Bowl preview, part 7

Back to the bowl previews....

Houston vs. Texas Christian
Texas Bowl
Friday, December 28th - 8pm

This will be (by FAR) the least-watched bowl game of the 2007 campaign. I guarantee it. For starters, you have two teams that do not really have a wide fan base. Second, a game with two better teams starts 30 minutes after this one kicks off. Then, for some unknown reason, the game is being shown on the NFL Network (which NOBODY has in their home anyway).

Add it all up and you've got a stinker of a bowl game.

These two teams are actually pretty evenly matched in my opinion.

Both teams have had similar schedules....a handful of cupcakes sprinkled with a handful of teams that made bowl games. Both teams beat the teams they should have, and both squads lost to the teams that made bowls. This is one of those previews in which I will flip a coin in my head and select a winner.

I choose TCU to win this game. I base my choice on two reasons.

1) Houston had a chance to win the Conference USA West Division when they played Tulsa. A win would have clinched it....they lost 56-7. They wet the bed in a BIG way.
2) Karma is still kicking Houston's ass for intentionally running up the scores back in the mid-80s. They would try to put up 80, 90, 100 points on cupcakes regularly and they gloat about it. Karma is a bitch, boys. You haven't been in the spotlight since then for a reason.

Texas Christian 90
Houston 21
(not really, but TCU will win)
Actual score
TCU 20
Houston 13
The BBC - 8-2
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Oregon State vs. Maryland
Emerald Bowl
Friday, December 28th - 830pm

Now THIS is a bowl game I am looking forward to. Two teams from BCS conferences, both of whom have knocked off big teams, both with something to prove. I like it!

You may remember Oregon State as the team that catapulted Ohio State into the #1 slot back on October 13th. Earlier in the day, #1 LSU lost to Kentucky, and Oregon State went into California and finished off the #2 Bears to put us in the top spot. The Beavers did us a HUGE favor that day, but as we later found out...Cal would have choked on about 4 other teams as the season went along. Oregon State also knocked off Utah and Oregon, although they beat the Ducks without Dennis Dixon...and the Dixon-less Oregon squad still put up 31 points. Yikes.

Meanwhile, Maryland has a resume that includes defeating two Top 10 teams, Rutgers and Boston College. Five years ago, everybody beat those two teams. Even Notre Dame. But times have changed, and that feat is now quite impressive. I don't know how the Terrapins finished 6-6. ESPN calls it "split personality". I say they suck. But enough about ESPN, let's talk about Maryland again.

Both teams have a balanced attack, and neither has a quarterback that will light up the sky. Both teams have two running backs that have combined for 1,500 yards. Expect this game to stay close and be won in the trenches. I'm thinking it'll be Oregon State in a close one. They've already been to California once and played their best game of the year. I think they'll do it again.

Oregon State 24
Maryland 21
Actual score
Oregon State 21
Maryland 14
The BBC - 9-2