Bowl Picks

Picking bowl games is even harder than regular season games. Players opt out, or enter the transfer portal. Coaches have been fired, or flown the coop for greener pastures. Feeling they deserve a better bowl game, teams fail to prepare and don't play hard. You never know which team will be more motivated.

My picks in red. Numbers in parenthesis are the Jeff Sagarin ratings, which have proved in previous years to mean little or nothing.

12.16 Myrtle Beach: (105) Georgia Southern vs (87) Ohio 11 am in Conway (correct 1-0)

12.16 Celebration: (199) Howard vs (178) Florida A&M 12 pm in Atlanta (correct 2-0)

12.16 New Orleans: (97) Jacksonville State vs (95) Louisiana 215 pm (wrong 2-1)

12.16 Cure: (75) Miami of Ohio vs (62) App State 330 in Orlando (correct 3-1)

12.16 New Mexico: (82) Fresno State vs (94) New Mexico State 545 in Albuquerque (correct 4-1) 

12.16 LA Bowl: (36) UCLA vs (42) Boise State 730 pm (wrong 4-2 so much for picking an upset)

12.16 Independence: (49) Cal vs (38) Texas Tech 915 in Shreveport (correct 5-2)

12.18 Toastery: (111) Old Dominion vs (90) Western Kentucky 230 in Charlotte (correct 6-2)

12.19 Frisco: (56) UTSA vs (96) Marshall 9 pm in Frisco Tex (correct 7-2)

12.21 Boca Raton: (119) USF vs (73) Syracuse 8 pm (wrong 7-3)

12.22 Gasparilla: (63) Georgia Tech vs (31) UCF 630 in Tampa (wrong 7-4)

12.23 Camellia: (115) Arkansas State vs (102) Northern Illinois noon in Montgomery (correct 8-4)

12.23 Birmingham Bowl: (45) Troy vs (43) Duke noon (correct 9-4)

12.23 Armed Forces: (44) James Madison vs (65) Air Force 330 in Ft Worth (correct 10-4)

12.23 Potato: (108) Georgia State vs (100) Utah State 330 in Boise (wrong 10-5)

12.23 68 Ventures: (76) South Alabama vs (130) Eastern Michigan 7 pm in Mobile (correct 11-5)

12.23 Vegas: (24) Utah vs (60) Northwestern 730 pm (wrong 11-6)

12.23 Hawaii: (86) Coastal Carolina vs (57) San Jose State 1030 pm (wrong 11-7)

12.26 Quick Lane: (92) Bowling Green vs (68) Minnesota 2 pm in Detroit (correct 12-7)

12.26 1st Responder: (93) Rice vs (112) Texas State 530 in Dallas (wrong 12-8)

12.26 Guaranteed Rate: (22) Kansas vs (74) UNLV 9 pm in Phoenix (correct 13-8)

12.27 Military: (51) Tulane vs (52) Virginia Tech 2 pm in Annapolis (correct 14-8)

12.27 Duke's Mayo: (32) UNC vs (41) West Virginia 530 in Charlotte (wrong 14-9)

12.27 Holiday: (21) USC vs (26) Louisville 8 pm in San Diego (wrong 14-10)

12.27 Texas: (15) Texas A&M vs (29) Oklahoma State 9 pm in Houston (correct 15-10)

12.28 Fenway: (25) SMU vs (91) Boston College 11 am (correct 16-10)

12.28 Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe: (37) Miami vs (58) Rutgers 215 pm – but look for a Rutgers upset (Rutgers won, dropping me to 16-11).

12.28 PopTarts: (33) NC State vs (13) Kansas State 545 in Orlando (correct 17-11)

12.28 Alamo: (20) Arizona vs (8) Oklahoma 915 in San Antonio. OK QB is transferring. Sooners should win anyway (they didn't: 17-12).

12.29 Gator: (18) Clemson vs (39) Kentucky noon (wrong 17-13).

12.29 Sun: (11) Notre Dame vs (16) Oregon State 2 pm in El Paso (correct 18-13).

12.29 Liberty: (61) Memphis vs (12) Iowa State 330 pm (wrong 18-14)

12.29 Cotton: (19) Missouri vs (2) Ohio State 8 pm (nailed it 19-14)

12.30 Chickfila: (14) Ole Miss vs (7) Penn State noon (picked another upset 20-14)

12.30 Music City: (34) Auburn vs (35) Maryland 2 pm in Nashville (can't believe I picked Auburn 20-15).

12.30 Orange: (4) UGA vs (12) FSU 4 pm (Dawgs beat the 19 point spread 3 times 21-15).

12.30 Arizona: (66) Toledo vs (72) Wyoming 430 in Tuscon (wrong 21-16)

1.1 Reliaquest: (9) LSU vs (40) Wisconsin noon in Tampa

1.1 Fiesta: (50) Liberty vs (6) Oregon 1 pm in Glendale

1.1 Citrus: (30) Iowa vs (17) Tennessee 1 pm in Orlando

1.1 Rose: (3) Alabama vs (1) Michigan 5 pm

1.1 Sugar: (5) Texas vs (10) Washington 845 pm

1.8 National Championship: Alabama vs Texas 730 in Houston