When I was growing up, the bowls were even better than the regular season, at least generally. Of course, when I was growing up, there weren't many bowls, and mostly they were played on New Years Day. You got up semi early, plopped your ass on a couch, either your or a friends, and spent the day watching some of the greatest match ups of the year played in warm weather stadiums like Pasadena, New Orleans, Dallas and Miami. There were a few games played before New Years such as the Sun Bowl in El Paso and the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, but those were just to whet your appetite until New Years day came along.
Now we have no less than 35 bowl games and it's touch and go if you're going to have the 70 teams reach that 6 victory plateau needed to get those 15 extra practices in that coaches value as much as spring ball. Hell, we even have a bowl game being played in New York City this year. While I realize that New York does a really nice job at Christmas, who wants to go watch a bowl game being played in Yankee Stadium at the end of December? What comes next, participation ribbons for everyone?
So, whether they are needed or not, the bowl season kicks off next Saturday with 3 games that, while not being compelling, will be at least somewhat interesting.
The post season kicks off Saturday afternoon as the Brigham Young Cougars meet the University of El Paso Miners in the 5th annual New Mexico Bowl. Both teams wound up with 6-6 records and have virtually nothing resembling a signature win. The fighting Mormons open as 12 point favorites, and had been putting a few points on the board during their last few games. UTEP really did nothing all season except scrap out 6 wins against such teams as Arkansas Pine Bluff, Memphis and New Mexico State. BYU at least has a little bit of tradition on their side so I'm going to go with the Cougars to win and cover here. I'm taking them 41-24.
In Boise, Idaho we have a bit of a better match up as 8-4 Fresno State Bulldogs take on the 10-3 Northern Illinois Huskies. Both teams can at least count wins over Big Ten teams this year as Northern Illinois bested Minnesota 34-23 while the Bulldogs closed out the year with a 25-23 win over Illannoy. Combine that with their opening season win over Cincinnati and it was a pretty decent year for the Dogs. Northern Illinois opens as 3 point favorites in this one, but I think that playing slightly better competition will work in Fresno's favor. I'm taking them to cover and win outright. Fresno State 38, Northern Illinois 34.
Easily the most desirable location of week 1 is the Troy Trojans putting their 7-5 record on the line against the 8-4 Ohio Bobcats in the New Orleans Bowl. You can look for a solid win by either of the teams, but you just aren't going to find one. But at least the fans of both teams are going to get a chance at some great food and entertainment before it gets too crowded with the Sugar Bowl crowd coming in. Troy has pulled some decent upsets and has also played some big names close. In a game like this, I tend to go with any sort of advantage one team could have over another. In this one, I'll take the Bobcats with Frank Solich as their head coach.
That's it for this week. Next week we'll have a few bigger match ups, including teams that you've probably heard of. The (possibly) biggest bowl winner of the season will happen also when the Las Vegas Bowl hosts 2 teams that were considered legitimate threats to bust down the door of the BCS party. Talk to you on Sunday.
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