Orange Bowl Preview

Thurs. Jan. 1, at Miami, FL
8 p.m. Eastern, 7 p.m. Central, 5 p.m. Pacific
FOX

Cincinnati? You've got to be kidding, right? The 11-2 Bearcats play the 9-4 Hokies in a game that features great special teams play. The Bearcats are led by QB Tony Pike and the Hokies are led by QB Tyrod Taylor. Cincinnati is a hot team and Tech overcame a topsy-turvy season to win the ACC championship against Boston College. Cincinnati is a 2 point favorite.

Rose Bowl Preview

Rose Bowl
Thurs. Jan. 1, at Pasadena, CA
5 p.m. Eastern, 4 p.m. Central, 2 p.m. Pacific
ABC

Joe Pa versus Pete Carroll. The Southern Cal Trojans (11-1) play a virtual home game versus Penn St. (11-1) who have had a resurgent season under their 80 year-old coach. Joe Pa will not be on the field for the game, but does anyone think he actually does any coaching anymore? I guess he does because I hear he threw out his hip trying to show his kicker how to do an onside kick. USC features a great defense the Nittany Lions have a great offense. USC is a 10 point favorite.

Gator Bowl Preview

Thurs. Jan. 1, at Jacksonville, FL
1 p.m. Eastern, Noon Central, 10 a.m. Pacific
CBS

Do you remember when Woody Hayes punched that kid from Clemson and lost his job? I do. Let's hope Nebraska's coach Bo Pelini can keep his temper against the Tigers. The Cornhuskers (8-4) ended the season on a winning streak. Clemson (7-5) exited their coach midway through the year and also picked up the quality of play. Let's see who comes out on top. Vegas has Clemson the 2 point favorite.

Capital One

Thurs. Jan. 1, at Orlando, FL
1 p.m. Eastern, Noon Central, 10 a.m. Pacific
ABC

Georgia was the preseason number one. This is a running back between Georgia's Knowshon Moreno and Michigan State's Javon Ringer. Georgia (9-3) is a 7.5 favorite over the Spartans (9-3). However, most of the family went with the underdog in this one.

Outback Bowl Preview

Thurs. Jan. 1, at Tampa Bay, FL
11 a.m. Eastern, 10 a.m. Central, 8 a.m. Pacific
ESPN

The fighting fowls will battle on New Year's Day morning. Iowa (8-4) is a 4 point favorite. Can Steve Spurrier overcome Iowa's running back star Shonn Greene? Can South Carolina (7-5) upset Iowa who gave Penn St. its only loss? Tune in and see.

Who's Has What Today

Don't remember who you picked? Here's the rundown by bowl:

Armed Forces:
Houston - Will, Patricia, Analicia, Matthew, Joseph, Chris R., RC, Tim, Crow
Air Force - Kate, Kirsten, Monique, Kathy, Margaret

Sun:
Pittsburgh - Patricia, Margaret, RC, Tim, Monique, Kirsten, Kate
Oregon St. - Crow, Will, Analicia, Matthew, Joseph, Chris R., Kathy

Music City:
Boston College - Patricia, Matthew, Joseph, Will, Chris Ross, Margaret, Kathy, Tim, Monique, Kirsten, Crow, Kate
Vanderbilt - RC, Analicia

Insight:
Minnesota - Patricia, Analicia, Matthew, Joseph, Margaret, Kathy, Kirsten, Crow
Kansas - Kate, Monique, Tim, RC, Chris R, Will

Chick-fil-A:
Georgia Tech - Patricia, Matthew, Joseph, Will, Chris R., Tim, Monique, Kirsten
LSU - Kate, Crow, RC, Kathy, Margaret, Analicia

Tight Games

I told you it was ugly. This is where Maryland, using Da'Rel Scott to take control in the second half took care of Nevada. Da'Rel was a little late getting to the hotel last night, so his coach sat him in the first half. But he got busy in the second half and ran right through Nevada 42-35. Nevada made a push at the end to make it close.




See this guy? Wonder why he's smiling? He's Phil Knight and he owns Nike so he's got that smile permanently fixed on his face. He owns your feet basically. He also owns the Oregon Ducks. He was on the sidelines tonight watching his Ducks beat the Oklahoma State Cowboys who are owned by this man:








Boone Pickens. He's still happy because he owns all the natural gas in this country and will soon own all the wind. But he does not like the Cowboys to lose, so he will probably drop another few million to buy some more players- I mean facilities.

















After today's action though we have new standings. Here they are:

Kate 5-2
RC Smith 4-3 (4 straight wins)
Kathy 4-3
Joseph 4-3
Patricia 3-4 (3 straight wins)
Will 3-4
Analicia 3-4
Tim 3-4
Monique 3-4
Crow 3-4
Kirsten 2-5
Margaret 2-5
Chris Ross 2-5
Matthew 2-5

Chick-fil-A Bowl Preview

Weds. Dec. 31, at Atlanta, GA
7:30 p.m. Eastern, 6:30 p.m. Central, 4:30 p.m. Pacific
ESPN

Georgia Tech has my favorite coach right now. Paul Johnson came from the Naval Academy and he runs a great option attack that most university teams won't run because they won't run it in the pros. But, man, is it fun to watch. LSU, the defending national champs, have under performed this year. They haven't faced an option attack either. But they do have athletes, and if they decide to play, look out. This ought to be fun. LSU is 7-5 and the Yellow Jackets are 9-3. Vegas says Georgia Tech by 4.

Insight Bowl Preview

Weds. Dec. 31, at Tempe, AZ
5:30 p.m. Eastern, 4:30 p.m. Central, 2:30 p.m. Pacific
NFL Network

Is there anyone fatter than Kansas coach Mark Mangino? I don't think so, but anyone who can win at Kansas has to be good. These 7-5 teams will face off in the desert. The Gophers have a good receiver in Eric Decker who is back from injury. Kansas features quarterback Todd Reesing and a pass happy attack. Kansas won their last game against Missouri and Minnesota got pulverized by Iowa. Vegas says Kansas by 9.

Music City Bowl Preview

Weds. Dec. 31, at Nashville, TN
3:30 p.m. Eastern, 2:30 p.m. Central, 12:30 p.m. Pacific
ESPN

The 6-6 Commodores are facing an uphill battle against the 9-4 Eagles. Vegas gives the nod to BC by 3.5 points. But, Vandy is getting a defacto home game against the beasts from the ACC and who knows. They do have to survive in the SEC. BC has a great defense; Vandy struggles to score. BC QB Dominique Davis will try to lead the Eagles to victory, after replacing former first stringer Chris Crane who broke his collarbone.

Sun Bowl Preview

Weds. Dec. 31, at El Paso, TX
2 p.m. Eastern, 1 p.m. Central, 11 a.m. Pacific
CBS

My friend Sam always goes to this game in one of the greatest stadiums in the country. It sits on the side of the Franklin Mountains and overlooks El Paso and the giant metropolis of Juarez, Mexico. If the game is lousy you just enjoy the view. Don't have a ticket? Climb up a foot hill and watch the game for free. Here's a picture of what I'm talking about:

If you want to watch something funny (well, if you like humor that my mother would call blue) that happened at the Texas v. UT-El Paso football game this September go to this link. But be forewarned this should not be viewed by young, impressionable children.

As far as the game goes, the 8-4 Oregon State Beavers have this small running back from Texas named Jacquizz Rogers who single handedly beat USC this year. He's got a brother who is a receiver, but it's Jacquizz who is the star. The 9-3 Pitt Panthers are 2.5 point underdogs but feature their own stud running back named LeShaun McCoy. This should be yet another tight game out in far West Texas.

Armed Forces Bowl Preview

Weds. Dec. 31, at Ft. Worth, TX
Noon Eastern, 11 a.m. Central, 9 a.m. Pacific
ESPN

This is actually a rematch of a game played earlier in the year. The game was moved because of Hurricane Ike to Dallas I think and Air Force won by hanging on to a lead garnered by their famous ground game. Houston is 7-5 and has an impressive quarterback named Case Keenum. Look for Cougar High (as all UT alum like me call them) to air it out against the Air Force (8-4). The Falcons only attempted 120 passes all season. They average 4.5 yds a carry on the ground though. So look for the Falcons to try and control the ball and slow the game down. Vegas spots the favored Coogs 3.5 points in this contest.

Holiday Bowl Preview

Tues., Dec. 30, at San Diego, CA
8 p.m. Eastern, 7 p.m. Central, 5 p.m. Pacific
ESPN

This bowl game used to be called the Mack Brown Invitational because I don't think any team has been to the Holiday Bowl more than Texas over the last decade. In fact, Texas played in it last year so I guess it can still be the Mack Brown Invitational. However, this year it's the Battle of the O's as Oklahoma State (9-3) is facing Oregon (9-3). Oklahoma State has a balanced offense with Dez Bryant at wide receiver and Kendall Hunter at running back. Oregon has the equally dangerous Jeremiah Johnson put the fear in defenses. Just an aside, I think the Oklahoma State offensive and defensive lines were the most physical Texas faced this year. They always give us a tough game, but I think fade down the stretch. We'll see tonight. Vegas has Oklahoma State as the 2.5 point favorite.

Humanitarian Bowl Preview

Tues. Dec. 30, at Boise, ID
4:30 p.m. Eastern, 3:30 p.m. Central, 1:30 p.m. Pacific
ESPN

It's the blue turf bowl! Boise State's home field has blue astroturf. It is truly horrible, but a bowl is being played there so let's see what the experts say about it. Colin Kaepernick is the Wolf Pack's sophomore quarterback stud who has passed for 35 touchdowns this year. Da'rel Scott, Maryland's tailback should be featured on offense along with wide receiver Darius Heyward-Bey. Both teams are 7-5 and have been rewarded with the honor of playing in the coldest bowl. On a side note every player at the bowl gets a Sony camcorder, winter jacket, gloves, hoodie sweatshirt, skullcap, and a baseball cap. And you thought they played for college pride. Vegas has Nevada as a 2 point favorite.

Missed Kicks - The Alamo Bowl Story

Do you know who this guy is? This is the saddest man in San Antonio right now. He is the place kicker from Northwestern, Amado Villarreal. He missed an extra point kick that would have given Northwestern 24 total points instead of 23. Incredibly, during warm-ups at half time I saw him hit a kick from 54 yards with 5 yards to spare, but accuracy was not his strength and Northwestern suffered the consequences - losing to Missouri in overtime 30-23.

I did not get to see the NCSU - Rutgers game. But saw that Rutgers won a thriller. If you saw it and can post, tell us about it. Otherwise, we'll all have to read about it in our local papers, or watch ESPN highlights. I did not watch the Papajohns.com Bowl because I took my boys, my nephew, and my dad to the Alamo Bowl to watch what turned out to be an awesome game.

Here are my nephew Sean, Matthew and Joseph outside the Alamodome before the game. We were really excited to go. I have lived in San Antonio for 15 years, but had never been to the Alamo Bowl, usually because we are out of town or too cash strapped from Christmas. Patricia, though, got free tickets at work for us and we boys decided to go.




I took this picture for Margaret. It's the Northwestern band getting ready to march into the stadium before the game. I really felt old walking past them because they all looked to be about twelve. But it was fun to hear them play their fight song and see them march through the crowd. I told the boys that college was the best time of your life and feel free to take as much time as you needed to graduate. I also told them to try and date as many members of the drill team as possible. Joseph said, "But what if you find the one?" I answered, "Try not to do that."

We're very patriotic - well we like to think we are at least - here in TEXAS. But, this shows you how good your seats are when they are free. We were in the third deck in the end zone above the Missouri drill team and band and cheerleaders (College!). Opposite us was the Northwestern section. Both sets of fans were great and it was a party atmosphere the whole night. The only problem was with an Aggie (Texas A&M) fan behind us who got so loud and drunk that a team of San Antonio's finest escorted him out. I tried to give him your card Tim, but he was too drunk to grab it - or too uncoordinated, after all he was an Aggie.

How do you get a kid who hates football and sports in general to go to a game with you? Buy him lots of junk food and sweets, that's how. Here is the ice cream bar coated in chocolate and sprinkles for the first half, and below is the cotton candy for the second half. Towards the end of the game, believe it or not, Joe started to enjoy himself. He especially liked it when he figured out he had picked Missouri in the pool and his older brother had picked Northwestern.
This picture was supposed to be of the winning Missouri field goal on the last play of regulation. But the Missouri kicker - a 95% career accuracy kicker - missed it and I thought I was looking at a 1-4 record in the pool. But, instead, I got to watch a college overtime live and in person for the first time in my life and Missouri won because of this guy:This is Jeremy Maclin and he was the best player on the field tonight. He saved Missouri with a beautiful punt return for a touchdown in the second quarter to tie the game and kill all of Northwestern's momentum and he scored the winning touchdown in overtime. They say he may go pro, and that's fine with me since we (Texas) have to play Missouri at Columbia next year.

Well folks, I think you can see that I love bowl games. I find it foolish for people to want a football playoff. The bowls are great. They give a bunch of people an excuse for a little holiday cheer, beer, and empty calories. They also let 50% of teams end the year with a win. And I'm all about spreading as much cheer as possible after eight years of George Bush. I hope you guys have enjoyed this post. Here are the standings to date:


Kate 4-1
Crow 3-2
Kathy 3-2
Joseph 3-2
Analicia 3-2
Matthew 2-3
Will 2-3
RC 2-3
Tim 2-3
Chris Ross 2-3
Monique 2-3
Patricia 1-4
Kirsten 1-4
Margaret 1-4

No time to write much, but...

I'm sorry Margaret. Northwestern lost. I will share pictures if I can figure out how to access them from my phone tomorrow. In the mean time, Mighty Kate has taken the lead by herself. She is on an impressive four game win streak and is 4 and 1. More, much more, tomorrow a.m.

Who has what

Papajohns.com Bowl

Those picking Rutgers: Kathy, RC, Crow, Kate, Analicia
Those picking NCSU: Will, Patricia, Matthew, Joseph, Chris Ross, Margaret, Tim, Monique, Kirsten


Alamo Bowl

Those picking Missouri: Kate, RC, Kathy, Chris Ross, Patricia, Analicia, Joseph, Will
Those picking Northwestern: Margaret (alum), Tim, Monique, Kirsten, Chris Smith, Matthew

Bonehead Coaching Move of the Night

Goes to a winning coach Tedford of Cal. At halftime, tied 14 to 14 with Miami, after his stud running back had scored two touchdowns in the 1st quarter only to be ignored in the 2nd, Tedford tells an ESPN reporter, "We need to get [Jahvid Best] some more touches." You think coach? After giving away a 14 point lead by putting the game in the hands of your struggling QB Nate Longshore, you only gave the ball to Best 10 times in the first half when he was averaging 10 yards a carry. Well, despite that and the boos of your home crowd, your defense bailed you out in the fourth by recovering a fumble and setting up an easy last score. (However, QB Longshore did throw into triple coverage on the winning TD pass.)

If I sound frustrated, it's because I am after nearly going 0-3 yesterday because of Coach Tedford, I'm still just 1-2. Here are the current standings:

Monique Smith 2-1
Kate Tiller 2-1
Crow 2-1
Tim Smith 2-1
Joseph Baker 2-1
Matthew Baker 2-1
Analicia Baker 1-2
Will Baker 1-2
Chris Ross 1-2
Margaret Key 1-2
Kathy Smith 1-2
Kirsten Smith 1-2
Patricia Baker 0-3
RC Smith 0-3

Alamo Bowl Preview

Mon. Dec. 29 at San Antonio, TX
8 p.m. Eastern, 7 p.m. Central, 5 p.m. Pacific
ESPN

Did you know that Margaret is a Northwestern alum? Did you know, Margaret, that I will be going to this game? Patricia got free tickets through her office so the boys and I will be in the nosebleeds watching the mighty Wildcats face the Missouri Tigers. Look for us on ESPN!!! Unfortunately, Margaret, I picked the Tigers, but I will root for Northwestern since you are family.

Margaret's Wildcats will have to stop Chase Daniels and his spread offense which had Missouri ranked as high as number 3 in some polls this year. They have dropped their last two games though, to Kansas and Oklahoma. Can the Wildcats (9-3) stop the Tigers (9-4)? We'll see if their platoon quarterback approach can match the offensive output of Missouri. This should be a shootout.