Okay, so I failed pretty miserably at getting this post-mortem up “later this week”, unless by that I meant “June 10th”. But it’s cool, ’cause it’s not like there’s anything else going on college football right now.

The final tally is in the usual place. This year was fairly mediocre once again, in that I equaled my percentage from last year (50%) by going 18-18. That was mostly due in part to a flawless New Year’s Day.

Most bowl game dates and times for 2011-2012 are set now, so I’ll try to have that up around September or so. All the games from this year returning, but there are (thankfully) no new ones. If you find a schedule online, don’t fret about January 2nd – that happens every time January 1st falls on a Sunday. Of course, this particular year for that to be a worry there has to be a NFL season first. So we’ll see.

First, let me apologize for missing Friday’s Division I Football Championship Game. Congrats to Eastern Washington.

As for my other bowl predictions, well, after going 6-0 on New Year’s Day, well, I’ve gotten a lot worse off. I’m doomed to finish around .500 again, it seems.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Monday, January 10
8:30: Auburn vs. Oregon (BCS Championship Game @ Glendale, AZ; ESPN): This was the hardest single game for me to pick. Usually, that title goes to games like the godaddy.com Bowl, which feature teams from conferences that I frankly don’t see a lot of. But in this case this was because these teams are really a lot alike.
Both have a scorched Earth offense that tends to leave opponents in its dust. Oregon is #1 in total offense, while Auburn is #7, while Auburn is #4 in scoring offense (the Ducks are #1 in that category as well). Both these teams primarily run the ball, as they’re 4th and 5th in the country in rushing (Oregon and Auburn, that is) but merely 49th and 67th in passing.
You already know Auburn’s offense. It starts and ends with Cam Newton. Comparing with Oregon’s primary two offensive weapons, Newton outpassed Devon Thomas and only had 200 yards less rushing than LaMicheal James. There’s a reason why he was a shoe-in for the Heisman, folks.
So what about defense? Ah, that’s where I think the difference will be made. Auburn ranks 54th in the country in scoring and total defense, while Oregon is 12th and 25th, respectively. 54th isn’t terrible, but it isn’t great, either. Auburn’s faced only one other top-10 offense this year, and that was Arkansas. The final score of that game was 65-43, a testament to not only both teams’ lack of a defense but also Auburn’s resiliency. Arkansas led 43-37 at the start of the 4th quarter but Auburn rallied back and without Ryan Mallett Arkansas wasn’t able to respond, as Auburn went on to score 4 unanswered touchdowns. Auburn had many moments like this throughout the year, but at a certain point the offense (by which I mostly mean Newton) was able to respond.
Oregon, meanwhile, had only to only really sweat it out a few times this year. They were down early to Stanford, but rallied and defeated the Cardinal 52-31. Then there was the game in Berkeley, where Cal had the Ducks well and truly on the ropes. They won only 15-13, which is the only time they’ve been held under 30 all season.
So where am I going with all that? Well, for starters, I’m starting to think 38-34 may not be enough points for this game. But that said, I’m picking a narrow Oregon victory here. I think the Ducks’s somewhat more well-rounded offense (I say “somewhat” because I recognize it’s basically two guys to Auburn’s one) can overwhelm Auburn’s average defense. Auburn may be able to respond on offense, but I think Oregon can make enough stops to win.
(On a side note, it’s remarkable how young these teams are. The heart of Oregon’s offense are sophomores. While Newton is junior this his first full year starting, and the guy Auburn fans will point out that I didn’t mention at all – Micheal Dyer – is a freshman and almost had a 1000 yards rushing.)
Previous meetings: This is the first meeting between these two teams.
Last bowl game: Auburn, as you may recall, won last year’s thriller of an Outback Bowl, 38-35 over Northwestern. Oregon got blindsided by last year’s version of the Jim Tressel bowl game offense, losing 26-17 to Ohio State in the Rose Bowl.

However it ends up, 2010 has been a fun year in the world of college football, as usual (even if it wasn’t all that great for me, personally). Hopefully I can get around to wrapping things up later this week.

My disaster of a picking season continues as we cover the last six games before the championship.

Fun fact for this set of games: only the Cotton Bowl features two teams that have previously met. Increasing college football’s connectivity is always fun, and is probably the most interesting part of bowl season for me.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Monday, January 3
8:30: Virginia Tech vs. Stanford (Orange Bowl @ Miami, FL; ESPN): This is one of the games I struggled the most with, hence the 3 point VPI margin. Sure, Stanford could just up and blow these guys off the field. They even might! But part of VPI’s rise from the ashes after the first two games of the season has been their defense and special teams, which in a way is what you would expect. Well, and that Tyrod Taylor guy helps too. He may’ve progressed the most out of any ACC quarterback this year.
Previous meetings: This is the first meeting between these two teams.
Last bowl game: Stanford lost last year’s Sun Bowl to Oklahoma, 31-27. That was their first bowl game since 2001. VPI walloped Tennessee in last year’s Chick-fil-a Bowl 37-14 and has been in a bowl every year since 1993.

Tuesday, January 4
8:30: Arkansas vs. Ohio State (Sugar Bowl @ New Orleans, LA; ESPN): Ohio State is also kind of overrated, in my opinion. They missed the other good Big Ten teams outside of Wisconsin, whom they lost pretty thoroughly too. Arkansas can throw the ball around and over OSU’s secondary and should net a solid win.
Previous meetings: This is the first meeting between these two teams.
Last bowl game: Arkansas beat ECU 20-17 in last year’s Liberty Bowl. OSU meanwhile as appeared in a bowl every year since 2000, including the multiple national title games. They won last year’s Rose Bowl 26-17 over Oregon.

Thursday, January 6
8:00: Middle Tennessee State vs. Miami (GoDaddy.com Bowl @ Mobile, AL; ESPN): Why is this game being played now? Hell, why are any of these games being played this late? Who knows! Anyway, provided Miami (of Ohio) isn’t too broken up about losing their coach I think they should be able to beat a MTSU team that just hasn’t rediscovered the spark that made them look like Sun Belt contenders last year.
Previous meetings: This is the first meeting between these two teams.
Last bowl game: Miami recovered from last year’s 1-11 disaster and is in the first bowl since the 2004 Independence Bowl, which they lost 17-13 to Iowa State. This is MTSU’s 3rd bowl ever, and they (by which I mean Dwight Dasher” beat Southern Miss 42-32 in last year’s New Orleans Bowl.

Friday, January 7
8:00: Texas Agricultural and Mechanical vs. Louisiana State (Cotton Bowl @ Arlington, TX; FOX): Mostly going with TAMU here because of their crazy new offense and because of the way LSU lost a big game to Arkansas at the end of the year. But it’s been a month and a half since then, perhaps they’ve gotten over it? Or maybe, like their coach, they’re too crazy to care?
Previous meetings: It might come as a surprise, but these two have met 48 times, including a series between 1986 and 1995. Their first meeting was in 1906, which TAMU won 22-12. TAMU also won the 1995 game 33-17, but LSU holds an all-time 26-19-3 lead in the series.
Last bowl game: LSU’s been to a bowl every year since 2000 and lost last year’s Capital One Bowl 19-17 to Penn State. TAMU has an on-again, off-again thing with bowl games but they’ve got a streak again, since they lost to UGA in last year’s Independence Bowl, 44-20.

Saturday, January 8
Noon: Kentucky vs. Pittsburgh (BBVA Compass Bowl @ Bimingham, AL; ESPN): I have no idea why I picked Pitt. I wish I could change it. Anyway, the only plausible reason is that UK is extremely mediocre and maybe Pitt will rally around the ‘stache one last time, provided he’s coaching this game. (Because, well, their new coach probably isn’t. If he’s still the new coach then.)
Previous meetings: This is the first meeting between these two teams.
Last bowl game: Kentucky are the kings of the low-tier SEC bowls, having been to 4 straight, including 3 Music City Bowls and one Liberty Bowl. They lost last year’s Music City Bowl to Clemson 21-13. Pitt won last year’s Car Care Bowl 19-17 over UNC.

Sunday, January 9
9:00: Boston College vs. Nevada (Fight Hunger Bowl @ San Francisco, CA; ESPN): Boston College’s primary problem ally has been their inability to score points. I don’t think that’s going to change here. Nevada should cap off a almost very great season with a win here.
Previous meetings: This is the first meeting between these two teams.
Last bowl game: BC has been to a bowl every year since 1999, but since joining the ACC they’ve had to worry greatly about their destination. They lost last year’s Emerald Bowl (i.e., the old name of this game) to USC (yes, that USC) 24-13. Nevada’s been to a bowl every year since 2005, which is not a bad streak at all. They got blown out in last year’s Hawaii Bowl by SMU, 45-10.

Well, that’s it until the national title game. Until then…

Well, it’s all going downhill now. The predictions are still here. Let’s get this over with.

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Saturday, January 1
Noon: Texas Tech vs. Northwestern (TicketCity Bowl @ Dallas, TX; ESPNU): This is definitely one of those occasions where I look back at the predictions I made and wonder what, if anything, I was thinking. Okay, well, neither of these teams are exactly world beaters. But I have TTU by 13 here and by golly I guess I’ll stick to it.
Previous meetings: This is the first meeting between these two teams.
Last bowl game: TTU beat Michigan State 44-31 in last year’s Alamo Bowl. For the first time in their history, Northwestern has made three bowl games in a row. They were last seen in last year’s Outback Bowl, a thrilling 38-35 loss to Auburn.

1:00:

• Florida vs. Pennsylvania State (Outback Bowl @ Tampa, FL; ABC): I’ll spare you the usual platitudes about Urban Meyer and Joe Paterno. I expect this to be a pretty tight game, as both teams have unstable QB situations and neither has done much to impress on offense. I like UF in a close one.
  Previous meetings: Just two: the 1962 Gator Bowl and the 1997 Citrus bowl. Florida won both games.
  Last bowl game: Florida pounded Cincy 51-24 in last year’s Sugar Bowl, and this year is their 20th consecutive bowl (good for second longest in the country). Penn State beat LSU 19-17 in last year’s Capital One Bowl.
• Alabama vs. Michigan State (Capital One Bowl @ Orlando, FL; ESPN): Nick Saban made a name for himself back at MSU. I’ve maintained all year that this year’s Alabama team is not last year’s Alabama team, and they finally got around to proving me right. That said, I think they’re still good enough to be a slightly overrated Michigan State.
  Previous meetings: This is the first meeting between these two teams.
  Last bowl game: Alabama played in last year’s national championship game, which they won over Texas, 37-21. Sparty appeared in last year’s Alamo Bowl, where they lost 41-31 to Texas Tech.

1:30: Mississippi State vs. Michigan (Gator Bowl @ Jacksonville, FL: ESPN2): Dan Mullen has the Bulldogs going in the right direction. Not that I think Michigan is going in the wrong direction, and I can’t really understand why RichRob is under such intense heat. (General twitter consensus seems to be that he’s out.) I don’t really think this game will help his cause, as I don’t think the Wolverine defense will be able to make the couple of stops they need against MSU’s explosive offense.
Previous meetings: This is the first meeting between these two teams.
Last bowl game: Miss State was last seen in the 2007 Liberty Bowl, in which they beat Central Florida 10-3. Michigan, which had gone to a bowl every year from 1975 to 2007, is back in the fold. They won that 2007 Capital One Bowl 41-35 over Florida.

5:10: Wisconsin vs. Texas Christian (Rose Bowl @ Pasadena, CA; ESPN): I’ve had an extremely hard time reading this game. Wisconsin has run over a lot of teams, but those were teams like Indiana and Purdue. TCU has one of, if not the, top defenses in the country and a decent offense to go with it. I’m predicting TCU here, but I don’t feel great about it.
Previous meetings: Precisely one, in 1970. They tied 14-14 in Madison.
Last bowl game: TCU lost year’s Fiesta Bowl, 17-10, to Boise State. Meanwhile, I’m sure Wisconsin is just glad to be somewhere other than Orlando, the site of their last two bowl games. They won last year’s Champs Sports Bowl over Miami 20-14.

8:30: Oklahoma vs. Connecticut (Fiesta Bowl @ Glendale, AZ; ESPN): Well, most of the other games I’ve felt really good about have been absolute busts so far this year. But this is easily the biggest on-paper blowout of the bowl season. If UConn wins it may be the upset of the year. It may even be a minor victory if they can even keep it within a couple of scores.
Previous meetings: This is the first meeting between these two teams.
Last bowl game: OU beat Stanford 31-27 in last year’s Sun Bowl, helping us erase the memory of the awful 2008 edition. UConn meanwhile makes their third straight bowl, and they beat South Carolina last year in the papajohns.com Bowl, 20-7.

The last couple of days have had some real blowouts, haven’t they?

I haven’t been doing so well myself, either. After a blazing 5-2 start, I’ve gone 2-5 in the last seven games to drop me to an even 7-7. Let’s hope things improve.

As usual, all times Eastern and predictions wrong.

Thursday, December 30
Noon: Army vs. Southern Methodist (Armed Forces Bowl @ Dallas, TX; ESPN): Perhaps this isn’t a terribly great place to start, but you go to the couch with the bowl games you’ve got… or something like that. Army’s stats against teams that are worth a darn are pretty abysmal. Now, I’m not sure if SMU is worth a darn, but I’m reluctantly going to take the Ponies here.
Previous meetings: These teams have met exactly twice. The first meeting was in 1928, which Army won 14-13. The second was in 1967, which Army also won, 24-6.
Last bowl game: Army breaks a pretty long bowl drought, which dated back to the 1996 Independence Bowl. They lost to Auburn 32-29. SMU broke their own bowl-less streak last year, beating Nevada 45-10 in the Hawaii Bowl.

3:20: Kansas State vs. Syracuse (Pinstripe Bowl @ New York, NY; ESPN): There may not be snow on the ground in the House Steinbrenner Built, but it’ll still be cold, with a projected high of 40 tomorrow in the Bronx. (Of course, at least the field fits (barely) in this particular ballpark.) Syracuse’s 5th ranked defense is somewhat deceiving considering their competition, which is why I like K-State here. This could be low scoring but I don’t think it’ll be low scoring enough for the Orange to win. But hey, at least they probably won’t give up 51 like last time (see below).
Previous meetings: These teams have met twice previously, both in bowl games. The first meeting was the 1997 Fiesta Bowl, which K-State won 35-18. The second was the 2001 Insight Bowl, which KSU lost 26-3.
Last bowl game: Kansas State’s last bowl the 2006 Texas Bowl, where the lost 37-10 to Rutgers. Meanwhile, Syracuse provides one of my favorite cautionary tales, most recently demonstrated by Tennessee in a classic case of “you don’t know what you’ve got ’till it’s gone”. Syracuse got pounded by Georgia Tech 51-14 in the 2004 Champs Sports bowl, and I’ll never forget the in-booth interview with Syracuse’s then new athletic director, who basically fired long time coach Paul Pasqualoni on air. What followed was the Greg “Gerg” Robinson era, which was probably most notable for a Syracuse blogger’s longing for the now-defunct International Bowl than anything else. (Indeed, in the first two years of the post-Gerg era the ‘Cuse has already won more games than they did during his four year tenure.)

6:40: Tennessee vs. North Carolina (Music City Bowl @ Nashville, TN; ESPN): This game happened essentially because of a game that won’t happen next year: Tennessee had a home-and-home with UNC starting next year but backed out to soften the schedule. (They don’t really even deny it, but it’s late so you can Google that yourself.) This was something of a lost season for UNC, but they pulled through and got to a bowl. Tennessee finished strong, but you should finish strong when your last four games are Memphis, Ole Miss, Vandy, and Kentucky. I think the Tarheels are an overall better team and I like them here.
Previous meetings: These teams have played each other 28 times, but they haven’t met since 1961. The first meeting was a 1908 contest the Vols won 12-0, while the last was won by the Tarheels 22-11. Tennessee holds a 20-7-1 overall record in the series.
Last bowl game: Tennessee inexplicably appeared in last year’s Chick-fil-a Bowl, where they were pounded 37-14 by Virginia Tech. UNC appeared in both of the last two Car Care Bowls, and even appeared in the 2004 Continental Tire Bowl (without appearing in a bowl in between), making this their first trip to a different bowl since the 2001 Peach Bowl. Carolina lost last year’s Car Care Bowl 19-17 to Pittsburgh.

10:00: Washington vs. Nebraska (Holiday Bowl @ San Diego, CA; ESPN): Husky Stadium is, generally, considered one of the loudest venues in major college football. Which doesn’t seem to help the eponymous home team much, especially back in September when Nebraska pounded them in Seattle. In certain situations, bowls don’t mind re-matches of oft-met or regular season foes. This isn’t one of them. I’m not big on “moral victories” but it will be one for Washington if they don’t get blown out here. I picked Nebraska to only win by 10 because I’m not sure of Taylor Martinez’s ankle, or after this Big 12 Championship Game, his brain, but we’ll see.
Previous meetings: September 18th of this year was the most recent meeting between these two, where U-Dub got pounded 56-21. They’d met 7 times before this year, in 1925, 1926, 1967, 1991, 1992, 1997, and 1998. Including this year, Nebraska holds a 4-3-1 series lead.
Last bowl game: Nebraska won last year’s Holiday Bowl, beating Arizona 33-0. Meanwhile, Washington is making their first postseason appearance since the 2002 Sun Bowl, which they lost to Purdue 34-24.

Friday, December 31
Noon: Clemson vs. South Florida (Car Care Bowl @ Charlotte, NC; ESPN): I have Clemson by the thinnest of margins here. Which Clemson team you get on a given day is always something of a crapshoot. I expect this game to be pretty low scoring, but provided the Tigers show up they should win.
Previous meetings: This is the first meeting between these two teams.
Last bowl game: Clemson won last year’s Music City Bowl 21-13 over Kentucky, while USF won the last-ever International Bowl over Northern Illinois, 27-3.

2:00: Miami vs. Notre Dame (Sun Bowl @ El Paso, TX; CBS): It’s Catholics vs. Convicts again! Well, kind of, since the one thing that could be said about Randy Shannon was that he did generally keep his guys out of trouble. (I’ll spare you a “speaking of trouble” segue that has to due with the players not being allowed to cross the border into Jaurez.) Motivation will be a factor here, I suspect, but the problem is I’m not sure whom it’ll be in favor of. I’m going with “da ‘U'” for now.
Previous meetings: These two former independent powers first met in 1955, which Miami lost 14-0. The real fun began in 1971, when they played each other every year until 1990, when Miami lost 29-20 in South Bend. ND leads the overall series 15-7-1.
Last bowl game: Miami lost last year’s Champs Sports Bowl to Wisconsin 20-14. Notre Dame didn’t go to a game last year even though they could have, so their last appearance was the 2008 Hawaii Bowl, which blew out the home team 49-21.

3:30: Central Florida vs. Georgia (Liberty Bowl @ Memphis, TN; ESPN): In addition to the uniforms, George O’Leary has done his best to recreate late-90’s Georgia Tech down at Central Florida. (Hopefully the administration is actually keeping the kids eligible this time.) If he could also recreate great victories over UGA that would also be just peachy. I’ve cheekily picked the Knights, who’ve actually been pretty decent this year. Well, at least in C-USA. I’m not terribly comfortable with this, of course, but hey, UGA’s lost 6 games this year and I’m pretty sure they could out-athlete any of those teams, A.J. Green or no, except maybe Auburn.
Previous meetings: Once, in what was presumably a guarantee game in 1999. Georgia won 24-23.
Last bowl game: UGA beat Texas A&M in last year’s Independence Bowl, 44-20. UCF lost last year’s St. Petersburg Bowl 45-24.

7:30: Florida State vs. South Carolina (Chick-fil-a Bowl @ Atlanta, GA; ESPN): It’s the ACC-SEC runner-up show-down! Nonetheless, this should be a pretty decent matchup of two teams that can score and old visor wearin’ ballcoach against his former arch-rival. Also, South Carolina has Marcus Lattimore, who is pretty much the human personification of a freight train. As a freshman, hopefully he’s been able to use the break to recharge a bit. Also, while they may not have been able to stop Cam Newton (hardly something unique to them) South Carolina’s defense has held up well against other opponents. Suffice it to say, I like the Gamecocks here.
Previous meetings: These two have played 18 times, all between 1966 and 1991. FSU won the 1991 contest 38-1 and holds a 15-3 series lead. The Gamecocks haven’t beaten FSU since 1984.
Last bowl game: FSU won last year’s Gator Bowl 33-21 over WVU, and also owns, by far, the longest consecutive bowl streak in the country at 29 years in a row. South Carolina, meanwhile, lost last year’s papajohns.com Bowl to UConn 20-7.