Bowl Games: Part II, Electric Bugaloo

Friday

  • Central Michigan vs. Florida Atlanta (@Detroit, MI; 8:00 PM, ESPN): Totally not late. At any rate, my prediction hasn’t changed Central Michigan should pull away in the 2nd half.

Saturday

  • North Carolina vs. West Virginia (@Charlotte, NC; 1:00 PM, ESPN): ACC Bowl Day kicks off with UNC vs. WVU. UNC’s a decent team but any level of competent coaching should allow WVU’s athletic talent on offense to flourish.
  • Florida State vs. Wisconsin (@Orlando, FL; 4:30 PM, ESPN): FSU has also been a decent team this year, but Wisconsin is here pretty much for a perception of traveling well. If FSU shows up, they’ll win a close one. If the offense also makes it, they’ll pull away.
  • Miami (FL) vs. California (@San Francisco, CA; 8:00 PM, ESPN): The final game of the day. Miami ended the season very badly, and they will be in a pro-Cal environment and it will be cold, especially compared to south Florida. I have Cal here.

Sunday

  • Northern Illinois vs. Louisiana Tech (@Shreveport, LA; 8:00 PM, ESPN): Why is LaTech in the WAC? I really have no idea. If anyone knows let me know. Anyway, in what is probably one of the least interesting games of the bowl season I pretty much just picked Louisiana Tech because, hey, it’s close to home.

Monday

  • Rutgers vs. North Carolina State (@Birmingham, AL; 3:00 PM, ESPN): NCSU started the season horribly but finished hot to just barely become the 10th bowl eligible ACC team. Rutgers also had a bad start but recovered sooner, and at any rate I have Rutgers winning comfortably, though I don’t remember why. So there you go.
  • Missouri vs. Northwestern (@San Antonio, TX; 8:00 PM, ESPN): Northwestern goes to their best bowl in quite awhile, but also plays a pretty good Mizzou team. Chase Daniel and company should win easily.

Tuesday

  • Nevada vs. Maryland (@Boise, ID; 4:30 PM, ESPN): The Blue Turf Bowl is renewed for the last time with a WAC vs. ACC matchup, and has often been the case I think the WAC will prevail here. Nevada is underrated in my opinion and there is no way to know which Maryland team will show up.
  • Oregon vs. Oklahoma State (@San Diego, CA; 8:00 PM, ESPN): Oregon’s struggled this year at times, but rallied late and beat arch-rival Oregon State. Oklahoma State, meanwhile, has only 3 losses, all to teams you’ve probably heard of. This is the first test of Big 12 superiority this year, and I think they’ll pass.
  • Western Michigan vs. Rice (@Houston, TX; 8:00 PM, NFL): Which number will be greater, the number of people at the game or the number of people able to watch it on the NFL Network? Anyway, I picked Rice to run away with it.

I’ll do separate posts for the 31st and 1st. Hope you’re enjoying the holidays and this bounty of bowl games!