Weekend Before Christmas Bowl Bonanza

Cooper didn't get the memo about the Christmas holiday - so we've got another Bowl Bonanza for you before the break.


Here I am back to preview this weekend's bowl games. As I check the scores for the first time today I see that my prediction of Navy defeating Utah was a little shortsighted. Let’s see if I can come out of this weekend with a winning record, or at least a .500 record. We have 5 bowl games this weekend starting off tonight in New Orleans with the New Orleans Bowl. I believe Pat Fiacco is on there bowl committee and came up with the name. Who else would think of such an unoriginal name?

This year’s version of the New Orleans bowl pits the Florida Atlantic Owls (7-5), the champions of the Sun Belt Conference up against the Memphis Tigers (7-5), the 2nd place team from Conference USA. This is what is referred to as a “bottom-feeder” game. A game that is created just so two small school teams can pick up some TV revenue. One prominent Internet football scribe previewed this game with the following two words; “Who Cares”. Well I don’t. I can say I will not be watching this game. However, an Owl is no match for a Tiger so Memphis is your winner.

On Saturday we have 3 games on the slate. First up is the Papajohns.com Bowl from legendary Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama. This match-up features the Cincinnati Bearcats (9-3), the 3rd place team from the Big East and ranked 20th in the nation against the Southern Miss Golden Eagles (7-5), the 4th place team from Conference USA. Like all of you I did not see a minute of either team play this year so I can’t give you any honest player breakdowns that you can’t read for yourself on someone else’s column. From what I have read most columnists have a man crush on Cincinnati QB Ben Mauk. As far as the mascot match up is concerned the Golden Eagles have the advantage in the air. However, the Bearcat is some sick genetic cross between man’s most ruthless enemy the bear and an ornery house cat. Bearcats hands down. They are not only the more dominant species - but as a team they are ranked higher nationally and come from a much more competitive conference.

Later on in the afternoon we have the New Mexico Bowl, live from University Stadium in Albuquerque. “There’s a New Mexico!?” This game features the Nevada Wolfpack (6-6), the 4th place team in from the WAC against the hometown New Mexico Lobos (8-4), the 3rd place team from the Mountain West Conference. I automatically assume the New Mexico Lobos created this bowl game just so they can get some revenue dollars. Why else would this bowl exist? As for as mascots are concerned a pack of Wolves is pretty terrifying, but with there being not one documented case of a wolf killing a human in North America the intimidation factor wears off pretty quick. I wasn’t able to find out what a “Lobo” is so I provided a link to something similar. Terrifying, absolutely terrifying. Let’s hope that they don’t organize one day and kill us all. The Hobos of New Mexico take this in a walk.

The final game on Saturday is the Las Vegas Bowl, (Damn you Fiacco!) I was about to say that this is another useless bowl game however I see that ABC has Brad Nessler, Bob Griese and Paul Maguire as analysts. They only dust off this crew for big games. Anyway this year’s version of the Las Vegas Bowl has the BYU Cougars (10-2), the Mountain West Champions and the 19th ranked team nationally against the UCLA Bruins (6-6), the 4th place team from the PAC-10 conference. It is very rare that two teams face each other twice in one year but here we have that very situation. In the first match up early in the season UCLA defeated BYU 27-17 at home. That was before UCLA was decimated with injuries and their season went down the crapper. BYU has been one of the best teams nationally since losing to UCLA way back in week two. The thought of seeing a bruin go toe-to-toe with a cougar is somewhat exotic. I would have to think that the quickness of the cougar gives it the advantage over the slow, purposeful bruin. BYU takes it in a cakewalk.

The final game of the weekend is this Sunday. If you don’t feel like watching the Vikings and the Redskins you can tune into the Hawaii Bowl. This years game has last years Cinderella team Boise St (10-2), the 2nd place team in the WAC and ranked 24th nationally against the Eastern Carolina Pirates (7-5), the 2nd place team from Conference USA. I am not even going to waste my time breaking down this game. Boise St wins this one by about 6 TD’s and a couple of field goals.