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Bowl games, with their automatic tie-ins and their interconference pairings can lead to a couple different scenarios: usually great games everyone looks forward to (either for bragging rights, contrasting styles, or many other reasons) or complete duds that many players and their families are not excited about. Toss in the ramifications for conference strength arguments, recruiting, momentum into the next year, and the free stuff a lot of the players get, and bowl season is really kind of cool. Plus, it gave me something to do when I used to go home from college for the holidays and my parents were asleep by 8 pm. This season, I am taking a trip to New Zealand for two weeks, and will miss all but 6 bowls: the first 5 and the BCS Championship Game. So in figuring out my DVR schedule, I figured I’d rank the top 10 bowls I’m excited about, and periodically release more detailed previews and predictions throughout the bowl season…
I started off looking for a top 10, and considered 12 bowls for these rankings. I cut out the last two, the Outback and the Orange, because I hate bowls that start with the letter ‘O’. Actually, it’s because I am interested in watching neither Cincinnati nor Virginia Tech, and as much as I am curious about the outcome of South Carolina and Iowa, I could not put this bowl ahead of the others- they will be much more interesting. Here is my top 10.
1. BCS Championship Game: Florida v Oklahoma. Duh.
2. Fiesta Bowl. Texas v Ohio State. As much as I like to bash Ohio State, I did state, preseason, I thought this was probably their best team of the last 3 years. And I really wanted to drop Texas lower, but this one wins on sheer name value. Plus they are both good teams that could make a good game, but I think this is a very clear drop off from the #1 game. If I were doing tiers, this would be the beginning of tier 2.
3. Rose Bowl: USC v Penn State. I have a lot of the same comments as above. Yeah, they are both top 10 teams. But neither deserved a shot at the national title. I’m a little wary of the blowout factor. The Big Ten sucks.
4. Sugar Bowl: Alabama v Utah. Also a little worried about the blowout factor, but I want to see how Saban’s team responds from missing out on the title game. Also, if the Tide show up and Utah give them a good game anyways, it provides some more legitimacy to the Mountain West.
5. Cotton Bowl: Ole Miss v Texas Tech. Should be interesting to see if either head coach has taken a better job by the time this one starts (Houston Nutt was one of the first candidates I heard for the Auburn job, Leach is mentioned for every opening). I like the contrasting styles, as well. This one is right in my backyard, too… but I’ll be like 7500 miles away.
6. Holiday Bowl: Oregon and Oklahoma State. I love Oregon’s offense (I’ve been saying all year Chip Kelly is the best OC in the NCAA), and Oklahoma State has put up some great numbers as well. First one to 80 wins?
7. Poinsettia Bowl: Boise State v TCU. I may actually get to see part of this one from LAX on a layover. I would rank it higher, but I was a little gun shy… only having two losses between the two teams is very strong, though. I like the matchup, but probably would have preferred giving each team a shot at a BCS conference school, to find out more about this ‘closing gap’ with the top-level non-BCS schools.
8. Emerald Bowl: Miami (FL) v. California. Not sure why, but this one actually has me pretty interested. I think this game could have a major impact on next year’s preseason rankings. Randy Shannon getting the extra time to practice with his young talent (and to whine to the media about Urban Meyer) is also a very big storyline.
9. Capital One Bowl: Georgia v Michigan State. I’m actually sort of surprised more teams aren’t looking at hiring Mark Dantonio. So in case someone comes to their senses before Jan. 1, there’s a storyline. The bigger deal is how Stafford and Moreno close the season against a solid defensive team, and how that will effect their decisions to go pro. I also want to see how good Javon Ringer really is.
10. Chick-Fil-A Bowl: LSU v Georgia Tech. I don’t think anyone thought LSU’s defense would be as bad as it has been, or that Georgia Tech would so quickly adapt to such a drastically different system (are you paying attention, Rich Rodriguez?). So maybe it’s the ‘staring at a car wreck’ thing, but I want to know if LSU can handle Paul Johnson’s option attack. If they man up, it says a lot about where this team is headed. If they get blown out, Les Miles may be on the ‘hot seat’ entering next year- and he is still the ‘defending National Champion’!
Feel free to comment here at GatorEnvy, or where the original article was posted.
I started off looking for a top 10, and considered 12 bowls for these rankings. I cut out the last two, the Outback and the Orange, because I hate bowls that start with the letter ‘O’. Actually, it’s because I am interested in watching neither Cincinnati nor Virginia Tech, and as much as I am curious about the outcome of South Carolina and Iowa, I could not put this bowl ahead of the others- they will be much more interesting. Here is my top 10.
1. BCS Championship Game: Florida v Oklahoma. Duh.
2. Fiesta Bowl. Texas v Ohio State. As much as I like to bash Ohio State, I did state, preseason, I thought this was probably their best team of the last 3 years. And I really wanted to drop Texas lower, but this one wins on sheer name value. Plus they are both good teams that could make a good game, but I think this is a very clear drop off from the #1 game. If I were doing tiers, this would be the beginning of tier 2.
3. Rose Bowl: USC v Penn State. I have a lot of the same comments as above. Yeah, they are both top 10 teams. But neither deserved a shot at the national title. I’m a little wary of the blowout factor. The Big Ten sucks.
4. Sugar Bowl: Alabama v Utah. Also a little worried about the blowout factor, but I want to see how Saban’s team responds from missing out on the title game. Also, if the Tide show up and Utah give them a good game anyways, it provides some more legitimacy to the Mountain West.
5. Cotton Bowl: Ole Miss v Texas Tech. Should be interesting to see if either head coach has taken a better job by the time this one starts (Houston Nutt was one of the first candidates I heard for the Auburn job, Leach is mentioned for every opening). I like the contrasting styles, as well. This one is right in my backyard, too… but I’ll be like 7500 miles away.
6. Holiday Bowl: Oregon and Oklahoma State. I love Oregon’s offense (I’ve been saying all year Chip Kelly is the best OC in the NCAA), and Oklahoma State has put up some great numbers as well. First one to 80 wins?
7. Poinsettia Bowl: Boise State v TCU. I may actually get to see part of this one from LAX on a layover. I would rank it higher, but I was a little gun shy… only having two losses between the two teams is very strong, though. I like the matchup, but probably would have preferred giving each team a shot at a BCS conference school, to find out more about this ‘closing gap’ with the top-level non-BCS schools.
8. Emerald Bowl: Miami (FL) v. California. Not sure why, but this one actually has me pretty interested. I think this game could have a major impact on next year’s preseason rankings. Randy Shannon getting the extra time to practice with his young talent (and to whine to the media about Urban Meyer) is also a very big storyline.
9. Capital One Bowl: Georgia v Michigan State. I’m actually sort of surprised more teams aren’t looking at hiring Mark Dantonio. So in case someone comes to their senses before Jan. 1, there’s a storyline. The bigger deal is how Stafford and Moreno close the season against a solid defensive team, and how that will effect their decisions to go pro. I also want to see how good Javon Ringer really is.
10. Chick-Fil-A Bowl: LSU v Georgia Tech. I don’t think anyone thought LSU’s defense would be as bad as it has been, or that Georgia Tech would so quickly adapt to such a drastically different system (are you paying attention, Rich Rodriguez?). So maybe it’s the ‘staring at a car wreck’ thing, but I want to know if LSU can handle Paul Johnson’s option attack. If they man up, it says a lot about where this team is headed. If they get blown out, Les Miles may be on the ‘hot seat’ entering next year- and he is still the ‘defending National Champion’!
Feel free to comment here at GatorEnvy, or where the original article was posted.
