Bowl preview, part 6

Well, I had a fun holiday season. How about you? Spent the day yesterday with my family. My brother got Rock Band for his 360, and it was a blast! My daughter LOVED her Wii, and my girlfriend sent us a couple of games for it.

Sorry I've been away....but let's get back to the bowl previews.

By the way, I'm 5-1 so far in bowl selections...Boise State totally blew the first half, or I'd be 6-0. They haven't called or written to apologize yet.

Arizona State vs. Texas
Holiday Bowl
Thursday, December 27th - 8pm

This is a tough game to call. In this season of upsets where many teams are mediocre, some average teams are going to get ranked, and some undeserving teams are going to get ranked even higher. We may have a game which involves two such teams.

Texas is the mediocre team in this scenario. They have a bad defense and an offense that scores barely enough points to beat bad teams. For example, a 28-25 win over Nebraska. That same Nebraska team allowed 172 points over their final THREE games (yes, that's 57 points per game).

ASU is the undeserving team that got a high ranking. The Sun Devils started out 8-0 and climbed the rankings like an undefeated team should. But on further reflection, the 8 teams that Arizona State beat early on......only one of them (Oregon State) ended up with a winning record. Add another little tidbit to that....the fact that ASU went 2-2 down the stretch, losing badly to Oregon and USC, while barely beating bad teams like Arizona (3 points) and UCLA (4 points).

So we have a couple of overachievers battling it out, and that could lead to a good game. But I will make my selection based on two key factors;

- Arizona State's QB Rudy Carpenter has thrown for over 3,000 yards this season, and has a 149.5 quarterback rating. Texas' pass defense is ranked 109th in the nation, allowing over 275 yards per game.
- The aforementioned girlfriend went to Arizona State. She's going to be pulling for the Buckeyes, and I will be pulling for the Sun Devils.

Arizona State 37
Texas 31
Actual score
Texas 52
Arizona State 34
The BBC - 6-2
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Boston College vs. Michigan State
Champs Sports Bowl
Friday, December 28th - 5pm

Matt Ryan is a good quarterback and probably could have gotten a LOT more exposure at a different university...maybe even a Heisman. Michigan State is about to discover that.

I was fully prepared to take BC in a close game, with a hint of doubt, based on knowing that Mark Dantonio is a hell of a coach in Spartyville.

Not anymore. Yesterday, Michigan State announced that 5 players would be suspended for the bowl game, based on academic reasons. Jonal Saint-Dic and SirDarean Adams (I know, the names sound made-up, don't they?) are the main components of Michigan State's defense, and without them, it might get ugly.

Take the Eagles in a big way.

Boston College 31
Michigan State 21
Actual score
Boston College 24
Michigan State 21
The BBC - 7-2