2012 College Football Bowl Season!

Ah yes, it is that time of the year again.  Christmas?  meh.  New Years?  Well there's one good reason for that day.  Mainly there are really good bowl games on that day.  But we have a lot to cover before then as well.

Yes, that time of the year where ESPN tells us the reason to watch all these games (except the Sun Bowl and Cotton Bowl since they are on "lesser" stations) but to remember that the SEC is superior in every way in college football.

The realignment scene won't go away during this time of the year though.  The seven basketball-only schools of the Big East are bailing and possibly taking the name with them.  It leaves us with a big gaping hole on the future for a bunch of schools.  But we can ignore it for now, its game time.

Given the situation the BCS title game is the right matchup.  With Ohio State ineligible that puts them out.  The other one loss teams are Kansas State (5 loss Baylor), Alabama (2 loss Texas A&M), Florida (2 loss Georgia), and Oregon (2 loss Stanford).  Kansas State is out for losing to a five-loss team.  Of the rest only Alabama won their conference.  Oregon and Florida didn't even win their divisions.

I'm still laughing at Ohio State though.  The school could have easily skipped the bowl game last year for their 6-6 squad but chose not to.

Anyway, on to the picks!

-Gildan New Mexico Bowl; Nevada vs Arizona: Nevada had one big win, the opener over Cal.  Arizona had two big wins against USC and Oklahoma State.  That's enough for me, Arizona by 7.
-Famous Idaho Potato Bowl; Toledo vs Utah State: Toledo had a nice big win against Cincinnati, Utah State had a big win against Utah and Louisiana Tech.  Flip a coin here and... Utah State wins by 3.
-San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl; BYU vs San Diego State: One common opponent, SDSU beat Boise State in a low scoring game while BYU lost to Boise State in a low scoring game.  SDSU by 7.
-Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl St. Petersburg; Ball State vs UCF: Both teams had good years, the MAC was better than Conference USA though.  Ball State by 10.
-R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl; East Carolina vs Louisiana-Lafayette: East Carolina celebrates an invite to the defunct Big East by losing to the home-state team.  LA-Lafayette by 4.
-Maaco Bowl Las Vegas; Washington vs Boise State: In what might be described as an off year by Boise State standards (2 losses, wtf?), Washington has played horribly on the road this year and Vegas is a long way from Seattle.  Boise State by 10.
-Sheraton Hawaii Bowl; Fresno State vs SMU: SMU barely makes it in, Fresno is a much better program this year.  Fresno by 10.
-Little Caesars Bowl; Western Kentucky vs Central Michigan: Once again, MAC > Sun Belt, so Central Michigan by 7.
-Military Bowl Presented by Northrop Grummand; San Jose State vs Bowling Green: Say goodbye to the WAC, Bowling Green by 10.
-Belk Bowl; Cincinnati vs Duke: Congratulations to Duke for finally getting to a bowl game for the first time since 1994.  Charlotte welcomes you!  Unfortunately this isn't basketball so against a good team not UNC you don't have a chance.  Cincinnati by 14.
-Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl; Baylor vs UCLA: Baylor is currently the Perpetual National Champion, but UCLA will be shortly.  UCLA by 10.
-Advocare V100 Independence Bowl; Ohio vs Lousiana-Monroe: In what may be the lowest bowl game on the scale, Ohio will revert to the form they had in the early season and win.  Ohio by 10.
-Russell Athletic Bowl; Rutgers vs Virginia Tech: Virginia Tech is bad this year, very bad.  Six losses?  Try seven.  Rutgers by 4.
-Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas; Minnesota vs Texas Tech: These two teams met once before, in the Insight Bowl six years ago.  Minnesota had a huge lead only to watch Texas Tech come back and win it.  This time there is no Mike Leach present, so the opposite will be true.  Minnesota by 4.
-Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl; Rice vs Air Force: One team will leave with seven losses on the year.  Given what I've seen of Conference USA this year, it'll be Rice.  Air Force by 4.
-New Era Pinstripe Bowl; West Virginia vs Syracuse: Two teams that determined the fate of the Big East by leaving it meet here.  These two teams Do Not Like Each Other so this should be fun to watch.  If West Virginia can find any form of a defense the Mountaineers will win.  WVU by 10.
-Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl; Navy vs Arizona State: Navy started the year off poorly but came back to win a lot of games.  Arizona State did the opposite.  This game will not end that way though.  Arizona State by 14.
-Valero Alamo Bowl; Texas vs Oregon State: Oregon State didn't quite finish how they wanted to, neither did Texas.  This could be one of the better matchups this bowl season between two heavyweights.  Texas will pull away at the end though.  Texas by 4.
-Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl; TCU vs Michigan State: Michigan State has been a bust this year while TCU struggled a bit in the Big 12 but managed to pull off some wins late.  TCU wins here by 6.
-Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl; NC State vs Vanderbilt: NC State was maddingly inconsistent all year and that led to a head coaching change.  Vanderbilt comes in riding high on a six game winning streak.  The Commodores are a tough bunch and NCSU won't know how to play that.  Vandy by 17.
-Hyundai Sun Bowl; USC vs Georgia Tech: Who needs defense?  Both teams struggled mightily on defense this year, but both have high-powered offenses capable of scoring on anyone.  USC should win this game though, in my opinion by a lot.  USC by 20.
-Autozone Liberty Bowl; Iowa State vs Tulsa: Conference USA had a crappy year, but Tulsa did win it and won it well.  That being said, the three losses by Tulsa?  SMU, Arkansas and oh... Iowa State.  Rematches don't usually go well, Tulsa better remember how the season opened.  Tulsa by 3.
-Chick-fil-a Bowl; LSU vs Clemson: Clemson's high powered offense returns to the Georgia Dome to take on a tough-as-nails defense in LSU.  My prediction on this game comes to one of their two common opponents: South Carolina.  The Gamecocks played both on the road, lost to LSU in a game that could have gone either way, but beat up Clemson with the backup QB and RB in.  See where this is going?  LSU by 10.
-Taxslayer.com Gator Bowl; Mississippi State vs Northwestern: Two seasons ago Mississippi State came to Jacksonville and blew out Michigan.  Northwestern hasn't won a bowl game in decades now.  The trends continue.  Mississippi State by 5.
-Heart of Dallas Bowl; Purdue vs Oklahoma State: With a coaching change, a mediocre Purdue team won't have enough preparation for Oklahoma State.  Oklahoma State by 10.
-Outback Bowl; South Carolina vs Michigan: Both schools had good years but had bigger aspirations.  Both want a good jump on the next season.  South Carolina is the better team here, look for a big win by the GameCocks.  SC by 14.
-Capital One Bowl; Georgia vs Nebraska: If the same Nebraska team that showed up against Wisconsin arrives here, this will be over quickly.  I don't think it will be that bad, but it won't be that good for Nebraska either.  UGA by 10.
-Rose Bowl Game Presented by Vizio; Wisconsin vs Stanford: Stanford will be fired up for this.  They have to be.  First Rose Bowl since the 1999 Season.  Wisconsin is making the trip for the third straight year.  Barry Alvarez returns to lead the Badgers for this game as well.  The last time he coached here? January 1, 2000 against Stanford.  Alvarez never lost a game here, and will continue the trend.  Wisconsin by 8.
-Discover Orange Bowl; Northern Illinois vs Florida State: I don't care what Kirk Herbstreit says.  Northern Illinois earned this game.  Florida State gets an easy draw here, but lets face it, the ACC in BCS games is usually the easy victory for the opposing team.  Northern Illinois pulls the upset and wins by 3.
-Allstate Sugar Bowl; Lousiville vs Florida: Depending on how things go this year, this may be the last Big East team in the BCS.  Florida had a great year but that loss to Georgia threw off all title plans.  The Sugar Bowl isn't a bad consolation prize though.  Charlie Strong of Louisville returns to play the team he was a defensive co-ordinator for in New Orleans.  Florida wins by 14.
-Tostitos Fiesta Bowl; Oregon vs Kansas State: Kansas State was one of the few teams to play defense in the Big 12 this year, and it was enough to win the conference.  Oregon got stonewalled by the one good defense they played all year.  Kansas State wins by 4.
-AT&T Cotton Bowl; Texas A&M vs Oklahoma: I thought two Big 12 schools couldn't play each other in a bowl game.  Oh wait... that's right, A&M left.  It's still strange to me.  Oklahoma will have a plan for the Heisman winner Manziel.  Oklahoma by 6.
-BBVA compass Bowl; Pittsburgh vs Ole Miss: For the third straight year Pitt travels to Birmingham.  This will be the first time of those three trips that their head coach makes it with them.  Ole Miss had a nice year under first year coach Hugh Freeze.  Pitt had a tough start but pulled it out with first year coach Paul Chryst.  Ole Miss wins here by 9.
-Godaddy.com Bowl; Kent State vs Arkansas State: The biggest difference between these two schools is that Arkansas State actually won their conference, Kent State lost the MAC Championship game.  Despite that, the MAC was a better conference this year, Kent State wins by 3.
-Discover BCS National Championship; Notre Dame vs Alabama: Oh right, SEC team in the title game, easy pickings, right?  A repeat national title for Bama?  Not so fast my friend.  Notre Dame is one damn fine team and can win this game.  Will it happen?  Well okay, no, but this should be a fun game to watch.  Alabama will pull away with a touchdown late and win by 10.