers vs. North Carolina State Wolf Pack
The Wolf Pack will test the Mountaineers' top-5 defense in what should be a close game.  The Wolf Pack are led by quarterback Russell Wilson who will look to wide receivers Owen Spencer and Jarvis Williams to help lead the Wolf Pack to victory.  I don't see that happening though. West Virginia's defense should be able to hold them off enough to let running back Noel Devine end his college career with a win.  What I felt was the best team in the Big East should be able to pull off a 24-21 win. 

Insight Bowl
Missouri Tigers vs. Iowa Hawkeyes
I really liked Iowa to win this one despite losing their last three games and that I felt Missouri is a better team. They always seem to play their best for bowl games as they showed last year against Georgia Tech.  I changed my opinion after running back Adam Robinson was suspended for possession of marijuana. Iowa will also be playing without suspended receiver Derrell Johnson- Koulianos. I see Missouri pulling out a win as Blaine Gabbert leads his team to a 27-20 victory.

Bowl Predictions: Part 3

After correctly predicting the first three games last week, I looked to be heading on the right track, until Tulsa embarrassed Hawaii on its own field.  Then two days later, Toledo lost a heart breaker to Florida International. I finished 3-2 last week to bring my overall bowl record to 4-4. Hopefully, I can pull it back up to a winning record. I’m only doing the Independence Bowl in this edition and look for more predictions tomorrow.

Advocare V100 Independence Bowl
Air Force Falcons vs. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
I hope you guys like watching the triple-option offense because that is all you will be seeing this whole game.  It should be a quick one as these are the top two teams in rushing and in the bottom four in passing.  It might be a major conference bias, but I’m going with Georgia Tech in this one. Coach Paul Johnson beat Air Force five straight times when he was at Navy. Also Tech’s biggest weakness has been run defense, but I feel they can do a good job stopping Air Force because all they have to do is practice on their offense. I believe back-up quarterback Tevin Washington can be good enough to help lead Tech to a 31-28 victory.

Bowl Predictions: Part 2

My bowl predictions did not start so well as I went 1-2 in the first three games.  BYU, Northern Illinois, and Troy and demolished their opponents. Northern Illinois showed that they didn’t need ex-head coach Jerry Kill, and Corey Robinson played masterfully for Troy throwing for four touchdown and had no interceptions.  Hopefully, I do better in the next few games.

Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl St. Petersburg
Southern Miss Golden Eagles vs. Louisville Cardinals
This here is a classic case of offense vs. defense.  Southern Miss has an explosive offense lead by quarterback Austin Davis. He can spread the field with the help of receivers Kelvin Bolden and Johdrick Morris or hand it off to running backs Hardy and Johnson. Louisville touts one of the nation’s top defenses thanks to first-year head coach Charlie Strong. They’ll have their hand’s full with the Southern Miss defense but should be able handle it.  I think Louisville will pull this one out thanks to Southern Miss’ weak defense.  QB Adam Froman, coming back from an injury, will play in the game, but Justin Burke will start.  Strong will probably switch back and forth between the two, but running back Bilal Powell will make all the difference as he leads the Cardinals to a 31-23 victory.

MAACO Bowl Las Vegas
Utah Utes vs. Boise State Broncos
This is probably the game I am most excited for this week. It features two teams that were once ranked in the top five of the country and is the first bowl to have ranked teams. It will be interesting to see if Boise State comes out flat due to the disappointment of not playing in a BCS bowl game or if they will look to let out their frustration.  I think Chris Peterson will have his team ready and Kellen Moore will lead his team to one last win.  It will be interesting to see how Kyle Brotzman does after missing the two huge field goals in the Nevada game and one against Utah State. Utah should still be able to keep it relatively close (for a Boise State game), but I see Boise State winning 38-24.

San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl
Navy Midshipman vs. San Diego State Aztecs
Is it possible to come up with an even wordier bowl game title? I really like the Aztec in this game. They have the home field advantage in addition to more time to prepare for this game because Navy just played Army on December 11th. Navy has a great running game with their triple-option offense, but the Aztec have shown they can stop a triple-option offense when they played Air Force.  Aztec running back Ronnie Hillman has been dealing with injuries, but the extra rest will serve him well. A healthy Hillman will really help quarterback Ryan Lindley because the defense will have to divert some attention to the run, which should open up passing lanes. They win this one 31-21.

Sheraton Hawaii Bowl
Hawaii Warriors vs. Tulsa Golden Hurricane
This will be quite an entertaining game to watch, especially if you like offense. Hawaii and Tulsa rank in the top ten in offense and both average nearly 40 points per game. Tulsa quarterback G.J. Kinne is their most dangerous weapon because he can beat defense through the air or run on them.  He is the team’s leading rusher. Hawaii is lead by their own quarterback Bryant Moniz, who leads college football with the most passing yards. He should have a fun day going against Tulsa’s passing defense, which rank 119th in college football. I see the Warriors winning this one 42-31.

Little Caesars Bowl
Florida International Golden Panthers vs. Toledo Rockets
So this is the second match-up between a MAC and Sun Belt team. In the first one I went with the MAC team, picking Ohio over Troy, and it didn’t work out so well. I’m going to go with the MAC team again in hopes that the conference redeems itself.  Rockets quarterback Austin Dantin, who had separated his shoulder, is supposed to be back for this game. He will look to get the ball to wide receiver Eric Page, who should provide the team with a nice boost in special teams as well. Running back Adonis Thomas will balance the offense by finding holes in the line to help his team to a 30-24 victory.

Bowl Predictions: Part 1

It’s finally here. The time of year that you’ve waited for all season. It’s bowl season.  I’ll be examining every bowl game over the next few weeks, but this edition will take a look at this weekend’s bowls.  Look for the next edition to be up by Monday and will cover all the bowls up to the Little Caesar’s Bowl. But we’ve got three great games this weekend and while they may not be the best bowl games, they are the first ones. Let get right into it with my predictions.

New Mexico Bowl
Bringham Young Cougers vs. UTEP Miners
I’m excited for this game for mainly one reason and it’s because it is the first bowl game of the season.  The two teams enter this game heading in different directions. BYU won five of its last seven games to become bowl eligible, while the Miners lost five of its last six. UTEP quarterback Trevor Vittatoe’s ankle is a major concern, but it is probable that he plays. He won’t be at 100%, but will be motivated nonetheless, as it is most likely be the last game of his career. BYU is led by running back JJ Di Luigi and should be in for a good game against UTEP’s weak run defense. One thing I feel will work in UTEP’s favor is that they should be more excited to be here since it will be their players’ first bowl appearance. However, I still see BYU winning this comfortably in a 31-17 game.

uDrove Humanitarian Bowl
Fresno State Bulldogs vs. Northern Illinois Huskies
This should be a relatively close game. Talent-wise I like the Huskies with Chad Spann, one of the nation’s leading rushers, and quarterback Chandler Harnish, but I think Fresno State should pull out a win.  Northern Illinois is going to have to play this game without head coach Jerry Kill, who left for Minnesota. Pat Hill should have Robbie Rouse, Fresno’s own talented RB, ready and should have a slight home-field advantage as they play on Boise State’s blue turf. As long as Fresno can hold onto the ball and not turn it over, they should pull this one out 28-24.

R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl
Ohio Bobcats vs. Troy Trojans
I am excited for this game because of Troy WR Jerrell Jernigan. I was able to watch him against Oklahoma State earlier this season and he played a terrific game with a touchdown on offense and 100-yard touchdown on a kickoff return.  While he may be fun to watch, I feel his quarterback Corey Robinson may make too many mistakes and will let Ohio take this one.  I feel Bobcat running back Vince Davis and backup quarterback Phil Bates should be able to run over the Trojan defense. I see Ohio winning this 28-27.

Goin' Streaking

"We're going streaking!"

No one actually followed Will Ferrell when he exclaimed, “We’re going streaking!” in Old School. Maybe he should have screamed it to the NBA instead of a frat party. He could have found some followers there.  The three division leaders in the East, the Celtics, Bulls, and Heat, are all on win streaks of 7 games or more and hope to keep them going. Frank the Tank really wishes he had partied with these teams right now.  It’ll be interesting to see how long these teams can go before they lose.  Let’s check out each streak and see how they’ve done it and if it's likely they'll continue.

Boston
Boston has won 12 games in row after beating the Hawks 102-90.  Overall, it have been an impressive streak with two wins over Atlanta in addition to wins over Chicago, Denver and New York. Their next few tough games are at Orlando on Christmas Day, San Antonio on January 5th, and then Chicago on January 8th.  Overall it could be a manageable schedule up until the Spurs game.

Interesting Stat: They have had seven different leading scorers over their twelve game streak. Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, Rajon Rondo, Shaquille O’Neal, Nate Robinson, and Glen Davis have all been the leading scorer. This balance among the team will really help in the next few games with Rondo out.

Concern: Rajon Rondo will miss the next couple of weeks due to an ankle injury.  He will be missed as he leads the league in assists and is able to bring this team together.  Robinson has shown he can be productive in limited minutes and did well against Atlanta, but we will have to wait and see how he does in the starting role.  (And does anybody else love his early-90s, Fresh Prince haircut?)

Miami
Miami has now won 10 in a row and will look to make it eleven in New York on Friday night. Everyone had been waiting for this team to show their potential, and now we see it.  Dwayne Wade and LeBron James have fully adjusted and are playing extremely well together.  What has been most impressive about this team has to be their defense.  They have the best defense in the league, giving up barely over 91 points a game.  Of the three teams streaking right now, they have the hardest upcoming schedule as they have to play the Knicks twice, the Mavs, and the Lakers all before New Year’s.

Interesting Stat: The Heat have not allowed over 100 points in a single game during this streak and is allowing a mere 85.5 points per game.  It seems Spoelstra’s “do something good on defense, you can do what you want on offense” reward system is working. They also have nine of the ten games by double digits easily handling their opponents.

Concern: The schedule. They have a lot of good teams coming up and I doubt they will make it to New Year’s still on this streak. They are bound to have a close game sooner or later, which will be fun to watch. The Heat are 0-3 in games decided by 5 points or less. We still do not know how they will play in a close game with their new confidence.

Chicago
Chicago has won seven in row so far and it hasn’t been easy.  They won an overtime game against Houston and then had to go through the Lakers and Thunder. Their upcoming schedule won’t be as hard.  They play only one team above .500, the Knicks, in their next eleven games.  The combined winning percentage of those opponents is .341. If it wasn’t for Joakim Noah’s injury, I would have confidently said the Bulls would be riding an 18-game winning streak heading into their January 5th match-up against the Celtics.

Interesting Stat: Derrick Rose has made 19 three-pointers during this seven game streak. He made a total of 16 in each of his previous two seasons.  Rose has fully taken on the leadership role for this team and has drastically improved his game this season.  Before the season he had asked, “Why can’t I be the MVP of the league?”  What seemed quite unrealistic at the time doesn’t sound so crazy anymore.

Concern: Joakim Noah’s thumb injury. He will be out for the next 2-3 months and this a huge loss to the Bulls.  The energy he brought to the team was immense. The loss in rebounds is huge as he was one of the NBA’s top five rebounders and led Chicago to be the second best rebounding team in the league. Boozer and Gibson have to try to take over and at times play like a center. We may see Omer Asik playing more minutes, but there are also rumors that the Bulls may sign someone new.