By JIMMY D / Fantasy Sports college bowl season | Jimmy's archive

Life is like a bowl of bowl games

Remember when New Year’s Day was Bowl Day?
Now, it’s an entire season, full of 32 bowls, with roughly two-thirds of the 119 major schools getting into bowl action.

Jimmy already invested some valuable time in cherry-picking the bowls for those members of Jimmy Nation who have a contest to win. The rest of you can go back to your leftover turkey and check back again next Tuesday for Jimmy’s year-end awards.

Dec. 26 – Motor City Bowl
Central Michigan (-9.5) will get big games from its freshmen playmakers and hawk the ball a few times from Middle Tennessee.
Winner: Central Michigan

Dec. 27 – Emerald Bowl
UCLA won their ‘bowl’ game upsetting USC to keep the hated Trojans out of the BCS title game. Florida State was just 6-6, but played tough in losing 21-14 to Florida, they will win outright as 4.5-point underdogs.
Winner: Florida State

Dec. 28 – Independence Bowl
Alabama, another disappointing 6-6 team with no coach will handle the disappointing Cowboys of Oklahoma State, who are slightly favored.
Winner: Alabama

Dec. 28 – Texas Bowl
Rutgers’ dream season crashed with two late losses, but we see them rebounding here against Kansas State, who had a lousy year in the Big 12. The Scarlet Knights are 7-point favorites and will win bigger.
Winner: Rutgers

Dec. 28 – Holiday Bowl
Cal finishes a disappointing year on a high note by beating Texas A&M of the Big 12.
Winner: California

Dec. 29 – Music City Bowl
In a catfight between Tigers and Wildcats, Clemson proves its late-season collapse was no fluke by crapping the bed against Kentucky, who opened as 11-point underdogs. We see them covering the spread and possibly winning outright.

Dec. 29 – Sun Bowl
Oregon State is another school who enjoyed their biggest success by upsetting USC. They will lose as 3.5-point underdogs to Missouri.
Winner: Missouri

Dec. 29 – Liberty Bowl
The best in Conference USA (Houston) is not as good as middle-of-the-pack South Carolina from the SEC.
Winner: South Carolina

Dec. 29 – Insight Bowl
Who would you rather bet on? Red Raiders or Golden Gophers? Texas Tech was 7-5 in a tough conference, good enough to handle Minnesota.
Winner: Texas Tech

Dec. 29 – Champs Sports Bowl
Maryland was 8-4 and could have been better. Purdue lost to every decent team they played.
Winner: Maryland

Dec. 30 – Meineke Car Care Bowl
BC pummels Navy.
Winner: Boston College

Dec. 30 – Alamo Bowl
Texas remembers a win at the Alamo while Iowa will remember a rout.
Winner: Texas

Dec. 30 – Chick-fil-A Bowl
Georgia loses a second straight ‘home’ bowl game when the Hokies shut them down.
Winner: Virginia Tech

Dec. 31 – MPC Computers Bowl
The Wolfpack is not as god as people think and the Hurricanes are not as bad.
Winner: Miami

Jan. 1 – Outback Bowl
The money has come in on Penn State, but we see Erik Ainge playing well for the Volunteers.
Winner: Tennessee

Jan. 1 – Cotton Bowl
Auburn played a nasty SEC schedule and the Corn Huskers are not as good as their Big 12 final spot indicates.
Winner: Auburn

Jan. 1 – Capital One Bowl
Wisconsin won this bowl game last year, but won’t be able to handle Heisman runner-up Darren McFadden.
Winner: Arkansas

Jan. 1 – Gator Bowl
The line moved three points when Yellow Jacket QB Reggie Ball was suspended for the game. Steve Slaton and Pat White should run wild for the Mountaineers.
Winner: West Virginia

Jan. 1 – Rose Bowl
Two teams who figure they deserve to be playing Ohio State in the BCS final. The line has moved in favor of USC and we like the quasi-home-field advantage over Michigan here in Pasadena.
Winner: USC

Jan. 1 – Fiesta Bowl
Can Boise State finally beat a good team in a bowl game? They are unbeaten, but face a resilient Oklahoma team that surprised everyone to pick the Big 12. They get running back locomotive Adrian Peterson back as well.
Winner: Oklahoma

Jan. 2 – Orange Bowl
Louisville won the Big East and is a 10-point favorite over Wake Forest for a good reason. The Demon Deacons startled everyone by winning the ACC, but they cannot handle Cardinal QB Brian Brohm.
Winner: Louisville big!

Jan. 3 – Sugar Bowl
LSU played the nastiest schedule in the nation and finished 10-2. Notre Dame was criticized as a pretender for much of the year and Jimmy uses the same argument in picking this game as a Tiger rout.
Winner: LSU

Jan.6 – International Bowl
Bowl season comes to Toronto. Cincinnati lost to a lot of good teams and will beat a bad one like Western Michigan.
Winner: Cincinnati

Jan. 7 – GMAC Bowl
Another weak bowl sees Conference USA loser Southern Miss pound MAC loser Ohio (who play in their first bowl since 1968).
Winner: Southern Mississippi

Jan. 8 - BCS Championship Game
Like last season when the best player made the best plays and ensured his team wouldn’t lose, expect Ohio State QB and Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith to maneuver around, over and through a stout Florida defense. The line has remained steady around -7.5 for the Buckeyes, who will complete a perfect season.

We're back next week with more New Year's goodies. In the meantime, stay busy and stay lucky.

Jimmy D