Happy Bowl Season

Being in LA for the weeks leading up to Xmas have obviously not been the same as the majority of my years. There is no snow, few decorations, no cold weather, no friends and family, no stoppage of school, really no gift shopping (due to lack of $$). In short, LA sucks during the Xmas season (except for the constant 70 degree weather). The one exception I found to this whole rant, was in Manhattan Beach the other night. Lights, decorations, people decked in cold-weather gear (even though it isn't cold at all), a festive spirit that is missing elsewhere. The homes in MB are absolutely gorgeous, and most were fully decorated. Together with the sun setting over the ocean in the background let me know that parts of So Cali have their own unique and one-of-a-kind way of celebrating the holidays.

Saw this article on Shaun White's run-in with the law in Breckenridge the other day...He doesn't really have a tough life.

My picks for the 2007 Bowl Season. These are my exact picks, including confidence points, for Sean's Metal Skool group. My team picks are the same for the Final Score office pool, with the confidence points varying just a little, but more or less exactly the same. In the FSN pool we have the ability to change the picks and confidence points up until 5 minutes before each game, not sure how that is going to work out.

One note: My picks with points 1-10 are total crapshoots, but these are the most fun to try and pick. For most games in this range I actually had a team I really thought would win initially, but that team is either not at all motivated to play in the game (Cal, GT), is missing a key player (New Mex), or are very up and down this year (OkSt, TT).
A few are very evenly matched: Clemson v Auburn, Oregon St v Maryland, Miss St v UCF.

Confidence--Winner--Loser--
1--Georgia Tech--Fresno St
2--Oklahoma St--Indiana
3--Memphis--Florida Atlantic
4--Nevada--New Mexico
5--Cal--Air Force (thought this was an 20-30 point pick, but apparently not)
6--Texas Tech--Virginia (maybe the most underrated game in terms of entertainment value)
7--Clemson--Auburn (another great game)
8--Oregon St--Maryland
9--Mississippi St--UCF
10--Penn St--Texas A&M (coaching change swayed this one)
11--TCU--Houston (same here)
12--Utah--Navy
13--Purdue--Central Michigan
14--Colorado--Alabama
15--BYU--UCLA
16--Wake Forest--UCONN
17--Cincinnati--Southern Mississippi
18--Boston College--Michigan St (will be closer than I initially thought)
19--South Florida--Oregon
20--Boise St--Eastern Carolina (E Carolina is pretty good, but are traveling way too far)
21--Kentucky--Florida St
22--Texas--Arizona St (Texas is better than advertised)
23--Tennessee--Wisconsin
24--Missouri--Arkansas
25--Rutgers--Ball St (The MAC is awful)
26--Tulsa--Bowling Green
27--Virginia Tech--Kansas (KU didn't beat ANYONE quality this year, and shouldn't be here)
28--Oklahoma--West Virginia (OU too big and too powerful on both sides of the ball)
29--Georgia--Hawaii (same goes here)
30--Florida--Michigan
31--USC--Illinois (same as above...but it could be closer than people think)
32--LSU--Ohio St (The SEC reigns supreme again)

I also think the SEC is the strongest, most skilled and most athletic football conference top to bottom every single year (including this year).

I don't truly feel that CU will beat the Tide because I think Alabama is the stronger, more skilled team and the game is in SEC country.

Hawk will have CU ready for the game, and we will still be riding high from the Nebraska win as well as the simple joy of playing in a bowl game. The fact that Alabama is one of the most storied programs in all of CFB history also bodes well for our motivation among other things.

The national exposure for two programs with great tradition as well as the fact that the game is the only bowl game on ESPN on Sunday night will help to shine positive light on the strides CU and Hawk are making. If things go well this could be a HUGE stepping stone for next year and beyond for CU. It would cement the fact that Hawk is heading in the right direction. It would show he can coach with the best of the best, and it would show the rest of the CFB world that CU is on the rise and will be a real force within a few years.

My biased prediction: CU 27 Bama 24 ---Kevin Eberhart hits a 29-yard game-winning FG with under 2 minutes to play in the 4th.