Monday, Dec. 29, 8 p.m. ESPN
Missouri vs. Northwestern
Missouri favored by 13.5
This is normally not such a bad game, but it says something about the Big Ten when Northwestern finds it's way into this game. The Alamo Bowl was home to almost one of the best endings ever when Michigan lost to Nebraska in 2005, but I normally think of the Alamo Bowl being the home of Texas suffering through Chris Sims meltdowns until Major Applewhite came in and led the Longhorns to victory. It felt like it happened in about six consecutive Alamo Bowls (or perhaps Holiday Bowls... these sometimes get confused in my head, but anyway...)
I saw Missouri play earlier in the year and their offense seems to be way too explosive for this Northwestern team. It'll be fun to see Chase Daniel in his final college game, and even though they're not preseason goals probably didn't include a trip to San Antone, I can't see how the Wildcats stick around too long, so I put up a nice 24 on my confidence picks. Kirbstreit on the otherhand (who I'm currently beating, by the way) is putting up a big 12 on Northwestern for the upset, while Fiutak put 20 on Missouri (Fiu is beating my by eight points at the moment, so this is a big game).
Roady's Humanitarian Bowl
Tuesday, Dec. 30, 4:30 p.m. ESPN
Nevada vs. Maryland
Even opening line
Finally, a Humanitarian Bowl without Boise State. I know the Broncos have an amazing home record, but surely someone has thought that maybe - just maybe - a team wearing all blue on an all blue field may have a bit of an advantage?
So anyway, Maryland versus Nevada... yeaaaaaaa. Mayland has become one of those ACC teams that just get lost in the muck of my mind. Them and N.C. State and Boston College and Virginia and even Florida State all seem to be basically the same boring team. The last game I really remember Maryland playing was against California when the Terrapins went up huge and had to narrowly hold on to win, which I was happy to see since I took Cal and gave up about 21 points. If a team has no chance to cover the spread, I strongly want them to lose... why should I be the only one to suffer?
I didn't see Nevada play this year, which might explain why I put an uneasy nine points on Maryland. Let's go Turtles!
Pacific Life Holiday Bowl
Tuesday, Dec. 30, 8 p.m. ESPN
No. 14 Oklahoma State vs. No. 15 Oregon
Oklahoma State favored by 3.5
One of the most exciting bowl games in the history of bowl games, the Holiday Bowl, coupled with the Alamo Bowl, are probably two of the most anticipated December bowl games. Originally the bowl was created to take the WAC champion against an at-large team, which made it a defacto BYU Bowl for the first decade of its existence. Recently it's become more of the place where a team snubbed by the BCS goes to get beaten up.
This year neither team was snubbed and it's on the list of my top three anticipated December bowls (this newly-made list also includes the Poinsettia Bowl and the Peach, err... Chick-fil-A Bowl.) Oklahoma State almost came through with a breakout year: after beating Missouri, the Cowboys narrowly lost to Texas but were beaten like a drum by Texas Tech and Oklahoma. Oregon started the season very poorly, including a home loss to Boise State, before gaining momentum and finally knocking off rival Oregon State to end the Beavers' Rose Bowl dreams.
I'm really excited about this one, which makes me really upset that there's another game scheduled for this time...
Texas Bowl
Tuesday, Dec. 30, 8 p.m. NFL Network
Rice vs. Western Michigan
Rice favored by 3
So let me see if I can get this straight. The NFL Network, which is available in about 40 million homes is going head-to-head with ESPN, which is available in 100 million. And to boot, NFL Network is going to show Rice vs. Western Michigan against the always high profile Holiday Bowl. Don't think we could've scheduled this one at 6:30 p.m. NFL execs? Or at least head-to-head with Nevada-Maryland?
Ok, so what really grates my cheese is that I only have one cable box, so only one TV - my big one - gets NFL Network. So I either miss the Texas Bowl (which I actually did two years ago and missed the great Minnesota-Texas Tech game that led to the Glen Mason firing) or I put the Texas Bowl on the big screen and put the Holiday Bowl on a small TV. Or I could do the old fashioned switch-at-commercials, but that negates the second TV that is permanently installed in the living room beginning in mid-September. (Now there is another option which I hate to contemplate involving putting the non-HD Holiday Bowl on the big screen, and the NFL Network game on the non-HD 28-inch... but seriously, non-HD blows.)
So thanks NFL Network. I would cancel our $6-a-month sports package if not for the fact that would deprive my roommate of watching the Tottenham Hotspur, but because you're basically forcing me to miss a bowl game I may just boycott your other broadcast... the Insight Bowl... maybe...
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