The Alamo Bowl between Baylor and Washington looks interesting. Surprised that Baylor’s only a 9 point favorite, what with the Heisman winner and after having beaten Oklahoma and Texas.
I am perplexed by the opening New Mexico Bowl, between Temple and Wyoming. Wyoming’s been there before, and is used to playing at altitude. However, they are horrendous against the run and Temple has one of the better rushing attacks in the NCAA. Wyoming’s getting 7.
So much of college bowl performance depends on which team better weathers the distractions and time off. That said, I like TCU to cover the 10.5 versus Louisiana Tech in the Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego.
I am surprised that Boise is only favored by 14 over Arizona State in the Las Vegas Bowl. Admittedly, while ASU is a 6-6 team, they generally haven’t been blown out, losing by 14 to Oregon in Eugene.
You’d think that Air Force would be fired up for a Military Bowl in D.C. against Toledo. AFA is getting 3. They lost to Boise by 11 in Boise, while Toledo got rolled by 25 at home by Boise.
I have a “feeling” about Iowa State, though they are 6-6, against Rutgers in the Pinstripe Bowl in Yankee Stadium (?!) They are getting 2, and of course, they did upset Oklahoma State and Texas Tech (in Lubbock.) Rutgers got rolled by UConn by 18 at the end of season, whereas Iowa State beat U Conn by 4 on the road near the beginning of the season. I’d be happier about picking Iowa State if they hadn’t been crushed by OU in Norman and lost to K. State in Manhattan to close out the season.
One of your picks must be Penn State +6 versus Houston, even though the game’s played at the Cotton Bowl. Penn State has lost by 3 to Nebraska, 16 to Alabama, and of course the 38 point demolition by Wisky. The point being that they generally don’t lose to mediocre teams by much. UH is not going to be able to manhandle Penn State the way Wisky did, and I think Penn State’s defense can cope with Case Keenum and his speedy wideouts. Heck, even if Penn State were laying 6, I’d take them.
