Bowl Picks by QB Rating

After making my bowl picks I remembered how several weeks ago I made the correlation between successful teams and a highly rated quarterback. Perhaps the team with the highest rated QB would win the bowl game most of the time. I decided to test my theory.

Here are the bowl match-ups, along with each team's QB rating. There are obvious exceptions: USC was going to beat Fresno State, whose entire team is basically QB Derek Carr. Washington State completely collapsed at the end of the New Mexico Bowl, in part thanks to their higher-rated QB. Some quarterbacks didn't even make the Total QB Rating List. UGA and LSU's highly ranked senior QB's are injured, but both teams have able backups. Throw out the two exceptions and I've started the bowl season 4-1. 

Not a bad way to pick bowl games, huh?

New Mexico Bowl: Washington St (57) vs Colorado St (93) WRONG - thanks to a late game Cougar collapse. 0-1

Las Vegas Bowl: Fresno State (21) vs. USC (41) NOT APP - a good QB was all Fresno State had. 0-1

Idaho Potato Bowl: Buffalo (100) vs. SD State (102) TOSSUP - QB's almost equally ranked. 0-1

New Orleans Bowl: Tulane (117) vs La Lafayette (105) CORRECT 1-1

Beef O’Bradys Bowl: East Carolina (35) vs Ohio (80) CORRECT 2-1

Hawaii Bowl: Boise State (200) vs Oregon State (29) CORRECT 3-1

Pizza Bowl: Pittsburgh (55) vs. Bowling Green (44) CORRECT - even with Pitt's starting QB out. 4-1

Poinsettia Bowl: Utah State vs. Northern Illinois (38) WRONG - Heisman runner-up Lynch shut down. 4-2

Military Bowl: Marshall (33) vs. Maryland (74) CORRECT 5-2

Texas Bowl: Syracuse (71) vs. Minnesota (52) WRONG 5-3

Fight Hunger Bowl: BYU (42) vs. Washington (40) CORRECT 6-3
 

Pinstripe Bowl: Rutgers (110) vs. Notre Dame (138) NOT APP - Irish won anyway. 6-3

Belk Bowl: Cincinnati (24) vs. North Carolina (16) CORRECT 7-3

Russell Athletic Bowl: Miami (18) vs. Louisville (15) CORRECT 8-3

Buffalo Wild Wing Bowl: Michigan (XX) vs Kansas St (65) CORRECT - Michigan's starter was out. 9-3

Armed Forces Bowl: Navy (95) vs. Middle Tenn (77) NOT APP - Navy runs the option. 9-3

Music City Bowl: Ole Miss (34) vs. Georgia Tech (92) CORRECT 10-3

Alamo Bowl: Oregon (2) vs. Texas (47) CORRECT 11-3

Holiday Bowl: Arizona State (19) vs Texas Tech (20) TOSSUP - almost equally ranked. 11-3

AdvoCare V100 Bowl: Arizona (30) vs. Boston College (46) CORRECT 12-3

Sun Bowl: Virginia Tech (78) vs. UCLA (9) CORRECT 13-3

Liberty Bowl: Rice (107) vs. Mississippi State (17) CORRECT 14-3

Chickfila Bowl: Duke (39) vs. Texas A&M (6) CORRECT 15-3

Gator Bowl: Nebraska (129) vs. Georgia (4) CORRECT - UGA's starter was out. 16-3

Heart of Dallas Bowl: UNLV (69) vs. North Texas (131) WRONG 16-4

Capital One Bowl: Wisconsin (76) vs. South Carolina (23) CORRECT 17-4

Outback Bowl: Iowa (58) vs. LSU (5) CORRECT - LSU's starter was out. 18-4 

Rose Bowl: Stanford (12) vs. Michigan State (56) WRONG 18-5

Fiesta Bowl: Baylor (3) vs. Central Florida (28) WRONG 18-6

Sugar Bowl: Oklahoma (36) vs. Alabama (7) WRONG 18-7

Orange Bowl: Clemson (14) vs. Ohio State (8) WRONG 18-8

Cotton Bowl: Oklahoma State (10) vs. Missouri (22) WRONG 18-9

Compass Bowl: Vanderbilt (81) vs. Houston (89) CORRECT 19-9

GoDaddy Bowl: Arkansas State (73) vs. Ball State (31) WRONG 19-10

BCS National Championship: FSU (1) vs. Auburn (11) CORRECT 20-10