Bowl Game Bonanza: Wednesday, December 31

Posted by Double M




This post is part of a series of posts entitled Bowl Game Bonanza Did you know that there are a bazillion bowl games? Well there are. And here at IR I am going to give you a quick breakdown of each game so that you know who is playing in the bowl, what channel and time the game is on (all times CST), and why you would or wouldn't want to watch the game.

The real bowl season started last night (did you watch the Holiday Bowl? It was pretty good.) and really picks up the pace today with 5 bowl games. While not all of them are awesome, there will be some pretty good ones to check out over the latter part of this week.

On to the bonanza:

Armed Forces Bowl: Air Force (+3.5) vs. Houston (ESPN, 11am)
Location: Fort Worth, TX, Amon G. Carter Stadium
Announcers: Terry Gannon, David Norrie
You may or may not know, but Houston's mascot is the Cougars. This sets up for a pretty easy joke; however, I'm going to focus on something else: the URL for the Armed Forces Bowl. This is the actual URL for the Armed Forces Bowl: http://armedforcesbowl.com.s13175.gridserver.com. What the hell is that? .s13175.gridserver.com? There's no way that's intentional. That is one of the worst URL's I have seen all-time. Someone should fix that.

Verdict: I know nothing about these teams except that Air Force probably runs some form of the Flexbone or Wishbone offense which tends to psyche teams out. I think Air Force covers the spread and wins this one.
Regretometer: Let's be honest - it probably won't be that great of a game and you don't care about Houston or Air Force. 4 on the regretometer.

Sun Bowl: Pittsburgh (+1) vs. Oregon State (CBS, 1pm)
Location: El Paso, TX, Sun Bowl Stadium
Announcers: Verne Lundquist, Gary Danielson, Tracy Wolfson

I don't really understand why CBS has a random bowl game like this. I assume its because ESPN didn't want it because they already have a bowl game playing in this time slot. In any case, here's an actual picture from the press conference:



I imagine that a conversation similar to this happened:

Mike Reilly: I clearly can't grow facial hair. How do you get your mustache to be so full?
Dave Wannstedt: Its easy. I shave my chest pubes and glue it to my face.
Reilly: Really? But what about your chest hair. I can't imagine you without chest hair.
Wannstedt: Yeah, I just shave my ball fro and double-sided tape it to my chest.
Reilly: Genius.

Something like that.

Verdict: I have no clue whether Oregon State's Jacquizz Rodgers is playing or not. I assume he is and, as such, that Oregon State will win. If he doesn't play, Pitt will win because Oregon State sucks without him.
Regretometer: Get a Wannstache ride for a 3 on the regretometer.

Music City Bowl: Boston College (-3.5) vs. Vanderbilt (ESPN, 2:30pm)
Location: Nashville, TN, LP Field
Announcers: Mark Jones, Bob Davie, Todd Harris

The official name for this bowl is the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl. Has anyone ever stayed in a Gaylord Hotel? Does its name ring true? Is it like the movie Boat Trip? These are the questions they should answer during this game. Unfortunately, they will probably focus on how Boston College has won like 7 straight bowl games and that this is Vandy's first trip to a bowl game in forever.

Verdict: Boston College has been a better inconsistent team. Take them to win and cover.
Regretometer: Vandy alone makes this game worth while to watch (it could be a long time again) and it could be a decent game. 2.5 on the regretometer.

Insight Bowl: Minnesota (+8) vs. Kansas (NFL Network, 4:30pm)
Location: Tempe, AZ, Sun Devil Stadium
Announcers: Paul Burmeister, Mike Mayock, Lindsay Soto

Last year Mangino took his team to the Orange Bowl and it resulted in this awesome picture:



Sadly, there will no repeat of that picture this year as I am pretty sure Mangino ate the orange the Insight Bowl does not have a mascot. Hell, they don't even have their own website, its just a sub-directory of fiestabowl.org. I'll be intrigues to see how another Big 10 team stacks up after Northwestern hung with a shaky Missouri team.

Verdict: Kansas is favored by 8 which seems to be too much. I'd take Kansas to win but not cover.
Regretometer: You won't watch this because its on the NFL Network. Even if you did, you'd end up staring at Mangino's behemoth belly the entire time. 3.5 on the regretometer.

Chick-Fil-A Bowl: LSU (+4) vs. Georgia Tech (ESPN, 7pm)
Location: Atlanta, GA, Georgia Dome
Announcers: Brad Nessler, Bob Griese, Paul Maguire, Jack Arute

This is easily the game of the day - if you watch one game today, make it this one. LSU, coming off a disappointing season following a BCS championship is taking on Georgia Tech and their "see, a modified version of the option can still work with good athletes" offense in what would be considered a home game if LSU didn't travel so well. Here's the thing though, I know about 6 LSU fans and none of them are happy with the play of their QB Jarrett Lee. He's a freshman that has seemed to make bad decision after bad decision and I think GTech will capitalize on it.

Verdict: Georgia Tech wins and covers. The time of possession gained from their running attack combined with the mistakes of Lee will have GT winning by a touchdown.
Regretometer: Its New Years Eve, so you should turn it on the TV and watch it until the holiday celebrations shows start. 0.5 on the regretometer.

Look for Bowl Game Bonanzas everyday there's a bowl game.

All announcer information brought to you courtesy of Awful Announcing.