OG&B's Bowl Picks
I know I'm just slightly late with these picks seeing as how the Poinsettia bowl has already been played, but since it seems like almost every blogger in the nation who says anything about college football has published their picks I think It would too rebellious of me not to.
These picks come from the picks I made in a pick 'em contest based on a confidence ranking rather than being based on the spread. Because of that I'm not going to mess with going back and redoing this based on the spreads, so good luck using them for betting purposes (probably not a smart idea anyway, it's time like these when I'm glad I don't bet on things such as these.
Since I did make these picks and rank them by confidence, I will let you know what confidence I assigned them, but I'm going to list them in chronological order. If I have additional comments to make, I will. I'll list my winner over the loser, followed by the confidence (Highest is 32, lowest is of course 1).
Thursday, December 20
Poinsetta: Navy over Utah - 17. Clearly I was wrong, but having played Navy this season and seeing how talented they were, I couldn't help it. I know losing Paul Johnson would be tough, but they put up a heck of a fight. In hindsight 17 was probably too high for the confidence.
Friday, December 21
New Orleans: FAU over Memphis - 2
Saturday, December 22
Papajohns.com: Cincinatti over Southern Miss - 4. Had to stick with Ben Mauk and the Bearcats.
New Mexico: New Mexico over Nevada - 8. Least attended bowl game ever? I heard Nevada had sold 95 tickets.
Las Vegas: BYU over UCLA - 11.
Sunday, December 23
Hawaii: East Carolina over Boise State - 6. Not sure I actually liked this pick, but did for the sake of the state.
Wednesday, December 26
Motor City: Purdue over Central Michigan - 12.
Thursday, December 27
Holiday: Texas over Arizona State - 13.
Friday, December 28
Champs: Boston College over Michigan State - 17. BC has had some rough patches towards the end, but they're definitely the better team in this game. Only possible problem would be motivation. They're used to having no fans watch them.
Texas: Houston over TCU - 9. A game I will be attending, but rooting for TCU. I actually like UH's team, but I'm going with some TCU friends so my allegiances lie there.
Emerald: Maryland over Oregon State - 27. I feel very good about Maryland in this game. Reports are that they're actually fired up to go play and Oregon State seems disappointed to be there. Those type things become big factors in games like this.
Saturday, December 29
Meineke: Wake Forest over Connecticut - 32. As you can see, I sometimes enjoy making my picks based on emotions (another good reason for me not to put any money on them). Many experts predict this will be a close game, and they may be right, but how could I not pick the Deacs with full confidence? What kind of fan would I be?
Liberty: Central Florida over Mississippi State - 19.
Alamo: Texas A&M over Penn State - 22.
Sunday, December 30
Independence: Alabama over Colorado - 10.
Monday, December 31
Armed Forces: Air Force over Cal- 15.
Humanitarian: Georgia Tech over Fresno State - 13.
Sun: South Florida over Oregon - 25.
Music City: Kentucky over Florida State - 26. There's just no way you can pick Florida State to win this game with all that's going on there right now. As much as I like to show an ACC bias, it can't be done for this one.
Insight: Oklahoma State over Indiana - 27.
Peach: Clemson over Auburn - 16. Clemson proved to be a dang good football team this year. They messed things up at a couple of crucial moments, but just looking at their win over us says enough for me.
Wednesday, January 1
Outback: Wisconsin over Tennessee - 5.
Cotton: Missouri over Arkansas - 20.
Gator: Texas Tech over Virginia - 1. So my Big 12 bias (grew up an OU fan) shows its teeth here. I'm not confident Virginia can ever stop Tech or that they can put up enough points to stay with them. Clearly I'm torn though.
Capital One: Michigan over Florida - 3.
Rose: USC over Illinois - 30.
Sugar: Hawaii over Georgia - 24.
Thursday, January 2
Fiesta: Oklahoma over West Virginia - 31. This pick actually makes some sense considering the current instability at WV, but Oklahoma is the team I grew up rooting for, and I haven't cut those ties.
Friday, January 3
Orange: Kansas over Virgina Tech - 23. Maybe unpopular in ACC circles, but Kansas is a very good football team this season, and I really haven't seen Virgina Tech look great against any strong opponents this year. All the games they've won over good teams have been close. I hate to think of the ACC losing the Orange Bowl 2 years in a row, and I'll be rooting for VT, I just don't think it will happen.
Sunday, January 5
International: Rutgers over Ball State - 29.
Monday, January 6
GMAC: Tulsa over Bowling Green - 7.
Tuesday, January 7
National Championship: LSU over Ohio State - 21. I couldn't not pick LSU to win this, but I'm really not that sure of it. Maybe it's just that I feel like OSU can't keep going 0-fer in national championship games (as much as I like seeing them do it) but something doesn't sit right about this for me. Nonetheless, LSU should definitely win.
So that's it. As I went through and typed that all up I realized that I'm unsatisfied with several of those picks and several of the confidences, but at this point I don't want to change them. I prefer to go with my gut on these type things. When it's all said and done (and maybe somewhere in the middle) I'll update how I've done.
Enjoy the bowl season!
