Here we go kids. Are you ready for this? All times central.

• Outback Bowl, Penn State vs. Tennessee (10:00am, ESPN): I hesitate to call this heavy-weight. Neither team is really in the top tier of their conference this year, but I see UTenn as a more solid team that should pull out a victory.
• Cotton Bowl, Nebraska vs. Auburn (10:30am, FOX): Name programs, to the rescue! The Big 12 North still sucks, though, and if Auburn’s offense shows up to this game they should prevail.
• Capital One Bowl, Arkansas vs. Wisconsin (Noon, ABC): Don’t look, but Wisconsin’s only loss all year was to Michigan. The only reason they’re not in a BCS bowl is because OSU and UMich are. While I like the SEC in the Outback Bowl, I have go with the Big Ten this time around.
• Gator Bowl, Georgia Tech vs. West Virginia (Noon, CBS): I honestly can’t believe we’re playing in a New Year’s Day Bowl. This hasn’t happened since I’ve been there, and indeed, not since the last time Tech was a Gator Bowl (I’d guess, too tired to look it up).
  Obviously, WVU worries me. And Tech has had a lot going on behind the scenes. Of course, you’d think Tech would be at a disadvantage without their starting quarterback, but our starting QB has, for lack of a better word, sucked in his last two and now he can’t play. Taylor Bennett, you best be stepping up.
  WVU’s backfield worries me. There’s a ton of speed back there, and I watched those guys run all over Maryland. Tech’s defense blitzes hard and often, and the question is whether or not we can stay with the ball no matter where it goes. The soft spot of our defense – the secondary – is not as big of a concern here because WVU does not pass very well. (A sort of Arkansas of the Big East, perhaps?) Corners and safeties blitz a lot in our defense, and I expect to see 8 guys in the box a lot.
  On offense, Tech need to use the best damn WR in the country to exploit WVU’s dreadful secondary. Expect, however, to see a healthy dose of #22 from the backfield. That’s not really a bad thing, though.
  Overall, this game will be very tough for the Jackets. I’m not one, however, to predict my team to lose. Bowl games present a quandry – unless you’re playing in Glendale for the crystal football, none of these games really matter. But the intangible factors do matter. Everyone at Tech remembers the bad taste of the Emerald Bowl last year and absolutely rotten offense in the past two games. WVU can score in bunches, the question is, will Tech’s offense show up? We need at least two touchdowns, something we only accomplished once in our last four games, and that was against Duke. The Jackets really need this to show that this season wasn’t a fluke.
• The Rose Bowl Game, Michigan vs. Southern Cal (4:00, ABC): Man, this is weird. This is ABC’s 2nd and last bowl broadcast – the rest of the BCS games are on FOX. As much as I hate Musburuger, I dislike FOX announcers on the whole and I’m not that optimistic. Anyway, I always like watching the Rose Bowl, but we have two very disappointed teams here. I fell Michigan is the better team here, and should win as long as they are not overcome by bitterness.
• Fiesta Bowl, Oklahoma vs. Boise State (7:30, FOX): I like rooting for the little guy as much as anyone else, and will probably take a rooting interesting the boys from the blue turf. But, seriously, I don’t see how they can beat Oklahoma. This is BSU teams is not nearly as good as that Utah team that last busted the BCS. Look for scoring, but look for OU to win by at least two scores.
• Orange Bowl, Wake Forest vs. Louisville (Jan. 2, 7:00, FOX): So, uh, Wake is a pretty decent team. They execute well and take their time on offense. Louisville does the same thing, except they can throw the ball and put up some points in a hurry. I like rooting for the ACC and teams like Wake, but I don’t know how they can prevail over Louisville. They will really need to take the Cardinals out of there game to do so…
• Sugar Bowl, LSU vs. Notre Dame (Jan. 3, 7:00, FOX): Notre Dame is here for one reason – to sell more tickets. I’m not sure they need the help, though – LSU should have well more than a simple majority of the fans. ND has failed to beat any major oppenent they’ve played this year. Their best win remains – you guessed it – the opening weekend victory against Georgia Tech. Look for LSU to win a rout.
• International Bowl, Western Michigan vs. Cincinnati (Jan. 6, 11:00am, ESPN2): This is sort of anticlimactic, you might say. I say it helps re-whet your appetite for college football leading up to the title game. The scheduling quirk is probably a result of the 31st being a Sunday, which means NFL games rule the roost. And I like Cincy here.
• GMAC Bowl, Ohio vs. Southern Miss (Jan. 7, 7:00, ESPN): C-USA isn’t exactly a power conference, but Mobile is 100 miles from Hattiesburg so this should pretty much be a home game for USM. I like them to win.

I’ll do a separate preview for the title game. For the time being, though, can we scratch “it’d take too long” off the list of reasons not to have a playoff since the bowls now go into the second week of January. Just sayin’.

Well kids, apparently ESPN feels the same way I do, since they busted out Herbstreit and Fowler for the Holiday Bowl. Cal’s taking TAMU to task at the moment, and bolstered by our Internet connection not sucking for the time being, here’s the predictions for the games up to the first (confusingly, Tito’s times are Eastern and mine are Central!):

• Music City Bowl, Kentucky vs. Clemson (ESPN, noon): Clemson totally outclasses Kentucky in probably every phase of the game. Clemson may be disappointed they fell to the Music City, but at least they’re east of the Mississippi. Clemson rolls.
• Sun Bowl, Oregon State vs. Missouri (CBS, 1:00): Sweet, the first non-ESPN game of the year! (NFL Network doesn’t count.) It’s tough to get a read here, except that I think the Beavers are pretty decent and Mizzou sucks.
• Liberty Bowl, Houston vs. South Carolina (ESPN, 3:30): For reasons I don’t exactly recall, I picked Houston. I’m sure I had a good reason for doing so and I stand by it.
• Insight Bowl, Texas Tech vs. Minnesota (NFL, 6:30): Uh, TTU should win. Same no one will get to see it.
• Champs Sports Bowl, Maryland vs. Purdue (ESPN, 7:00): I see Purdue as a sort of “Georgia Tech of the Big Ten” due to their strong engineering program and a skewed male/female ratio (though they have 30,000 undergrads and it’s only 58:42, but eh), so I have a soft spot for them. But not soft enough. Much like VPI, Maryland finished their season strong and I like their chances.
• Car Care Bowl, Boston College vs. Navy (Dec. 30, ESPN, noon): I hate to admit this (as the soon of an Army grad), but I like watching Navy’s offense. Who doesn’t love a well-oiled triple option machine? Unfortunately, the machine tends to break down against teams that don’t suck, as the Midshipmen lost 34-0 to Rutgers and lost 38-14 to Notre Dame. Boston College is probably not that much worse than Rutgers and certainly better than Tulsa, who also beat Navy, so I like BC here.
• Alamo Bowl, Texas vs. Iowa (ESPN, 3:30): I’ll go out on a limb here an say that Sun Belt officials probably won’t be working this game. I’ll also say that Iowa is pretty boned unless Texas is just really depressed or something.
• PeachChick-fil-a Bowl, Virginia Tech vs. Georgia (ESPN, 7:00): Okay, let’s see. I hate UGA, and VPI, while not exactly my favorite team ever, is in my conference. They’ve also finished the season red hot, though I guess you could say UGA has as well with consecutive victories over the teams we at this site like. (Ugh.) That said, more of UGA’s offensive lineman got arrested/suspended, so VPI’s defense should be able to take them to task. VPI should also fill their 50% of the dome against the exceedingly obnoxious UGA fans.
• MPC Computers Bowl, Nevada vs. Miami (FL) (Dec. 31, ESPN, 6:30): The Miami players, confused over this “snow” shenaniganry, without a coach, and, oh, yeah, in damn Boise, Idahoa will probably not be terribly excited. I think Nevada wins. That said, the Humanitarian Bowl was a much better name. And for the record, I like the blue turf. There, I said it.

Check back Sunday for the big New Year’s Day Preview bash!

Please, make it stop…

Texas vs. Iowa, Alamo Bowl (Dec. 30, 4:30 PM, ESPN): Texas is playing in the Alamo Bowl, which is awesome, considering the school is pretty close to San Anton’. Unfortunately, Matthew McConaughey will probably be too busy promoting his lame-0 film We are Marshall to jump around on the sidelines and provide some much-needed distraction from the Longhorns destruction of the Hawkeyes.

Georgia vs. Virginia Tech, Chick-fil-A Bowl (Dec. 30, 8 PM, ESPN): Georgia is so fickle this year. They lost to Vanderbilt and Kentucky then managed to beat Auburn and Georgia Tech. Virginia Tech only lost two games and somehow didn’t get any media attention this year. I’m not really sure who to pick here. Chick-fil-A will probably win.

Miami (FL) vs. Nevada, Bowl (Dec. 31, 7:30 PM, ESPN): Miami (FL) has fallen farther than any other team in Division I-A. It was just years ago that they were setting win-streak records and winning national championships. Now they are overrun by thugs and controversies and losing games left and right. They will probably barely beat Nevada.

This post is kind of weak. Hopefully I’ll make another post before New Years’ Eve to close out the season and redeem myself.

Well, the internet connection here at the asimsports compound kind of sucks, so here’s a whole batch of stuff right through the 28th:

• Motor City Bowl, Central Michigan vs. Middle Tennessee State (ESPN, 6:30 CST): Well, about the only thing of interest to me is that I know a guy who went to MTSU. Unfortunately for him, CMU should roll.
• Emerald Bowl, Florida State vs. UCLA (ESPN, 7:00 CST): I assume that this game is still played at whatever they’re calling Pac Bell Park these days (AT&T Park I think, but whatever), which should give UCLA a slight home field advantage. I can’t forsee anyway that FSU would be into this game – I watched their game against Wake when they just absolutely quit, and then they lost to Florida. FSU also still doesn’t have an offense, as far as I know. UCLA should roll.
• Independence Bowl, Oklahoma St. vs. Alabama (ESPN, 3:30 CST): I know a couple things about this game. OSU is a decent team, and I hate Alabama and they just fired their coach. So I like OSU here.
• Texas Bowl, Kansas State vs. Rutgers (NFL Network, 7:00 CST): Rutgers wraps up their dream season with a bowl that has it’s like 4 name in 5 years and no one will watch because it’s on the NFL Network. Whoops. Kansas State isn’t very good and Rutgers should win, you know what they say about “if a tree falls in a forest and no one’s around…”? Yeah.
• Holiday Bowl, California vs. Texas A&M (ESPN, 7:00 CST): Now here we go. I don’t feel like it’s bowl season for real until the Holiday Bowl, usually because it provides the first real matchup of the season. I’m still a bit baffled the Holiday didn’t take Texas – despite TAMU’s victory over UT, I still feel the latter is probably a better team. At any rate, I like the Bears here.

That’s it, kids! Tune in the 28th or 29th for the remainder of the non-Jan. 1 bowls.

A little late, but yeah….I don’t have much to write, just want to keep up the streak. Anyway.

Hawaii has a decent team this year. However, it’s hard to predict what they’ll do against this Arizona State squad. They played Oregon State in their last regular season game and despite the massive home field advantage for the Warriors they still lost.

Once again, Hawaii has the home field advantage here. Will they be able to pull it off against a Pac-10 team this time? I think ASU is not nearly as good as OSU, so they have a shot and I’ve picked Hawaii to win. We’ll see what happens.