Ah yes, the most wonderful time of the year and no Bing Crosby, I don’t mean Christmas. It’s Bowl Season! The time when we stay glued to the TV to watch 7-5 and 6-6 teams battle it out for the first 10 days before actually seeing bowl games.
With that, here’s our preview of the first week of the bowl season.
Gildan New Mexico – 12/21 2:00 pm (ESPN)
(6 – 6) Washington St. [Pac – 12] vs. (7 – 6) Colorado St. [Mtn West]
The Cougars opened up the season with a 7-point loss to SEC Champion Auburn before upsetting USC 10 – 7 the next week. They would falter during their Pac – 12 home stretch and limp into a bowl. Colorado State’s best win came against a 5 – 7 Wyoming team (35 – 7).
Travis’s Pick – Washington St.
Royal Purple Las Vegas – 12/21 3:30 pm (ABC)
(11 – 1) #20 Fresno State [Mtn West] vs. (9 – 4) #25 USC [Pac – 12]
Fresno State was on the fast track to a BCS Birth before dropping a 62 – 52 shootout to San Jose State in the second-to-last game of the regular season. USC righted their ship under interim head coach, Ed Orgeron which included a victory over #4 Stanford. Orgeron has resigned, though after USC hired Steve Sarkisian.
Travis’s Pick – Fresno State
Famous Idaho Potato – 12/21 5:30 pm (ESPN)
(8 – 4) Buffalo [MAC] vs. (7 – 5) San Diego St. [Mtn West]
After losing to Ohio State and Baylor by a combined score of 110 – 33, Buffalo ran off seven straight wins before dropping two of their last three knocking them out of the MAC title game. San Diego State started the season 0 – 3 with losses to FCS Eastern Illinois (40 – 19), Ohio State (42 – 7) and Oregon State (34 – 30). They would win seven of the last nine with losses to then #17 Fresno State (35 – 28 / OT) and to UNLV (45 – 19) in the regular season finale.
Travis’s Pick – San Diego State
R + L Carriers New Orleans – 12/21 9:00 pm (ESPN)
(7 – 5) Tulane [C – USA] vs. (8 – 4) Louisiana – Lafayette [Sun Belt]
Tulane started off the season winning six of their first eight games which included a 36 – 33 OT victory over East Carolina before dropping three of their final four, including a 17 – 13 loss to C – USA champ Rice. LA – Lafayette started off their season with losses to Arkansas and Kansas State before ripping off eight – straight. They would drop their final two contests of the season to UL Monroe and South Alabama.
Travis’s Pick – LA – Lafayette
Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl St. Petersburg – 12/23 2:00 pm (ESPN)
(9 – 3) East Carolina [C – USA] vs. (7 – 5) Ohio [MAC]
Two of ECU’s three losses came by a combined 8 points (15 – 10 to Va. Tech and 36 – 33 / OT to Tulane). Their other loss came to C – USA runner – up Marshall (59 – 28). Ohio started out 6 – 2 which included an opening day loss to then #7 Louisville. The bottom would fall out, though, as they would drop three of their final four games, including a 44 – 13 loss to 4 – 8 Kent State.
Travis’s Pick – East Carolina
Sheraton Hawaii – 12/24 8:00 pm (ESPN)
(8 – 4) Boise State [Mtn West] vs. (6 – 6) Oregon State [Pac – 12]
Boise had their hopes at playing in the first annual Mountain West Championship game burst when they were defeated by San Diego State in overtime in the second-to-last game of the year. They will also face the task of playing under an interim head coach as Chris Peterson took the job at Washington two weeks ago. Oregon State started 6 – 1 before dropping their final five Pac – 12 games to bowl opponents.
Travis’s Pick – Oregon State
Little Caesars – 12/26 6:00 pm (ESPN)
(6 – 6) Pittsburgh [ACC] vs. (10 – 3) Bowling Green [MAC]
The Panthers started off 4 – 2 which included a 58 – 55 victory over ACC runner-up Duke. They would finish 3 – 5 with all losses coming by two scores or less. Bowling Green started off 5 – 1 with their only loss to Indiana. They would lose back-to-back games to Mississippi State and Toledo by a combined four points before ending the season by wining their last four regular season games. They would also knock Northern Illinois out of their second-straight BCS appearance with a 47 – 27 victory in the MAC title game.
Travis’s Pick – Bowling Green
San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia – 12/26 9:30 pm (ESPN)
(8 – 5) Utah State [Mtn West] vs. (12 – 1) #23 Northern Illinois [MAC]
This will be a battle of conference runners – up as both teams failed to win their conference title games. Utah State closed their regular season out with a five-game winning streak before falling to Fresno State by seven in the Mountain West title game. Northern Illinois were a perfect 12 – 0 and ranked #14 in the country before falling to Bowling Green in the MAC title game leaving them out of the BCS.
Travis’s Pick – Northern Illinois
Military Bowl presented by Northrop Grumman – 12/27 2:30 pm (ESPN)
(9 – 4) Marshall [C – USA] vs. (7 – 5) Maryland [ACC]
The Thundering Heard come in as C – USA runners – up after falling to Rice 41 – 24 in the C -USA title game. Prior to that, their three losses came by a combined 13 points (34 – 31 vs. Ohio, 29 – 21 / 3 OT to Va. Tech and 51 – 49 to Middle Tennessee). Maryland started off 5 – 1 with their only loss to #1 Florida State. The bottom would fall out, though, as they lost four of their final six to limp into the bowl season.
Travis’s Pick – Marshall
Texas Bowl – 12/27 6:00 pm (ESPN)
(6 – 6) Syracuse [ACC] vs. (8 – 4) Minnesota [B1G]
Syracuse needed a 34 -31 victory over Boston College on the regular season’s final weekend to become bowl eligible. Their biggest win was to that same Boston College team who finished the season 7 – 4. Minnesota started 8 – 2 before falling to ranked Wisconsin and Michigan State by two scores each.
Travis’s Pick – Minnesota
Fight Hunger Bowl – 12/27 9:30 pm (ESPN)
(8 – 4) BYU [Independent] vs. (8 – 4) Washington [Pac -12]
BYU’s four losses were by a combined 30 points (19 – 16 vs. Virginia, 20 – 13 vs. Utah, 27 – 17 vs. Wisconsin, 23 – 13 vs. Notre Dame). Washington Washington started 4 – 0 before falling to #5 Stanford, #2 Oregon and Pac – 12 runners – up Arizona State. Their only other loss was by ten to #13 UCLA.
Travis’s Pick – Washington
