The college bowl season begins Dec. 20th with the Poinsettia Bowl and goes through Jan. 7th with the BCS national title game. First, we will take a look at the first seven games.
San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl Dec. 20 at 9 PM ESPN
Utah (8-4) will take on Navy (8-4) in a game the features a strong defense against a strong offense. The Utes have only allowed 187 points this season, while the Midshipmen have scored 479 points this season.
On the other side, Navy has also given up 438 points this season which means that they will have to score a lot in this game to win. Since 2001, the Midshipmen have only won one game out of 19 when scoring less than 20 points.
R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl Dec. 21 at 8 PM ESPN 2
Taylor Bradford was a defensive lineman for Memphis who was shot and killed on campus on Sept. 30. Despite the early season hardships, the Tigers were able to win five of their last six games in a row.
Memphis (7-5) will take on Florida Atlantic University (7-5), a school that only begun playing football in 2001. The Owls, under the direction of famous head coach Howard Schellenberger, won the Sun Belt Conference this year.
Schellenberger will try and build the FAU program in a similar way that he put the University of Miami football program on the map.
Papajohns.com Bowl Dec. 22 at 1 PM ESPN 2
Cincinnati had a chance to win the Big East until the Bearcats lost 28-23 to West Virginia on Nov. 17. UC Head Coach Brian Kelly has become a hot name for open coaching vacancies across the country. On the other sideline, Jeff Bower resigned from Southern Miss, but most experts believe that he was pushed out of the door.
Cincy quarterback Ben Mauk is the player to watch in this game. He has thrown for 27 touchdowns and only six interceptions.
New Mexico Bowl Dec. 22 at 4:30 PM ESPN Nevada (6-6) used its offense to become bowl-eligible this season despite a defense that gave up over 400 yards per game. The Wolf Pack averaged 36.3 points per game, which ranks seventh in the nation.
Meanwhile, Nevada will face New Mexico (8-4) who does not have very far to travel for its bowl game. The Lobos on average score only 24.8 points per game, but they only allow 330 yards per game. The strength of Nevada's offense will go against New Mexico's defense and this match up should decide the game.
Pioneer Las Vegas Bowl Dec. 22 at 8 PM ESPN
UCLA just recently fired Karl Dorell, who served as the Bruins head coach for the past five seasons. He finished with a 35-27 record at UCLA, which was not enough for a school that is used to be competing for Rose Bowl births.
UCLA will take on Brigham Young University in the Las Vegas Bowl, which will be a rematch from earlier in the season when the Bruins beat the Cougars 27-17 on Sept. 8 at the Rose Bowl. Dorell was given the option of coaching the bowl game, but he told the Associated Press that it was in the best interests of the program for me to decline that opportunity. UCLA defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker will serve as the interim coach for the bowl game.
Sheraton Hawaii Bowl Dec. 23 at 8 PM ESPN
Last year at this time, Boise State was preparing to take on Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl. This year, the Broncos will head to Hawaii after a two-loss season.
Boise St. (10-2) will take a trip to Hawaii and take on Conference USA's East Carolina (7-5). Broncos quarterback Taylor Tharp threw for 28 touchdowns and only 9 interceptions, while running back Ian Johnson rushed for over 1000 yards to lead Boise State's offense.
The best offensive player for East Carolina is Chris Johnson who has rushed for 1200 yards and 16 touchdowns this season. However, Johnson only rushed for over 100 yards four times this season, including a 301-yard performance against Memphis.
Motor City Bowl Dec. 26 at 7:30 PM ESPN
Purdue (7-5) will face Central Michigan (8-5) in the Motor City Bowl and the quarterbacks will be front and center. Boilermaker quarterback Curtis Painter threw for 3300 yards and 26 touchdowns and only nine interceptions this season. Painter has thrown for 685 yards less than last season, but he also has 10 less interceptions.
Central Michigan's Dan LeFevour has also thrown for over 3000 yards for two straight years in a row. The biggest problem for LeFevour is that he has thrown at least one interception in eight straight games. Important trend, the Boilermakers lost to Penn State, Michigan State, and Indiana to finish out the season after beginning the year 5-0. t
Denis Brown can be contacted at de.brown59@yahoo.com
