0
WARNING: We neither support nor advise you to use the following picks to gamble with. Mainly because it’s illegal, also because our logic is mostly flawed.
We’ve talked about ridiculous college football bowl game names previously, but as the college football bowl season will kick off Saturday with a triple-header, we’re going to give you the guide to the 2010-11 bowl season with the first annual “DBD Bowl Mania”.
Saturday, Dec. 18
New Mexico Bowl (12 p.m. ESPN) — UTEP vs. BYU
BYU. Steve Young’s alma mater.
UDrove Humanitarian Bowl (3:30 p.m. ESPN) — Fresno State vs. Northern Illinois
Fresno State. Never bet against a Bulldog.
R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl (8 p.m. ESPN) — Troy vs. Ohio
Troy. When a team loses to Kent and Temple in the same season, they don’t get a vote of confidence.
Tuesday, Dec. 21
Beef ‘O’Brady’s St. Petersburg Bowl (8 p.m. ESPN) — Louisville vs. Southern Miss
Louisville. We took a vote. They won.
Wednesday, Dec. 22
MAACO Bowl Las Vegas Bowl (5 p.m. ESPN) — Boise State vs. Utah
Boise State. Any team that spends 90% of the season ranked number 3 or 4 can’t be disrespected. BTW This is the best matchup outside of the New Year’s Day/BCS bowls.
Thursday, Dec. 23
San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl (5 p.m. ESPN) — San Diego State vs. Navy
I’m going Navy. Donnie was in the Navy, so we kind of have to go with the midshipmen.
Friday, Dec. 24
Sheraton Hawaii Bowl (3 p.m. ESPN) — Tulsa vs. Hawaii
Hawaii. They never lose at home in a bowl game.
Sunday, Dec. 26
Little Caesars Pizza Bowl (8:30 p.m. ESPN) — Toledo vs. FIU
In the pillow fight of the bowl season, Toledo. The only game I saw them play in they put up 60 points.
Monday, Dec. 27
AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl (4 p.m. ESPN2) — Georgia Tech vs. Air Force
Air Force. A crowd from Barksdale Air Force Base will show up in Shreveport to cheer on the cadets.
Tuesday, Dec. 28
Champs Sports Bowl (6:30 p.m. ESPN) — North Carolina State vs. West Virginia
West Virginia. The Mountaineers got hot at the end of the season.
Insight Bowl (8 p.m. ESPN) — Iowa vs. Missouri
Missouri. Missouri should wear their Pro Combat unis from last year. Just throwing that out there.
Wednesday, Dec. 29
Military Bowl (2:30 p.m. ESPN) — Maryland vs. East Carolina
Maryland. Better uniforms.
Texas Bowl (5 p.m. ESPN) — Baylor vs. Illinois
Baylor. They need a bowl win to warm everyone’s heart this holiday season.
Valero Alamo Bowl (8:15 p.m. ESPN) — Arizona vs. Oklahoma State
Oklahoma State. Did you see THIS play?
Thursday, Dec. 30
Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl (11 a.m. ESPN) — SMU vs. Army
SMU. I saw ESPN’s 30 for 30 film Pony Exce$$. It was a great documentary.
New Era Pinstripe Bowl (3:30 p.m. ESPN) — Syracuse vs. Kansas State
Syracuse. Because they’re The Orange now, not the Orangmen anymore.
Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl (5:40 p.m. ESPN) — Tennessee vs. North Carolina
Tennessee. One word: Dooley.
Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl (7 p.m. ESPN) — Washington vs. Nebraska
Nebraska (easily). Didn’t we already play that game this year?
Friday, Dec. 31
Meineke Car Care Bowl (12 p.m. ESPN) — Clemson vs. South Florida
Push.
Hyundai Sun Bowl (12 p.m. CBS) — Miami vs. Notre Dame
Notre Dame. We’re ready to be wrong about this one. In fact, we expect it.
AutoZone Liberty Bowl (2:30 p.m. ESPN) — Georgia vs. UCF
UCF. Upset special.
Chick-fil-A Bowl (7:30 p.m. ESPN) — Florida State vs. South Carolina
South Carolina. Marcus Lattimore is a beast.
Saturday, Jan. 1
TicketCity Bowl (11 a.m. ESPU) — Texas Tech vs. Northwestern
Texas Tech. Southern Arkansas University’s own Tommy Tuberville is the head coach for the Red Raiders. Nuff said.
Capital One Bowl (1 p.m. ESPN) — Michigan State vs. Alabama
Alabama. We don’t like settling on the Tide, but I look for last year’s Heisman winner Mark Ingram to run all over Sparty.
Outback Bowl (1 p.m. ABC) — Penn State vs. Florida
Penn State. The perennial head coach vs. the two-time retiree.
Gator Bowl (1:30 p.m. ESPN2) — Michigan vs. Mississippi State
Mississippi State. Look for the Bulldogs to corral Denard Dog.
Rose Bowl (2 p.m. ESPN) — TCU vs. Wisconsin
TCU. Because we love red-headed QBs.
Tostitos Fiesta Bowl (6:30 p.m. ESPN) — Oklahoma vs. Connecticut
Everyone in unison: Oklahoma. If we have to explain this, you shouldn’t be reading our blog.
Monday, Jan. 3
Discover Orange Bowl (8:30 p.m. ESPN) — Virginia Tech vs. Stanford
Stanford. The Cardinal will defeat them with their brains.
Tuesday, Jan. 4
Allstate Sugar Bowl (7:30 p.m. ESPN) — Arkansas vs. Ohio State
Arkansas. Ohio State is like, what, 0-27 against the SEC?
Thursday, Jan. 6
GoDaddy.Com Bowl (7 p.m. ESPN) — Miami (OH) vs. Middle Tennessee
Miami (OH). The only thing I know about either of these teams in Miami won their conference championship. That’s good enough for me.
Friday, Jan. 7
AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic (7 p.m. FOX) — Texas A&M vs. LSU
LSU. What is the difference between the Aggies and Rice Crispies? Rice Crispies know what to do in a bowl.
Saturday, Jan. 8
BBVA Compass Bowl (11 a.m. ESPN) — Kentucky vs. Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh. Because their players don’t get arrested for assault.
Sunday, Jan. 9
Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl (6 p.m. ESPN) — Boston College vs. Nevada
Nevada. Go wolfpack. Too…Sweeeeeet!
Monday, Jan. 10
Tostitos BCS Championship Game (6:30 p.m. ESPN) — Auburn vs. Oregon
Oregon, but hear us out. Does Oregon have Cam Newton? Didn’t think so. And the SEC is 6-0 in BCS national championship games. But, after the NCAA finds out in two years that Newton did commit some wrong in the money scandal involving his dad, the Ducks will be retroactively awarded the championship because Auburn is stripped of its wins.
The Bowl Game is a college football tradition. It is meant as a reward for a winning season in a sport with only a dozen games that is usually filled with parity. This year, there will be more bowls than ever, so many in fact, that it is hard to keep up with all the names and who is going where.
With Sunday’s release of the bowl game pairings, everyone’s focus was on the BCS Bowls, but the most interesting part of the bowl games are the names. It used to be all the bowl games had a sponsor and a name (such as the Tostito’s Fiesta Bowl). Now, several bowls are named solely after their sponsor. Which is okay, so long as you have a an appropriate sponsor. For instance, there is a Champs Sports Bowl. Champs Sports is an athletics retail store. That makes sense. But then you have a case where the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl dropped the Peach part a few years ago and became the Chick-fil-A Bowl. Now, I don’t know about anyone else, but when I hear that name, I don’t think of football. I think of a new product featuring fried chicken (imagine how awesome it would be if there was the KFC Famous Bowl Bowl).
And there are so many more that are forced, awkward, or just bizarre. Take this shining example: the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl. Sure, it is raises awareness of a good cause, but you cannot deny that it is going to be odd to see teams battling it out over a midfield logo proclaiming “fight hunger”. Even if its name were Kraft Bowl, images of a new frozen food product would pop in my head. How about the Kraft San Francisco Bowl?
Even one with a nickname is weird — the Pinstripe Bowl (because it is played in the new Yankee Stadium). Yeah, because I know that when I think of Pinstripes and sports, I think of college football. It’s a great idea by the Yankees to further their recognition into another sport, but a bad choice by the bowl to stick with that name. Besides, do the Yankees even need more recognition? It’s like having a Red Wings Bowl or a Showtime Bowl set indoors at the Staples Center.
There are many others this year that we can’t even begin to decide which has the silliest name. So we’re leaving it up to you. Cast your vote in the sidebar. You won’t win anything, but if my sophomore year civic class taught me anything, it ‘s that is what democracy is all about.
If you’ll remember back to early September, we posted our predictions for the now fading college football season. With only one week left, the majority being championship games, it’s time to review our bold predictions and see just how clairvoyant we truly are.
Do we deserve to lift the BCS National Championship trophy?
If you remember, our first fearless forecast was LSU Head Coach Les Miles would be fired at the end of the season. Well, as of Monday, Nov. 29, he has yet to be fired and there are no rumors of him getting the axe. Unless Rich Rodriguez gets canned at Michigan, expect to see that hat on the Baton Rouge sideline again.
Our second prediction was that Ohio State will “get smashed (again)” in the national championship game. Unless some strange voting that borders on bribery happens Sunday, this is not going to happen as Ohio St. is #6 in the BCS rankings and no other teams except #1 Auburn and #2 Oregon play Saturday and Ohio St. didn’t even win its conference outright. However, Courtney and Sean want to further this prediction by saying they will get smashed by Arkansas in the Sugar Bowl (the likely bowl matchup).
Our third forecast was that Louisiana Tech would beat Boise St. in Idaho. It was a game for about 1.5 quarters before the Broncos pulled away from the Bulldogs. Don’t worry though, we’ll get them next year.
Our first somewhat accurate prediction was that Alabama will lose in Baton Rouge and come up short in the Iron Bowl, but still wins the SEC. Alabama did indeed lose in Baton Rouge and was one point shy of upsetting second-ranked Auburn Friday, but we were wrong in saying they would win the SEC. They didn’t even make it to the title game and will miss out on a BCS game altogether.
We got one right by saying Derek Dooley will reach a bowl game in his first season as head coach at Tennessee. The Vols and former Louisiana Tech head coach became bowl eligible Saturday by beating Kentucky. It would be hard for any bowl selection committee to pass up on a storied program with fans as dedicated as Tennessee’s. Look for them to likely be in a lower-tier bowl.
We can go ahead and say we struck out again with our call that Arkansas QB Ryan Mallett wins the Heisman trophy. While he might get invited to New York for the ceremony, the overall consensus is that Auburn QB Cam Newton will take home the trophy with Stanford QB Andrew Luck coming in second and Oregon RB LaMichael James third.
Our final prediction was “Courtney gets another concussion before the season is over.” So far there have been no trips to the ER, but we’re not around him 24-7. But what are we saying? We can control this prediction. Hang on a second…
Lastly, we picked the conference champs and national champion:
- ACC: Virginia Tech
They play Florida State Saturday and are heavy favorites to win it.
- Big East: West Virginia
They can win at least a share with a victory over Rutgers, but get it outright and BCS invite if UConn loses against South Florida this weekend.
- BIg Ten: Ohio State
They finished in a 3-way tie for the conference championship with Wisconsin and Michigan St. but Wisconsin got the Rose Bowl bid due to their higher BCS ranking (tiebreaker).
- Big XII: Texas
We were WAAAAY off on this one. Texas didn’t even finish bowl eligible with a 5-7 record, losing to former whipping boys Iowa St. and Baylor. I don’t think anybody saw that one coming this season. Oklahoma and Nebraska will battle it out in Arlington, TX for the title.
- Pac 10: Oregon
The #2 Oregon Ducks not only won their conference but will have the opportunity to play for the BCS national championship if they beat hated rivals Oregon St. in the Civil War Saturday.
- SEC: Alabama
The Crimson Tide were national title favorites but ended up fourth in the SEC West behind Auburn, Arkansas & LSU. An inconsistent pass defense and weakened running game caused the team to finish up with a respectable, but far below expected, 9-3 record.
- WAC: Boise State
There’s still an opportunity for the Broncos to win their conference, but it’s out of their hands now. If Nevada beats our Bulldogs Saturday, they will hold the tie-breaker over Boise St. thanks to the Wolfpack’s upset win last Friday.
- Non-Automatic Qualifiers/Independent BCS qualifiers: TCU and Boise State
12-0 TCU is ranked 3 in the BCS and should guarantee them an at-large berth to a BCS bowl game. Where they end up is up to selection committees, but they will more than likely play in the Fiesta Bowl against the Big XII champ or in the Rose Bowl against Wisconsin. Boise fell hard, dropping out of the BCS top 10 for the first time in 20 weeks after losing to Nevada in OT.
- National Champion: Alabama
We figured a two-loss SEC champion would be enough in a parody-filled season, but the season wasn’t filled with that much parity overall and it looks like there will be an SEC champion playing at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona Jan. 10. Instead, it is the other team from the state of Alabama that will more than likely battle Oregon for the crystal football.
As you can see from this last prediction, we just got our wires crossed. Enjoy the last week of the regular season and we’ll make our bowl predictions next month!
Back to top