every Saturday on the gridiron from August until December. Some teams
are pretenders while others will take on their arch-rivals for bragging
rights. At stake is a chance to extend the season by qualifying for a
bowl game. 70 teams will achieve this dream and extend the season. Bowl
games are a reward for players, coaches, and fans alike. For some
players it is one final chance to wear the school’s colors. For coaches
it may be a chance to save a current job or audition for another one.
Fans will always soak it in as they travel once more with their favorite
team. Sometimes the fans get to go to a warm weather city like Miami
for The Orange Bowl, while in other cases they may need to break out the
parka in New York City while attending The Pinstripe Bowl. In January a
national champion is crowned which will culminate the season. Here are
my projections for The 2011-2012 bowl season.
BCS Championship Game: Stanford vs Oklahoma
(Stanford) and Landry Fields (Oklahoma) will also battle to see who
will the first quarterback taken.
Butch Jones will be the latest Bearcat head coach to flirt with leaving
for a bigger payday.
Sugar Bowl: Florida vs Notre Dame
Charlie Weis led
Notre Dame to two BCS bowl games in his first two seasons. The wheels
then fell off and Weis was fired as head coach in 2009. Now Weis is the
offensive coordinator at The University of Florida, hmmmm I smell a lot
of media coverage for this one.
Fiesta Bowl: LSU vs Texas A&M
These two clashed in
The Cotton Bowl last season so familiarity will be in place. LSU will
enter the game disappointed that they are not playing for a national
title while Aggie head coach Mike Sherman will rally his team around
last year’s defeat to The Bayou Bengals.
Capital One Bowl: Iowa vs Mississippi State
Hawkeye
head coach Kirk Ferentz pulls off his magic by leading The Hawkeyes to
another January bowl game. For Mississippi State, head coach Dan Mullen
is just starting to scratch the surface with his coaching and this may
be a game that could propel his program to greater heights.
Gator Bowl: Michigan State vs Arkansas
The Spartans
will learn from the previous year. The Crimson Tide of Alabama were
superior to The Spartans in The Capital One Bowl. This season Sparty
will reverse the tables on The Razorbacks.
Cotton Bowl: Oklahoma State vs Alabama
The Cowboys
barely miss out once again on a BCS bowl game. There will be enough
talent on the field for both teams that you would think this game was
for The BCS Championship.
Alamo Bowl: Utah vs Baylor
The Utes draw a tough
opponent in their first bowl game as members of The Pac-12 Conference.
It is only 180 from Waco to San Antonio and The Alamodome will be
covered in green and gold for this one supporting The Baylor Bears.
Outback Bowl: Nebraska vs South Carolina
It won’t take
The Cornhuskers long to get indoctrinated into The Big Ten versus SEC
showdown that rules New Years Day. The Gamecocks blew their chances of
winning The SEC by faltering down the stretch and they will try as they
try to the three-game bowl losing streak.
Chick-Fil-A-Bowl: Virginia Tech vs Auburn
This may be
Hokie head coach Frank Beamer’s best coaching job while Auburn uses 2011
to rebuild and gear up for a big run in 2012.
Sun Bowl: North Carolina vs Arizona State
This game will only be watched by the hardcore fans.
Holiday Bowl: Oregon State vs Texas
The Longhorns want to return to national prominence and a Holiday Bowl victory will help them towards that.
Champs Sports Bowl: Maryland vs West Virginia
Mountaineer head coach Dana Holgorsen puts a controversial first season in Morgantown behind him a bowl win over rival Maryland.
Liberty Bowl: Tennessee vs Houston
At least for one more season The Volunteers are relegated to a
lower-tier bowl game and they draw an opponent in Houston that won’t
exactly roll over for them.
Belk Bowl: Syracuse vs North Carolina State
This may be a better basketball game as to these two clash in a
bowl game that is constantly changing the name of the corporate sponsor.
Independence Bowl: Georgia Tech vs TCU
Georgia
Tech’s spread option versus a bone crushing Horned Frog defense. Buckle
up the chin straps for this one as we will see some paint swapping.
Music City Bowl: Kentucky vs Miami (FL)
By the end of this game reality will set in for The Hurricanes that they are now a mediocre football program.
Pinstripe Bowl: South Florida vs Texas Tech
The
championship trophy will be handed out on the tarmac at Kennedy Airport
as two warm weather teams will be more than ready to leave the cold of
New York City.
Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl: Army vs Washington
Both teams ended long bowl droughts in 2010 and one squad would have won consecutive bowl games following this one.
Texas Bowl: Kansas State vs Michigan
Wolverine quarterback Denard Robinson puts another notch under
his belt as a prolific play maker while Michigan uses this game to show
the nation that they are ready to return to glory.
Humanitarian Bowl: Fresno State vs Toledo
This will be a contest where you don’t want to change the channel as the scoreboard will be lit up in Boise.
Insight Bowl: Northwestern vs Missouri
The
Insight Bowl is known for high scores and wacky endings. The Wildcats
and Tigers will add to the legend with a game that comes down to the
wire.
Ticket City Bowl: SMU vs Ohio State
The Mustangs and
head coach June Jones will be pleased to play in front of the home crowd
in Dallas while The Buckeyes will just be happy that a tumultuous
season both on and off the field is over.
Little Ceasers Pizza Bowl: Miami (Ohio) vs Penn State
The winner gets to stay on the field and eat pizza, what more could one ask for?
Hawai’i Bowl: Southern Mississippi vs Hawaii
You can’t write this one in stone as a win for The Warriors have
lost their last two appearance in this bowl game that is played at
their home stadium by a combined 55 points.
Armed Forces Bowl: BYU vs Air Force
How fitting would it be that in BYU’s first season as an
independent that they play one of their former Mountain West Conference
foes in Air Force.
Las Vegas Bowl: UCLA vs San Diego State
Would
qualifying for a bowl game be enough to spare head coach Rick
Neuheisel’s job at UCLA after another mediocre season? The jury will be
out for this one.
Poinsettia Bowl: Boise State vs Navy
Both teams love to use the underdog and lack of respect cards. Neither can be used for this contest.
GoDaddy.com Bowl: Northern Illinois vs Florida International
It will be interesting to see if Huskies head coach Dave Doeren jumps ship for a better coaching gig after a good season.
New Orleans Bowl: Troy vs UCF
The Trojans will have their hands full as they try to repeat as New Orleans Bowl Champs versus UCF.
Compass Bowl: Georgia vs Rutgers
If this is the bowl
game that The Georgia Bulldogs qualify for I won’t expect to see head
coach Mark Richt on the sidelines as the natives in Athens would have
forced the hand of The Georgia administration to show Richt the door.
New Mexico Bowl: California vs Illinois
The Illini step in as an at-large bid as The Western Athletic
Conference nor The Mountain West Conference have enough bowl eligible
teams this season.
Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl: Marshall vs Arkansas State
This game will only be watched by the alumni from each school, oh and yours truly!!!
Military Bowl: Virginia vs East Carolina
This game has the potential for a large crowd as both schools are relatively close to Washington D.C.
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