Four team Playoff 1988-1997

It seems a college football playoff is coming. At least one of the four team variety. All over the internet, there have been pieces examining what would have happened during the BCS era under the various scenarios. That's all well and good, but many of the greatest controversies would have occurred before 1998 and the advent of the BCS. Here is a look at the 10 years pre-BCS, starting with Notre Dame's 1988 championship season using both the top four and the Big Ten proposed conference champions in the top 6 plans (when necessary). All playoff seedings are determined by the AP Poll, just because its easier to work with.

1997

Top Four

1 Michigan vs 4 Florida St.

2 Nebraska vs 3 Tennessee

Teams left out: Not much. 5 UCLA and 6 Florida both failed to win their conferences and lost two games each. 7 Washington St. was the Pac-10 champ with only one loss, but they were the only team with a beef at all.

1996

Top Four

1 Florida St. vs 4 Ohio St.

2 Arizona St. vs 3 Florida

Teams left out: 5 BYU was 13-1 from the WAC with the only loss to Pac-10 runner up Washington. Everyone else was clearly behind in the pecking order. Considering what happened during bowl season with both undefeated teams losing to the one-loss teams, this is probably the shining example of what a playoff could be.

1995

Top Four

1 Nebraska vs 4 Ohio St. or 4Tennessee (teams tied in AP Poll with exact number of points)

2 Florida vs 3 Northwestern

Conference Champs Top 6

1 Nebraska vs 4 Ohio St/Tennessee or 6 Notre Dame depending on if 9-2 Notre Dame is being treated as a conference champion

2 Florida vs 3 Northwestern

Teams left out: Not much. 10-1-1 Texas won the final SWC crown but finished 9^th in the AP Poll. Everyone else has very little claim of jumping into the playoff. The big debate would have been Ohio St. or Tennessee. I tend to side with Ohio St. that season as the Buckeyes didn't play Northwestern and likely would have beaten them.

1994

Top Four

1 Nebraska vs 4 Colorado

2 Penn St. vs 3 Miami

Conference Champs Top 6

1 Nebraska vs 5 Florida

2 Penn St. vs 3Miami

Teams left out: Under the top four scenario, the SEC would have blown its collective stack. Going into the SEC Championship, Alabama was undefeated and ranked 3^rd. They were beaten by one point by Florida (who had one loss to a top 10 Auburn team and the famous Choke at the Doak tie against Florida St.). SEC apologists would have been arguing for Florida over Colorado and the rematch against Nebraska they would be getting (sound familiar anyone). Meanwhile, Alabama fans would be complaining about the existence of the SEC Championship game knocking them out of the title race when nobody else had to play a title game (nobody else had a title game to that point). Just a mess. Also, 7 Florida St. as champs of the ACC and with a tie against Florida also would have made a claim to deserving a playoff berth.

1993

Top Four

1 Florida St. vs 4 Notre Dame

2 Nebraska vs 3 West Virginia

Teams left out: The SEC would have blown its collective stack just like 1994, but probation was really at fault as the best team was undefeated Auburn but the Tigers were on probation. Tennessee and Florida finished just behind Auburn in the polls, but Florida was the champ. And the champ had the weakest claim with two losses and a ranking of 8.

1992

Top Four

1 Miami vs 4 Texas A&M

2 Alabama vs 3 Florida St.

Teams left out: None controversial. Notre Dame was ranked 5^th but with a loss and a tie. Michigan won the Big Ten and finished undefeated, but with three ties. Of course we now know Notre Dame should have been the fourth team as the Irish pounded undefeated Texas A&M 28-3 in the Cotton Bowl.

1991

Top Four

1 Miami vs 4 Michigan

2 Washington vs 3 Florida

Teams left out: None. Florida St. and Penn St. were ranked 5 and 6 but both had two losses. They then played each other in their bowl game. All of the one-loss teams behind those two had a loss to one of the top four making this really easy.

1990

Top Four

1 Colorado vs 4 Miami

2 Georgia Tech vs 3 Texas

Teams left out: Notre Dame, Florida St., and Penn St all had the same record as Miami and were ranked behind the Hurricanes as did Pac-10 champion Washington. Of course this season was just a total debacle at the top of the country (think 2007 style upsets pretty much every week) considering this was the Colorado team that won the famous 5^th down game.

1989

Top Four

1 Colorado vs 4Notre Dame

2 Miami vs 3 Michigan

Teams left out: Another collective blowing of stacks from the SEC as tri-champions Alabama, Auburn and Tennessee were all not close despite one-loss seasons. Also, SWC champion Arkansas (remember this was before SEC realignment) was 10-1 and left out as well.

1988

Top Four

1 Notre Dame vs 4 Florida St.

2 Miami vs 3 West Virginia

Teams left out: Anyone in a conference. The top four were all independents while 5-7 were all one-loss conference champs (USC in the Pac-10, Nebraska in the Big 8 and Auburn in the SEC). None had any real claim though. USC was beaten by Notre Dame in its last game while ranked number 2 (and city rival UCLA was briefly ranked number one during the season). Nebraska was in a mostly weak Big 8 that was a year away from the rise of Colorado to give it another top team with Oklahoma on the probation down slope and Auburn won the weakest SEC in conference history.

Picks failure, reviewing my preseason college football rankings

Here we go, a chance for me to get skewered (and believe me, there is one team I completely missed on preseason more than almost anyone along with the usual array of hits and misses everyone has). That said, I'm starting with what I did right. I want to feel good about myself before I criticize myself and allow all my readers to make fun of me. Then I will offer some defense, flimsy though it may be for my awful picks from the preseason.

Teams I pegged pretty well (preseason ranking in parenthesis)

LSU (1) – Obviously I had the Tigers pegged, until the National Title Game.

Alabama (2) – Same with the Crimson Tide.

Boise St. (5) – I thought Boise St. had a loss in there somewhere, I just didn't know where.

Oregon (7) – Finished higher than this, but this ranking was based on a two-loss projection so I will say I had it right.

South Carolina (12) – And to think I was worried that I had overrated this team in the preseason.

Michigan St. (14) – Finished a bit higher, but was ranked right in this area before the crapshoot that is the bowl game.

Georgia (15) – Ditto Michigan St.

West Virginia (16) – If not for October this team could have finished in the top 5.

Teams that I was a bit off, but within reason

Oklahoma (3) – Injuries destroyed the offense in November. Still, this wasn't a top 5 team. Top 10 with all the players most likely.

Wisconsin (4) – Beaten on a pair of Hail Mary's and that is it in the regular season.

Virginia Tech (13) – This was as much a schedule ranking as anything. In fact, I picked this team to go to the National Title Game because I thought it would go undefeated against a pathetic schedule. And it did except Clemson was much better than expected.

TCU (22) – I expected early growing pains and I got them. Still, this team improved a ton and I never thought it would win in Boise.

BYU (25) – Won 10 games, but against the 10 weakest teams on the schedule. Lost to Texas and Utah, two teams nobody has ranked as this point.

Teams I overrated by a lot

Nebraska (6) – I thought the defense would play well in the Big Ten (it didn't) and I thought Taylor Martinez would play better as a sophomore (he did, but not by much).

Florida St. (8) – Another ranking that was product of the weak ACC schedule. I have learned my lesson. I won't be doing this again. And I also won't be picking Florida St. to beat West Virginia in September 2012. Prove something first.

Missouri (9) – Played well but didn't get wins against the toughest schedule in the country. This team really should have been better considering the talent on hand.

Texas A&M (10) – Everybody missed this because nobody knew that the definition of collapse is Aggies (Utah St. also fits this bill, at least in the collapse sense).

Notre Dame (11) – First came the ND turnover machine with RAGE FACE. Then Michigan was a heck of a lot better than expected. Also, USC and Stanford were top 10 teams. There were four losses.

Mississippi St. (17) – In retrospect, we should have seen this coming. The numbers didn't support a 9-4 record in 2010 and there were losses on the defense that carried this team to that record. Oops.

Ohio St. (21) – I'm not taking any blame for this. Nobody had any idea how this was going to turn out.

Pittsburgh (24) – A pathetic pick on my part and a pathetic team.

Teams I underrated by a lot

Stanford (18) – I refused to bow at the altar of Luck in the preseason. I paid for it by looking like a dimwit. Moving on.

USC (19) – The first half of the season, this looked like it belonged in the section above this one. Then the Trojans suddenly became the destroyers or old and jumped way, way up the rankings as others lost.

Arkansas (20) – Took advantage of an offense challenged SEC. Also played consistently, allowing a move to a legit top 10 finish.

Oklahoma St. (23) – May God have mercy on my soul for missing this pick by this much (especially since the rest of the world had this team in the top 10). In my defense, I saw a team with an average defense (cost them dearly in the one loss) and an offense that lost its coordinator and had the players teaching the new coordinator the offense since he came from a different background. The coordinator thing reminded me of Auburn's overhyped 2003 team and I ranked accordingly, especially with said average defense. And I paid for it. And I will continue to pay for it.

Unranked teams that finished ranked

Michigan – The defense was light years better than anyone expected. Everyone knew the offense was going to still be good.

Baylor – RGIII was a known commodity, but he went to another level and the defense got just enough stops to win him some games and the Heisman.

Kansas St. - Won more one possession games than any team in the BCS era. I expect a regression to the mean next season and a 6-6 type season.

Southern Miss – Only ranked because voters value not losing. Didn't really beat anyone other than Houston.

Houston – Ditto, only beat Penn St.

Clemson – That offense is going to be nearly impossible to defend if everyone stays healthy. Heck, it was nearly impossible to defend early in the season this year before Sammy Watkins got banged up and Tajh Boyd lost his consistency.

Penn St. - Exactly like we thought in the preseason. No offense, all defense. Of course that defense was incredible, before the collapse of everything at Penn St.

Season in Review – Stoops finally goes down in flames at Arizona, a few years later than expected

Reviewing the season, important team by important team. Alphabetically. If I skip your team, it was probably irrelevant.

Season in 3 sentences – Arizona was plowed by quality team after quality team early on (the same ones that plowed it to end last season). Then Mike Stoops was fired. After that, Arizona played like the middling Pac-12 team it usually is.

Season Expectations – Contending in the wide open Pac-12 South was expected. The Wildcats didn't necessarily have to win, but the meltdown that occurred with the early season schedule destroyed this team. Only a home game against UCLA to kick start some decent play allowed anything salvageable to come from this year.

Team MVP – Nick Foles. Foles did everything he could this season, throwing for over 4000 yards with a 2-1 TD-INT ratio and a 69% completion rate. Not that it helped opposite a defense that could generously be called poor.

Biggest Game – Oregon St. 37, Arizona 27; After starting 1-4 against a stretch that 90% of the country would have started 1-4 against (FCS team, at Oklahoma St., Stanford, Oregon, at USC) after collapsing down the stretch last season (losses to the same four teams and Arizona St.), a win was needed to get the program on the right track. Also, bowl hopes still remained if the ship could turn against the last place Oregon St. Beavers. Instead, Arizona laid an egg and Stoops was gone before the next game.

Bowl Game – None. Though this team was talented enough to beat Oregon St. and Colorado and get to one.

Historic Comparison – 2001 Kentucky. Big passing game, no running game or defense to speak of. Nick Foles is a heck of a lot better than Jared Lorenzen ever was though. Had that Kentucky team played this Arizona team's schedule it would have won more than two games. Had this Arizona team played that Kentucky team's schedule, it likely would have managed a third win but not four like it really won this year.

What Comes Next? Wholesale changes. Rich Rodriguez and the spread option are coming. The Wildcat personnel, if a quarterback can be found, should be fairly ready for this considering Arizona has been running a spread passing game for the last few years. On defense, the 3-3-5 is coming. In Pac-12 play, that looks like a good thing with prolific offenses all over the place and only one of those schools (Stanford) doing it by traditional power football.

College Football Postseason Review - Alabama

Reviewing the season, important team by important team. Alphabetically. If I skip your team, it was probably irrelevant.

Season in 3 sentences – Started number two in the preseason and never saw number one during the regular season after getting passed by LSU's superior resume. Lost in the Game of the Century at home to LSU but was granted a rematch in the National Championship Game, controversially. Then obliterated poor LSU in the rematch to take the National Championship.

Season Expectations – It was National Title or bust. Consider that part of the equation met, but winning the SEC is close to being as important and Alabama struck out on that count, losing the division and the conference in that Game of the Century loss to LSU.

Team MVP – Trent Richardson. Richardson was the engine that made the offense go all season. At times when AJ McCarron struggled, he was the offense. That said, the defense was really the engine and if there was a dominant defender on this team (none were more dominant than many others on the roster) he would have beat Richardson out.

Biggest Game – Alabama 38, Arkansas 14; No, I'm not picking the Game of the Century of the Year. It's result was invalidated to some degree in the National Championship game. Beating Arkansas by such a large margin was one of the keys to Alabama getting the nod for the championship game and it showed the offense could score enough points to allow the defense to do its thing.

Bowl Game – Beat LSU 21-0 in the BCS Championship Game; Just a horrifying beatdown. The Alabama defense took the LSU offense behind the woodshed and the result would kindly be described at abuse. It was just flat out brutal and violent.

Historic Comparison – 2003 LSU. This Alabama team is a bit better than that LSU team that won a share of the National Championship, but the comparison remains. Dominant defense (this one better than that one) and good enough offense (the 03 LSU offense was probably a bit better than this Alabama offense). The common denominator on both teams: Nick Saban as head coach.

What Comes Next? A team that looks a whole lot like 2010 Alabama. Young in some key places, returning quarterback, strong running game. Should be good to pencil in 10 wins and then see what happens from there with a brutal schedule (open against Michigan, at Arkansas, at LSU along with the rest of SEC play). 11-1 should be good enough for SEC Championship game next season and an SEC Championship with less that two losses is pretty much an automatic ticket to the National Title Game barring bizarro circumstances (loss is to Michigan who goes undefeated and either Oregon or USC also goes undefeated only scenario I can see).

Ten Best Games of the Bowl Season

Rose Bowl – Oregon 45, Wisconsin 38

The game that had everything (except maybe a kick return touchdown). Offense from everywhere, a defensive touchdown and a bit of controversy/insanity at the end with the failed spike by Russell Wilson (with two seconds left, always just run a play because a spike leaves you at the mercy of the referee and clock operator). Add that it was the Rose Bowl and it was a true Rose Bowl between the champions of the Pac-12 and Big Ten played when it should be played on New Year's with perfect weather, and it gets even better.

Fiesta Bowl – Oklahoma St. 41, Stanford 38 (OT)

And if the Rose Bowl didn't have everything, this game did. Andrew Luck was nearly perfect in the game, but it wasn't enough as his coach chose to put in on the foot of the kicker in true NFL-bred conservative fashion at the end and paid for it when the freshmen kicker missed both at the end of regulation and in overtime.

Outback Bowl – Michigan St. 33, Georgia 30 (3OT)

This wasn't a particularly well played game, but it was certainly entertaining as these teams tried to outmistake their opponents. Ultimately, Georgia succeeded in part because Mark Richt got too conservative in overtime and left it to the kicker, a very bad proposition this season.

New Orleans Bowl – UL-Lafayette 32, San Diego St. 30

Of course, not every kicker was awful at the end of games. Before we get to him, remember that the quarterbacks shot it out in this game (before the Alamo Bowl redefined the definition of shootout in football) with a combined 905 yards passing between the two teams. Still, the story was the kicker, Brett Baer, who made a 50-yarder to win the game as time expired.

Idaho Potato Bowl – Ohio 24, Utah St. 23

Utah St. played and a MAC team played. Both of those were sure signs of entertainment this season. And in the end, Utah St. played to early season form, blowing a lead in the 4^th quarter, allowing Ohio to score with under 20 seconds to go and steal the win.

Alamo Bowl – Baylor 67, Washington 56

Keith Price is a superstar. He was incredible for Washington and minted himself a superstar. The Baylor running game was also amazing, even if it was against Matador defense waving them through. Oh yeah, the Heisman Trophy winner was in this game too. This game was a ton of fun, but its not at the top because I like the thought of defense in football. I don't want my football scores to be higher than my basketball scores.

Whatever they're calling the game in Charlotte now – NC State 31, Louisville 24

Nothing spectacular here. Just a solid, fun game in front of a decent crowd that I enjoyed watching. Sometimes that's all a bowl game needs to be, especially early in the bowl season before the bigger, badder teams get fired up.

Sugar Bowl – Michigan 23, Virginia Tech 20 (OT)

The end was great. Ot was enjoyable. The game was close. It was a BCS game. Why is it ranked so low? It was a BCS game that shouldn't have been and it was boring for most of the game, especially in the first half.

Military Bowl – Toledo 42, Air Force 41

MACtion against the triple-option? Sign me up anytime, especially in a bowl game like this one. And it delivered everything we expect. Points everywhere and a close game decided an a failed two-point conversion on a fake PAT. The big surprise: a real throwing presence (159 yards passing) from normally ground bound Air Force.

Poinsettia Bowl – TCU 31, Louisiana Tech 24

It's a formula that works at least once for a good game in every bowl season: favorite plays lethargically because of either rust or lack of desire (or both) before waking up to take the win in a closer than expected fashion at the end. That is exactly how this one was as TCU slept through much of the game before scoring 14 points to comeback and then put the game away.

BCS Championship Game Quick Thoughts

The Alabama defense is one of the greatest of all-time – There have been very few defenses capable of taking apart teams like Alabama has done this season. In recent history, I can think of only four others: 1992 Alabama, 1995 Nebraska, 1999 Florida St. and 2001 Miami. Even being mentioned with those teams is an accomplishment, but I think Alabama this season is better on defense than those teams. Just look at the LSU offense. As it turns out, the LSU offense maxed out in the first game with its 9 points. It didn't play well here and we all saw the results. Sadly.

Despite the loss, the LSU defense was its usual self – The LSU defense is the second best in the country. It stood on its head to keep Alabama out of the endzone for most of the game before finally running out of gas. Kudos to the effort put forth by LSU, especially the front seven that bottled up Trent Richardson entirely before the late touchdown run

On some level, the Maze punt return was the end of the game – Yes, Marquis Maze was injured on the punt return and yes I have been extra critical of him this season. Still, his punt return really shook LSU's confidence. All season, nobody had even bothered to return a punt against LSU. When Maze took off on his return, it was like the energy and will was sucked out of the LSU sideline. The one certain advantage was no longer an advantage.

LSU's offensive gameplan was pathetic

Thank to @Year2 of TeamSpeedKills for the image

Just know the graphic isn't really all that far off from the truth.

Even with the bad gameplan, LSU's limitations offensively were on display – All season, nobody really thought much of LSU being a below average team offensively, as least as far as yards go. Mostly because it always had great field position and scored a ton of points. In this game, the field position was bad and there were no turnovers. Combined with a great defense, this was the result, as it might always have been destined to be. The last time this happened, the average Mississippi St. defense held LSU to 19 points, so we should have seen this as a possibility.

Jordan Jefferson should have been pulled – Jefferson was miserable in this game. No other way to describe it. He was inaccurate, made dumb decisions and was slow both in movement and in his reads in the option games. Quite simple, he was atrocious (even without the awful interception). Jarrett Lee may not have been better, but it wouldn't have hurt to try with the National Title on the line and the team in need of a spark down 15 in the 4^th quarter.

The Alabama offense found a savior at wide receiver with Norwood – Kevin Norwood was pedestrian for all of his two seasons so far at Alabama. All season long, I decried the lack of a deep threat or big play receiver as the main Alabama weakness. With Marquis Maze out injured, Norwood suddenly became that guy, catching four passes for 78 yards after catching only seven passes all season. With Norwood a threat, the Alabama passing game had one of its best games of the season against the best secondary in the country.

Alabama is lucky this didn't become a kicking contest again – The Alabama kicking game was all over the place again. 5-7 and a missed extra point shows this is still a problem. At one point I said on twitter not to kick the field goal. The only way to lose was to get one blacked and returned for a touchdown.

Jordan Jefferson, you have earned the top lowlight of the season – For those who missed the interception, here it is, in all its lowlighty glory.

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Final Thoughts and Pick for the National Title

Alabama was the better team other than its special teams the last time around. That won't happen again. Either Alabama will be better again and it won't matter or LSU will be the better team.

The best quarterback will win the game. A.J. McCarron was average against LSU the first time around. He missed some plays and some pickups that he will have to do better with. Jordan Jefferson has been as schizophrenic as ever since returning to the lineup. He was great against Arkansas and awful against Georgia.

Les Miles is the best coach in this game. Conventional wisdom says Nick Saban is the better coach in part because his reputation and previous coaching stops say so. The reality is that Les Miles doesn't lose with extra time to prepare. Since getting to LSU, Miles has lost one game with more than one week to prepare his team. The only loss was to Penn St. in a bowl game with a terrible field two seasons ago. Included in those stats are the last two years against Alabama, where LSU was an underdog and won anyway. Given extra time, Miles just doesn't lose and while Saban is very good, Miles has proven to be better.

There will be touchdowns. In the first game, both teams had plenty of opportunities to score touchdowns and didn't take advantage. In this game, all it takes is one. One touchdown for either side will open the offenses a bit and allow some scoring to occur.

The gameplans won't be so relentlessly conservative this time. In the first game, Alabama started throwing the ball a bit, but went more and more into a shell as the game went on. LSU was conservative from the start and never came out of the shell (possibly out of necessity with Jordan Jefferson coming on in relief of ineffective Jarrett Lee). Both teams will be more aggressive and both will find some success with that aggressiveness that neither found in the first game.

Special teams won't play a major role. Conventional wisdom says special teams are a big part of expected close, defensive games like this one. It won't matter much. There won't be a game changing play on special teams here. No blocked punts, no big kick returns, nothing. Except maybe a missed kick, but nothing beyond the ordinary level.

Alabama can't come from behind. A.J. McCarron is just not going to be able to come from behind if they get behind more than one score. He can't get the passing game cranked up well enough (no deep balls) and he has never been behind as the starting qb. Even in the first game, he never trailed, only losing on the final play.

Whichever team hits the first deep ball will win the game. Neither team hit anything down the field in the first game. This time, I expect more of the same. Except this time, I expect someone to find something deep and whichever team does it first will win the game because of the space it gives to the running game.

Trent Richardson is not the key for the Alabama offense. Yes, Richardson is the most likely MVP for Alabama in the game. He also was the best player on offense for either team in the last game. None of that mattered. It didn't matter because Richardson can't do everything on his own. Where was Marquis Maze and the passing game? It disappeared at the 30 yard line, every time. If the passing game can't get going, Richardson, once again, won't matter despite being the best offensive player on the field.

The pick: Alabama has more overall talent. It has the better defense. It doesn't have the explosive talent in the positions needed to exploit the LSU defense. Given that, I expect it to be close and low scoring. Not as low scoring as the last time, but low scoring, especially compared to the other BCS games. In a close, low scoring game, the big mistake will decide the game. Last time, Alabama made the big mistakes in the kicking game. This time, Alabama will once again make the big mistake, this time coming from McCarron and the passing game.

LSU 20, Alabama 16

Learning from the past – what to take from the first LSU-Alabama matchup

There are a lot of things to be learned from the first game between LSU and Alabama. Only some of them are relevant to this game. Here are a few of them.

Alabama must figure out a way to throw deep on LSU – In the first game, Alabama had some success in the first half on intermediate passing routes. It found nothing deep (as I suspected might be the case in the pregame analysis). Somehow, someway, Alabama must find a deep pass. And I mean a legit deep ball. Getting Trent Richardson 50 yards on a screen is not a deep ball. Throwing down the field for a long completion, preferably a touchdown is what is needed. If Alabama can do it, even once, it will open the field up. In the last game, only Richardson's greatness kept Alabama from being totally stagnant after the first two drives. The lack of respect for Alabama's receivers by the LSU safeties and coaching staff completely negated everything else and would have negated Richardson too if he wasn't so good. With a deep completion, even one, the rest of the field reopens, including the midrange passes that Alabama used to great effect (seven completions over 15 yards) for the first quarter and a half of the first game.

Jordan Jefferson's legs are the key to the LSU offense – Last time, Jarrett Lee was still the starter for LSU when the game started. By the end of the game, Jefferson was the unquestioned starter. Without Jefferson, LSU wouldn't have got the second field goal that sent the game to overtime. His legs were necessary. Without those legs that make him mobile, Jefferson is Lee with a lower completion percentage and a few less interceptions. Now, he should be ready to play better in round two. At the very least, he should do well with knocking the rust off since he did it in the middle of the first game.

Alabama's defense will not be beaten by traditional means – When Lee was in the game in the first game, Alabama ate the LSU offense alive. I already mentioned Jefferson's legs. In addition, LSU should get the gimmick plays out. The TE Around play that LSU used on 4^th and 1 to seal the win in the 2010 game was a great example of the type of unconventional play calling that will be needed to move the ball on Alabama. Without some plays like that one built for deception at a key time, LSU won't move the ball again and there will be another stalemate.

The Alabama offense will continue to stall just outside the redzone – All game long in the first game, Alabama stalled just before the red zone, causing long field goal attempts. I don't see any reason why that will change in round 2 (making hitting a deep ball for a TD all the more important). The main reason why is the lack of a go to receiver. LSU's corners are so good, the Alabama receivers got erased in the first game. Nowhere does a lack of receivers become more evident than the area between midfield and the redzone. That area, more than any other, is where receivers make the offense go. This is because the defense generally becomes more aggressive in its blitz packages in this area and good receivers allow check downs to be made gaining more yardage. With no receivers open, the extra pressure becomes sacks, like what happened to Alabama in overtime. In what we've seen since then, the Alabama receivers just aren't up to the challenge. That means the field goal unit must be ready this time after its failures in the first game.

Bowl Season: Corporate Nonsense for many Bowl Games

So I fell a bit behind on the bowl previews. A combination of family commitments, travel, sickness and wonky unreliable internet caused be to just stop writing them. When I was writing them, the Locale, Bowl Pedigree and Corporate Nonsense sections were quite entertaining and well received. Thus, I give them to you my readers for all of the bowl games I didn't cover. Note the BCS games and the Cotton Bowl are not covered. Those game are all high pedigree and high locale with necessary and unobtrusive corporate sponsors. There was nothing interesting to say about them.

Bowl Game: Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl

Locale/Bowl Pedigree: One of three games in the Dallas-Fort Worth area makes this one ripe for the killing whenever we decide to finally kill some bowl games. Also, that this one is played on either SMU or TCU's campus doesn't exactly help matters. It looks small time, it feels small time and it is small time.

Corporate Nonsense: At least this game has a sponsor that fits. Also, it is a sponsor that doesn't usurp its bowl partner like so many others (some of which will be skewered a bit further down this post).

Bowl Game: New Era Pinstripe Bowl

Locale/Bowl Pedigree: This game is played a Yankee Stadium. It connects with the tradition of big games played at Yankee Stadium in the olden days. A nice throw back... Or maybe not. This game is played at New Yankee Stadium. That alone is worth -10,000 points. Add in that the game hosts a mediocre Big East team and an even more mediocre Big 12 team and there is a recipe for disaster, even if the first one last year was good.

Corporate Nonsense: Another sponsor that fits, especially as a hat maker sponsoring a game played in a baseball stadium. This could get boring quick if we don't get some absurd sponsors (and we will soon).

Bowl Game: Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl

Locale/Bowl Pedigree: The stadium in Nashville is nice. Nashville itself is nice. Nothing more to say about the ho humness here. Even the pedigree is ho hum. At various points in this game's history, it has hosted mediocre Big East, ACC, Big Ten and SEC teams. Right now its ACC/SEC, probably the best combination possible for itself, even if the matchups sometimes are dull.

Corporate Nonsense: And here we have a pointless sponsor. Franklin American Mortgage and Music City just go so well together don't they. Why can't this game get a record company or something along those lines to sponsor this. At least if going off the board, do what this game used to do and go totally off the board. By totally off the board I mean bring back Gaylord Hotels as the title sponsor. The laugher and snickers that used to be had at this game's expense at least used to mean everyone knew what it was. Now, it's just a soulless corporate nothing of a game.

Bowl Game: Insight Bowl

Locale/Bowl Pedigree: Not bad, all things considered. This game actually has a history over 20 years, going back to its beginnings as the Copper Bowl. It survived being a .com bowl game (unlike most every other one) and it is now played at Sun Devil Stadium, a site where national titles have been decided and great games have been played (by the big brother Fiesta Bowl that moved to the new stadium in Glendale). Even the matchup is normally decent, hosting the Big Ten and Big 12 in a game that normally has a team in the back end of the top 25.

Corporate Nonsense: I don't know what the heck Insight does, but as the sole corporate sponsor since 1997 and having survived a few years as the Insight.com bowl, nobody remembers that this game used to be the Copper Bowl. Given that, this sponsor gets a passing grade for staying with it so long that the corporate sponsor has become the bowl and has had a long enough tenure to be accepted.

Bowl Game: Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas

Locale/Bowl Pedigree: My first order as commissioner of college football would be to kill this game off in swift fashion. It is an abomination. Other than the fact that it has already died and been revived once and is a corporate monstrosity of failure (more on that below), it has awful matchups annually. For example, I have no idea why anyone thought either Illinois last year or Northwestern this year was a good idea, but here we are. Let it also be noted that the tv broadcast of the 2006 game is considered one of the worst bowl broadcasts of all-time (thanks NFL Network). That year, the sideline reporter just didn't bother coming to the game (that would be Marshall Faulk), the yellow first down line malfunctioned during the telecast and the play by play guy kept channeling his inner Elmer Fudd during the game, calling Rutgers RB Ray Rice Way Wice.

Corporate Nonsense: Incarnation one: two years as the galleryfurniture.com Bowl. A few years as the EV1.net Houston Bowl. If you can tell me why Houston based Gallery Furniture would need to sponsor a national bowl game about its website, gold star for you. If you can tell me what EV1.net does, many more gold starts for you. Incarnation two: the Houston Texans of the NFL sponsored the game, calling it the Texas Bowl. Then came idiocy this year. That would be the Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas. Normally that wouldn't be too insane except the of Texas is necessary because the Meineke Car Care Bowl was played in Charlotte the last few seasons. That game is now the Belk Bowl (ugh) while this abomination of a game gets Meineke Car Care.

Bowl Game: Hyundai Sun Bowl

Locale/Bowl Pedigree: I'll be quick. The bowl has a lot of history and has had tv coverage by CBS for a long time. The locale sucks. Who the heck wants to spend New Year's in El Paso, Texas?

Corporate Nonsense: Nothing out of the ordinary here. Car makers have been reliable sponsors of games for a long time and will likely be solid sponsors for many years to come.

Bowl Game: AutoZone Liberty Bowl

Locale/Pedigree: Memphis is a nice town (ok city for those who might get bent out of shape over me calling it a town when it is much bigger than that). The stadium is a falling apart, dilapidated dump that Memphis University refuses to fix despite the place being its home field and that the bowl refuses to fix because it's Memphis' home field. The Liberty Bowl name came with the game when it moved from Philadelphia to Atlantic City and then Memphis in 1965.

Corporate Nonsense: Nothing terrible. AutoZone is a national chain based in Memphis. There is no real corporate tie-in, but sometimes there doesn't have to be. As long as we aren't dealing with the AutoZone Bowl in the future, its ok if there must be a corporate sponsor.

Bowl Game: Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl

Locale/Pedigree: Pathetic. It's a game played in a baseball stadium between usually bad football teams (2010 exempted when 12-1 Nevada was in the game). If you learned nothing from the Pinstripe Bowl, learn it again here: don't play football in baseball stadiums. If you must, get a better matchup.

Corporate Nonsense: The Kraft Fight Hunger Initiative is nice. Nothing bad to say about a corporate sponsor using a bowl for a good cause. Of course this game has its checkered stupidity in sponsorship previously. Most notably, it carried the ridiculous Diamond Walnut San Francisco Bowl name for a couple of years. After that, it became the Emerald Bowl (still the same sponsor) and was notable for giving us the first national airing of this before it aired during the Super Bowl:

Bowl Game: Chick-fil-A Bowl

Locale/Pedigree: This is a first class bowl game in a first class stadium. It gets a good SEC team against a good ACC team every year and it has the longest sell out streak of any bowl game (that includes the BCS games, even the Rose that failed to sell out in 2002) owing that streak to being in the mecca of college football and having huge alumni bases for nearly every school that gets to play in it. If not for the miserable New Year's Eve night time slot (unless I am there, I refuse to watch my Auburn team play in this game again), this might be my non-BCS Bowl game.

Corporate Nonsense: Of course there has to be one drawback. That is here. Chick-fil-A is a great sponsor. It is a good company. This game is still the Peach Bowl. I refuse to acknowledge it otherwise except in posts like this one.

Bowl Game: TicketCity Bowl

Locale/Pedigree: Let's just call this what it is: Zombie Cotton Bowl. It is played in the Cotton Bowl stadium. It is played in the Cotton Bowl's former New Year's morning timeslot. It has had a former Southwest Conference team in the game in each of the first two incarnations (Texas Tech last season and Houston this season). Of course all of that doesn't make this game worthwhile, even if it got a plum matchup this season (only happened because of some Conference USA finagling and the Jerry Sandusky scandal that sent Penn St. sliding down the pecking order in the Big Ten). Let it be noted that this is the only game relegated to the ghetto known as ESPNU for tv coverage. Every other game except one is on either ESPN or network tv (and that one is on ESPN2 at the same time this game is on).

Corporate Nonsense: And the Zombie Cotton Bowl has an appropriate sponsor too: the poorman's StubHub. TicketCity just isn't as good as its inspiration at StubHub. In the same way, the Zombie Cotton Bowl will never be as good as the real Cotton Bowl.

Bowl Game: Outback Bowl

Locale/Pedigree: The former Hall of Fame Game has had a nice SEC/Big Ten matchup for as long as I can remember. Looking at the history, it hosted Duke in the Blue Devils final bowl appearance in the last year before the SEC/Big Ten contract kicked in. Also, Tampa is a good bowl site too (at opposed to that abomination across the bay in St. Petersburg known as the Beef O Brady's Bowl).

Corporate Nonsense: Outback Steakhouse has been sponsoring this game for longer than I can remember there being an Outback Steakhouse. That's how we want all of our corporate sponsors to be. If we must have them, do a good job of integrating the company into the game. One way to do that is longevity.

Bowl Game: Capital One Bowl

Locale/Pedigree: The locale is the same as the Champs Sports Bowl. Thus, it is pretty good. The pedigree is much better than its cousin. SEC 2 against Big Ten 2 is much better than ACC 3 against Big East 2 (even when Notre Dame replaces Big East 2).

Corporate Nonsense: Ugh. See Chick-fil-A Bowl comments. Repeat, replacing Chick-fil-A with Capital One and Peach with Citrus.

Bowl Game: Taxslayer.com Gator Bowl

Locale/Pedigree: The most hated upon decent city in the country. Jacksonville isn't bad, it just isn't what anyone wants (except for during World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party week). Thus, this game has lost its luster after being a marquee game for many years. The start of its slide certainly started with the decision to get away from the Big East and ACC. It did well before that. Now, it is an awful game making up the pathetic end of the New Year's SEC/Big Ten Challenge while the Outback and Citrus Bowls do the heavy lifting.

Corporate Nonsense: A .com bowl game? You're dead to me Gator Bowl. Only your insistence on keeping Gator in the name keeps me from wanting to kill you off for taking a dump on you glorious New Year's history.

Bowl Game: BBVA Compass Bowl

Locale/Pedigree: The dump known as Legion Field in Birmingham. Why anyone would want to play here is beyond me (and part of why UAB is eternally terrible). Double that for a bowl game played on the Saturday before the national championship game when people would rather watch college basketball.

Corporate Nonsense: I suppose BBVA Compass isn't a bad sponsor, but if I were a company I wouldn't want to be associated with a game and stadium this bad.

Bowl Game: Godaddy.com Bowl

Locale: Mobile, Alabama, home of the Senior Bowl. Despite some memorable game between non-BCS league powerhouses over the years, this game is still an oddity that is overshadowed in a lot of way by it cousin the Senior Bowl, played here a few weeks later with oodles of NFL scouts watching seniors try to improve their draft stocks.

Corporate Nonsense: .com game. Blech. Go away. Bring back GMAC. Bring back the Mobile Alabama Bowl name. Make GoDaddy drop the .com (though the GoDaddy Bowl Would sound quite awkward while saying it). Whatever it is, do something...

BCS Previews: Orange Bowl

Matchup – ACC Champion Clemson vs Big East Champion West Virginia

Road to the Orange Bowl – Clemson: Early in the season, Clemson appeared to eliminate the “That's why your Clemson” problem from its DNA, beating Auburn, Florida St. and Virginia Tech in succession on the way to an 8-0 start. From there, the wheels kind of fell off after getting beating by Georgia Tech before Clemson exposed Virginia Tech as way overrated, blowing them off the field in the ACC Championship Game.

Road to the Orange Bowl – West Virginia: Be the preseason favorite. Given the schedules and the teams beaten, a case can be made for Cincinnati as a better overall team in the Big East 3-team tiebreaker (though not Louisville who lost to Marshall and Florida International). That said, West Virginia has better name value and was the preseason favorite, thus the BCS standings gave the Mountaineers the nod.

Clemson offense vs West Virginia defense: Advantage Clemson

Something Urban Meyer said on one play for Clemson while calling the Clemson-Auburn game back in September still sticks out to me. That play was one part great scheme, one part great execution and one part great recruiting. Just from that play, you could tell Meyer the spread guru was impressed with the Clemson spread offense (so much so that he reportedly tried to hire Clemson OC Chad Morris as his OC before Morris stayed at Clemson) because it gets its best players good matchups and then lets the talent take over as long as they execute it well. West Virginia has had some problems against offenses that execute well, even if they lack talent (see Syracuse destruction of Mountaineers). When one that has talent executes well, West Virginia's beleaguered defense rarely has the answers.

West Virginia offense vs Clemson defense: Advantage West Virginia

The West Virginia spread passing game is really good. Not as good as its cousin at Oklahoma St., but still really good. It was the only passing game all season to find success against the LSU defense (over 400 yards in a losing cause) and it pretty much did the heavy lifting on its own with little to no running game. Against the Clemson defense, it will find a secondary that is flammable at times and a defense that only really shut down Virginia Tech.

Final Verdict: West Virginia is good. Clemson is very good. The talent difference will show here as Sammy Watkins and Tajh Boyd have a field day and the Clemson defense does just enough to win going away.

Clemson 40, West Virginia 27

BCS Preview: Sugar Bowl

Matchup – Michigan vs Virginia Tech

Road to the Sugar Bowl – Michigan: It is well publicized, but Michigan stunk the last few years. Since its epic loss to Ohio St. with a trip to the National Title Game on the line in 2006, the Wolverines have been bad. Then came new coach Brady Hoke. With him came less changes than expected to a good offense and a defense that found a pulse. With that defense came a 10-2 season that probably should have been one better (how did Michigan lose to Iowa?) and an at-large berth to the Sugar Bowl for its suffering fanbase that was key to the whole bowl situation considering nearly every bowl in the country would be falling over themselves to get Michigan this season after the last few years.

Road to the Sugar Bowl – Virginia Tech: Beat nobody at all (only Georgia Tech even had a pulse), win a weak division in a weak conference, get roasted by the best team on the schedule twice and get a massive favor done for them. Seriously, the Virginia Tech schedule was an embarrassment this year. There is a reason I picked them to go to the National Title game in the preseason and quality of team wasn't that reason. And if not for Clemson being much better than expected (and banishing at least some of the Clemson demons in big games), there is a very good chance I would have been right. Thankfully, the Hokies ended up here, even if it was undeserved and not in the National Title game with a 13-0 record against a weaker schedule than Boise St.

Michigan offense vs Virgtinia Tech defense: Advantage Michigan

Last I saw, the Virginia Tech defense was getting stomped by the Clemson offense. Michigan's offense is near the same caliber and runs the same type of system. The reality is that Virginia Tech is ill-equipped to deal with spread type teams of any type and Clemson was the only one with high level personnel the Hokies played. Expect this to look more like those game instead of the grinding defense first games we normally expect from the Hokies defense.

Virginia Tech offense vs Michigan defense: Advantage Michigan

The Virginia Tech offense was much better than usual this season. David Wilson is a very good running back and Logan Thomas, while still developing, turned in a fine first season as a starter. That said, Wilson can't do it alone and first year starters in bowl games can get overwhelmed because of the xtra scheming that can happen with the time off. Given a year, Thomas shreds most defenses (look out everyone next season). Right now, he will have his moments, but the formerly maligned Michigan defense will generally bottle things up like it did against Nebraska and Ohio St. (at least in the 2^nd half).

Final Verdict: Virginia Tech is the most overrated team in all of college football. It is also the most undeserving of all the BCS teams this season (including West Virginia). That is generally a bad combination, especially against a team that appears to be underrated because some of the voters can't get the images of the Michigan defense being destroyed with the same players the last couple of years. With a fans firmly in Michigan's corner, I expect a great performance from the Wolverines to launch them into the beginning of next season and a hyped up season opener against Alabama.

Michigan 37, Virginia Tech 20

BCS Preview: Fiesta Bowl

Matchup – Big 12 Champion Oklahoma St. vs Stanford

Road to the Fiesta Bowl – Oklahoma St.: After a big season last year, hopes were high for Oklahoma St., starting in the top ten. The Cowboys got off to a flying 3-0 start including a blowout win over Arizona before facing Texas A&M. In that game, they trailed by a ton in the 3^rd quarter, but came back to win the game (nobody knew the problems A&M would have holding leads at that point). From there, Oklahoma St.'s offense ran over the Big 12 and the defense stood tall enough to life the team to the number 2 ranking with three weeks to go in the season. Then, in a rare (first non-opening or Thanksgiving in Big 12 history) Friday night game, Oklahoma St. was shocked by lowly Iowa St. As it turned out, that loss cost Oklahoma St. a shot at the National Title when voters decided that Alabama's better loss and pedigree outweighed Oklahoma St.'s quality wins. The Cowboys did recover to steamroll age old foe Oklahoma to take the Big 12 though.

Road to the Fiesta Bowl – Stanford: Oh, but for Oregon. For the second season in a row, Andrew Luck and Stanford were incredible. For the second year in a row, they survived a close game against USC. For the second year in a row, they blew out nearly everyone else. For the second year in a row, Stanford got torched by Oregon. For the second year in a row, Stanford missed the Rose Bowl because of the loss to Oregon and had to use the Kansas St. rule to get into the BCS (for those that don't know, the Kansas St. rule states that a non-champion team from a BCS conference ranked in the top 4 goes to the BCS automatically).

Stanford offense vs Oklahoma St. defense: Advantage Oklahoma St.

Andrew Luck is really good. He also has a good running game. That said, he has thrown some awful interceptions this season. Oklahoma St. is bad at a lot things defensively. Forcing turnovers isn't one of them. Luck's susceptibility to INTs gives the advantage to an Oklahoma St. defense that knows it usually only needs a couple of stops to win the game.

Oklahoma St. offense vs Stanford defense: Advantage Oklahoma St.

The Oklahoma St. offense has all the traits of the Oregon offense that has been killing the Stanford defense for years: Spread running game, fast tempo, ability to throw deep, etc. It also has Justin Blackmon, a receiver better than any Stanford has faced in recent years. This bodes ill for the largely depth free Stanford defense.

Final Verdict: The disappointment factor. How will it rear its ugly head. Will Oklahoma St. be upset to not be playing for the whole ball of wax? Will Stanford be upset to not be playing in the earlier game? Whichever team manages those emotions more wins the game, independent of the advantages. Given Mike Gundy's unique coaching philosophies that have worked much of the season, I'll go with him and his team.

Oklahoma St. 38, Stanford 30

BCS Preview: Rose Bowl

Matchup – Pac-12 Champion Oregon vs Big Ten Champion Wisconsin

Road to the Rose Bowl – Oregon: After playing for the National Title and being beaten by Auburn on the final play, hopes were high for Oregon again. National Title hopes were dashed early though as the Ducks were steamrolled by LSU at Jerry World in Dallas to open the season. From there, it was what has become the annual procession through conference play for Oregon with one speed bump this season, a home loss to probation saddled USC in November. Despite that, Oregon smoked Stanford for the second straight season and has lost just two Pac-10/12 games over the last three seasons (at Stanford in 2009 and USC in 2011). The Rose Bowl berth was clinched by whipping poor UCLA at home in the Pac-12 Championship Game, completing an 11-2 season.

Road to the Rose Bowl – Wisconsin: When Russell Wilson transferred into the program from NC State and became eligible immediately, the defending Big Ten Champion Badgers suddenly were looked at as national contenders as nearly everyone of consequence on the roster returned from last season's 11-2 team. Then Wilson played and played well and the hyperbole got out of hand as Wisconsin smoked loads of overmatched opponents at home culminating in a demolition of Nebraska in early October. Then came the road where the Wisconsin pass defense crumbled late allowing Michigan St. and Ohio St. to steal late wins, first on a Hail Mary and second on a desperation heave with under a minute to play. After the losses, Wisconsin scuffled but didn't stumble, ultimately getting its mojo back by obliterating Penn St. in a de facto division title game and outlasting Michigan St. in another shootout in the Big Ten Title Game.

Oregon offense vs Wisconsin defense: Advantage Oregon

The Oregon offense is one of the best in college football. The Wisconsin defense is average, especially away from home. Even with the extra time to prepare (the main kryptonite for the Oregon offense going back to 2009, Boise St., Ohio St., Auburn and LSU all had extra time either in a bowl game or the beginning of the season), Wisconsin is unlikely to slow the Oregon offense much. It lacks the overall personnel needed to do so.

Wisconsin offense vs Oregon defense: Advantage Wisconsin

The Wisconsin offense is also one of the best in the sport. It pounds between the tackles and uses Wilson to throw play action deep balls with great efficiency. Against Oregon, this approach has worked twice this season to great effect. LSU pounded the Oregon defense into submission in the Ducks first loss and USC hit the play action deep passes with Matt Barkley to win at Oregon. Considering Wisconsin uses both of those traits very well, it could be a long day for the Oregon defense.

Final Verdict: Oregon will win the game. There are just more ways for the Ducks to do it on offense and, despite Wisconsin's great offense, I don't think anyone (me included) has enough faith to believe it can score 40 points in this game.

Oregon 43, Wisconsin 35

Valero Alamo Bowl Preview

Matchup: Baylor vs Washington. Baylor has its best year ever this season. Nine wins and a Heisman Trophy. Washington has another solid year in its quest of rebuilding out of the morass.

Matchup Pedigree: Role Reversal. Baylor's won nine games and had its best year ever. Washington still stinks by pre-2003 Washington standards.

Locale: OK, San Antonio is good, but black marks for playing in a dome.

Entertainment Value: Off the charts. Washington has long though defense is optional and wins it share of games anyway. Baylor has Mr. Heisman dropping 50 yard passes into windows the size of postage stamps. This is everything one could want from a bowl game as long as RG3 didn't get fat on the awards circuit.

Corporate Nonsense: Valero sells you cheap gas. Unless you pay with a credit card. Then Valero sells you cheap gas while stealing your money or sells you more expensive gas depending on the perspective. Let the presence of Valero here teach you that anyone can sponsor a bowl game with a enough money.

Bowl Pedigree: Improving. Previously, this game matched Big 12 and Big 10 4. Now, it stole the old Holiday Bowl Matchup and places Pac-12 2 against Big 12 3. Of course, with two in the BCS this season from the Pac-12, the rest of the league gets moved up one undeserved notch.

Game Prediction: Washington plays no defense RG3 will have his way.

Baylor 48, Washington 28

Should you watch: You MUST. The Heisman winner is in this game. You always watch the Heisman winner.

Champs Sports Bowl Preview

Matchup: Florida St. vs Notre Dame. When we last saw the Seminoles, they were partaking on one of the worst offensive games in the sports history, beating Florida 21-7 despite less than 100 yards of offense. Notre Dame fired up the turnover machine often and turned the ball over, a lot, in bunches, at inopportune times. And gave away games all season because of it.

Matchup Pedigree: Off the charts. Florida St. carries two National Titles and the status of ACC flagship program despite not being national title good in over a decade. Notre Dame is Notre Dame. Anyone reading this blog should know that.

Locale: Pretty good. Is the weather ever truly bad in Orlando? Is the stadium a total dump? The answer to these is both no meaning this game is a good locale.

Entertainment Value: Medium. Likely defensive struggle, but seeing Brian Kelly's head explode after the latest ND turnover is usually worth it.

Corporate Nonsense: RAGE. I deny the existence of the Champs Sports Bowl. Other than in this preview, it will be called by its true name: the Tangerine Bowl.

Bowl Pedigree: Good. Big East 2 vs ACC 3 is a nice get and all sorts of history belong to this bowl game in its many corporate incarnations. Among them a great top 10 matchup in its first year as the Blockbuster Bowl back in the early 1990s (Florida St.-Penn St., pre-conference alignment).

Game Prediction: Florida St. has a stellar defense. Notre Dame has a turnover machine. The turnover machine will be on. INTs and fumbles will be the order of the day. Even the pop gun Florida St. offense can win under those circumstances.

Should you watch: Yes, Yes, Yes. Two tradition laden programs and the possibly for RAGE FACE and comedic turnovers mean this is a must watch.

Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl

Matchup: Cal vs Texas. Two middling 7-5 power conference teams get together for a middling bowl game that is taking prime real estate on the ESPN bowl schedule.

Matchup Pedigree: Best so far. Texas is one of the elite programs in the sport despite its down years this year and last. Cal is a solid Pac-12 program that probably should have been in the BCS in 2004 (over Texas) and was USC's main challenger for much of the 2000s before the rise of Oregon.

Locale: Top-level. Having been to this bowl game twice previously, it is good. The stadium is nice if not state of the art and the weather is great. Crisp, cool, clear air with no rain forthcoming. Doesn't get much better for December nighttime football.

Entertainment Value: Eh. Not much this year. Texas is bad on offense and great on defense. Cal is good on defense and inconsistent at best on offense. This could easily devolve into a 17-14 game or a festival of turnovers.

Corporate Nonsense: Uh. What? This is yet another mismatched sponsor. For profit online higher education? Don't these guys know that much of the college football fanbase is college graduates? And that those college graduates either have no need for online for profit education, or, if needed, would avoid it anyway because they are university elitists. Even being headquartered in San Diego, this is a dumb sponsor, but if anyone has learned anything in my bowl previews thus far, its that most bowl games have a dumb sponsor.

Bowl Pedigree: One of the better, but falling fast. For a long time, this game hosted the WAC champion when the WAC was the only non-ACC, Pac-10, Big Ten, SWC, SEC or Big 8 conference of value at all. Heck, it even got to crown BYU National Champion in 1984. After dropping the WAC tie-in, the game matched the second pick from the Pac-10 and the 3^rd from the Big 12. This also got great matchups. In 1998 Arizona sealed a 12-1 season by beating defending National Champ Nebraska. It got Oregon, Kansas St., Oklahoma St., Texas, Washington and Washington St. when they were top 10 teams. Then, money talked and the Alamo Bowl bought that matchup a couple of years ago. The result has been falling prestige. Last year was a regular season rematch between Nebraska and Washington. This year, two 7-5 teams at a bowl that, before last season, had only had one five loss team since the Big 12/Pac-10 matchup began (Arizona St. in 2002 when the Pac-12 sent two teams to the BCS). Now, the Holiday Bowl is just another game. Some years it will improve, but only when the Pac-12 doesn't get two into the BCS.

Game Prediction: The Texas defense is going to force the mistake prone Cal offense into lots of turnovers. Despite a few turnovers of its own, Texas will win easily.

Texas 27, Cal 12

Should you watch: Check the score. This game isn't all that important and it's likely to be a 3-hour infomercial for the Longhorn Network. If it's close late, it's worth watching. If not, don't bother, especially since the process of getting to whatever the 4^th quarter score is will likely be ugly and painful.

Military Bowl Preview

Matchup: Toledo vs Air Force. Toledo has been involved in some of the wildest, craziest games of the season on the way to an entertaining 8-4 record and losing its coach to Illinois. Air Force won 7 games again running the always entertaining flexbone option offense.

Matchup Pedigree: Solid. Toledo has a long tradition of winning at the non-BCS level, even stringing a 35 game win streak together in the early 1970s. Air Force has consistently been the best service academy and, before Navy's recent run, the only service academy competitive at a high level.

Locale: Why? The stadium is fine, but nobody wants to go to cold weather bowl games such as this one in Washington.

Entertainment Value: Tons. Toledo scored 126 points in two games at one point during the season. It went 1-1. In that same stretch it gave up 126 points. It went 1-1. Air Force runs the always fun to watch triple option. This is probably the best mid-major matchup outside of the Sun Belt Champ against MAC champ game coming later in the bowl season.

Corporate Nonsense: Big bonus points to Northrop Grumman for presenting the game and not making this the Northrop Grumman Military Bowl. In addition, Northrup Grumman's status as a Cybersecurity defense company fits in well with the Military Bowl. For once, this section is not nonsense at all. I don't know what to do with myself.

Bowl Pedigree: Zero. This game matched UCLA and Temple and a few years ago. Blah.

Game Prediction: Air Force will execute well as usual, and as usual it won't matter because the top offense it is facing is going to blow the Falcons up. After the Air Force defense gets destroyed, the Air Force offense won't have the time to catch up because, if you hadn't noticed, running the option means coming from behind is near impossible.

Toledo 45, Air Force 28

Should you watch: Absolutely. Toledo is one of the most entertaining teams in all of college football. Air Force is interesting to watch. Even with the only slightly above average records, watch without shame.

Belk Bowl Preview

Matchup: Louisville vs NC State. Bowl organizers should hope the versions of these teams from the second half of the season show up. If its the first half versions, this will be the worst bowl game of the season. Both teams were awful in September, bad in October and legit in November.

Matchup Pedigree: Hmmm. NC State is on the underachievers list with its in-state rival North Carolina. The Wolfpack should be better than it is most years. Louisville, despite its power conference foray in the Big East of the last few years was left out of the new power structure (no way the Big East is retaining a BCS bid with Syracuse, West Virginia and Pittsburgh gone). What's left is what was always there for Louisville: one of the leaders of the mid-major All-Stars.

Locale: Pretty good. Charlotte is a growing city and the stadium is nice NFL fare. No headlines to be grabbed, but no insults to be lobbed either.

Entertainment Value: Yikes. These teams are built on defense. Nobody watches bowl games before the BCS for defensive struggles.

Corporate Nonsense: Egads!What the heck is Belk doing sponsoring a nationally televised bowl game. Now those of us who don't live in the South have something else to mock since we can't actually go to a Belk store. For the rest of you, Belk is still mockable because it is one of the worst department stores in existence. For that matter, what is Belk thinking sponsoring any sporting event? Its audience (upscale department store that skews more female) and the bowl game audience (men who don't want to be seen in a department store) just don't mix. Other than the game being played down the street from HQ, there is no good reason for this (then again, this game, while in a decent place with some decent matchups over the years has always had odd corporate sponsorship such as Continental Tires and Meineke Car Care).

Bowl Pedigree: Underwhelming. This game is stuck with a middling ACC vs middling Big East tie in every year. It works regionally, but nobody outside of the Carolinas and Virginias ever cares.

Game Prediction: I can explain why Louisville improved (it fired offensive coordinator Mike Sanford in season). I have no idea why NC State improved (other than getting to play Clemson in its annual meltdown game). Given that, go with the teams that;s improvement can be explained.

Louisville 24, NC State 17

Should you watch: If you've followed my advice to avoid the last few bowl games, YES. If not, I can't help you anyway, but you people really should get a life. The last week other than a couple of games has been a steaming pile of dung.

Little Caesars Bowl Preview

Matchup: Western Michigan vs Purdue. Ugh. I don't want to speak of this. This game is annually among the worst games as far as quality of matchup and this year is no exception because of one simple reason: location (more on that later).

Matchup Pedigree: Blech. Western Michigan is a MAC team not named Toledo, Miami or Northern Illinois. Pretty much everyone else below those three is entirely interchangable and entirely average as far as tradition goes (with a few terribles thrown in for good measure). Purdue is annually a bad Big Ten team. Even the high points, Rose Bowl trip and College Gameday appearances of the Joe Tiller era have not changed that.

Locale: Miserable. The reason why this game gets awful matchups is this: Who the heck wants to spend time in Detroit? This applies to anytime, but it gets worse given the current time of year. Snowy (though not this year) and miserably cold. Playing the game in a dome is a nice respite, but still, who on Earth actually wants to go to this game.

Entertainment Value: A bit. Purdue is bad in most phases of the game while Western Michigan is bad and defense and can throw. Points might flow.

Corporate Nonsense: Considering what happened to the original corporate sponsors, I suppose Little Caesars isn't bad. The original corporate sponsor where the Big 3 automakers naming the bowl the Motor City Bow, a great use. Even with the loss of that name, I can't get up in arms about Little Caesars. There is oh so much worse coming.

Bowl Pedigree: Depressing. This game used to get the MAC Champ. Now, it avoids the MAC champ for ticket selling reasons (MAC Championship game is played in the same place) despite having the first MAC pick and matches them with an awful Big Ten team. In the event the Big Ten has no teams eligible (happens on occasion at the 8-9 pick level), a Sun Belt teams travels to Detroit to take a financial beatdown.

Game Prediction: Purdue stinks. If Western Michigan shows up, it wins with its passing game. It will.

Western Michigan 34, Purdue 24

Should you watch: Really? I have to answer this? Of course not. There is no reason to watch this game unless your goal is to masochistically watch all of them or you are one of the poor souls who is a fan of one of these schools. Even then, in Purdue's case the fans should be going over basketball scouting reports in advance of Wednesday's Big Ten opener against Iowa.

Advocare V100 Independence Bowl Preview

Matchup: Missouri vs North Carolina. Missouri underachieved against one of the toughest schedules in college football in its final year before heading to the SEC. North Carolina spent another year under water because of its NCAA issues, but made it to a bowl game anyway. This should probably have North Carolina scared to death since the NCAA Sword of Damocles is about to come down on them and its possible the infractions committee will view none of the punishments so far as worthy since there have been no scholarship cuts and the team has somehow made a bowl the last two seasons.

Matchup Pedigree: Missouri spent much of its existence as cannon fodder for Nebraska and Oklahoma in the Big 8. That continued with Texas joining the fun once the Big 12 was formed. Then Missouri got good and things have been rolling along quite nicely since 2005. North Carolina is one of the most underachieving programs in the country. It never wins the ACC despite having a recruiting base that should have enough talent to do it. For that matter, it never even contends (last time a legit contender late in the season, Mack Brown was the head coach) and it makes no sense.

Locale: The King of all Bowl Game Failure. Whose idea was it to play a bowl game in Shreveport. Its a city with all of the bad a none of the good of so many places. It's close to Texas and Arkansas, but has none of the benefits of being in either of those two states (not that there's much benefit to living in Arkansas...). It's in Louisiana, but it has no Cajuns to make life interesting. It's in the South where the weather is normally decent, but Shreveport is about the coldest place in the South this time of year (remember the Mississippi St.-Texas A&M blizzard bowl game a few years back? It was played here).

In addition to the citywide failure, the stadium is a dilapidated eyesore that is falling apart as well. Everything is so bad here that live Falcon for Air Force flew out of the stadium and ran away last year (he was found lost in Shreveport).

Entertainment Value: Decent. The quality of play should be good, but these teams are inconsistent and both can turn the defensive pressure up. This could turn into a slugfest.

Corporate Nonsense: I actually had to look up what Advocare V100 was to even write this (its a multi-vitamin). Of course that's not even that bad compared to all of the other nonsense that has sponsored this game over the years. Among those are PetroSun (product supplier to oil and gas companies), Sanford (writing product company responsible for the Sharpie among others) and the immortal Poulan-Weedeater (aka the corporate sponsor that pushed everything over the edge and showed any old thing could do it. Since then we have gotten Roady's Truck Stops, Beef O Brady's, Diamond Walnuts, Belk, San Diego County Credit Union, Godaddy.com, and uDrove as awful sponsors giving me tons of material for this section). Given we owe the Independence Bowl a debt of gratitude for giving us the first in such a long line of bad bowl game sponsors and names (thanks Poulan-Weedeater), there wil be no intentional comedy in this section... until the next bowl tomorrow.

Bowl Pedigree: Pathetic. This bowl was also the starter of another bad tradition: putting a bowl game in a crappy locale matching awful teams. Thanks to the success of this game (I don't know how), we now have games in places like Boise and Detroit, where nobody wants to go most of the year but certainly nobody wants to go in the winter. Oh, and the game usually match middling 7-5 BCS conference teams that bore us to tears.

Game Prediction: North Carolina's interim coach is leaving for Ohio St. Missouri's coach is staying. Considering that I believe that means more motivation for Missouri and Missouri has a better team, Missouri will win behind its defense and the passing of James Franklin.

Missouri 24, North Carolina 14

Should you watch: Heck no. Mid-afternoon on the day after Christmas in the worst locale of the bowl season with an awful sponsor, a terrible matchup of middling BCS teams and no snow to make it watchable means do the right thing. Spend the day with friends or family and if you must have a football fix, watch Monday Night Football later tonight.