It’s that time of year again! The NCAA college football bowl season is back in 10 days. It starts with a trio of bowl games next Saturday. If you are planning on entering a college football bowl pickem contest, you have to complete your entries before 2:00pm ET if you want at least a significant chance at winning the contest.
Most of the top sports news sites like ESPN and CBS sports offer these contests. This is also the time of year that you can find office pools for college bowl games. These contests usually work one of two ways: pick the winner or pick the spread. Obviously, picking the spread is more difficult because there aren’t many easy games to call.
If you are playing pick the bowl game winner, this can work in one of three ways:
1) You get 1 point for each correct team picked.
2) You get less points for winning the early bowl games and more points for winning the BCS and Championship games.
3) You pick teams based on your confidence that they will win. You will have to pick a number of points between 1 and 35 to wager on each bowl game. The same number cannot be used twice. The points are added up to determine a winner.
2011/2012 Bowl Schedule
I’m going to give you a quick rundown of the bowl games and my picks for this bowl season. This will be a quick explanation of the winner, score and confidence of the winner.
GILDAN NEW MEXICO BOWL
Temple (8-4) Vs Wyoming (8-4)
Winner – Temple
Score – 28 – 24
Why – More impressive wins overall
Confidence – 8 of 35
FAMOUS IDAHO POTATO BOWL
Ohio (9-4) vs Utah State (7-5)
Winner – Ohio
Score – 27 – 21
Why – After almost upsetting Auburn in week 1, the Aggies have been struggling to beat mediocre teams.
Confidence – 15 of 35
R+L CARRIERS NEW ORLEANS BOWL
SDSU (8-4) vs La Lafayette (8-4)
Winner – San Diego State
Score – 31 – 28
Why – SDSU has played tougher competition in non-conference and Mountain West is a better conference than the Sunbelt.
Confidence – 17 of 35
BEEF ‘O’ BRADY’S BOWL ST. PETERSBURG
Florida Int’l (8-4) vs Marshall (6-6)
Winner – Florida International
Score – 34 – 17
Why – Marshall has a poor offense and they sneaked into a bowl game by barley beating a bad Memphis and took the bowl invite from ECU in overtime.
Confidence – 28 of 35
San Diego County Credit Union Poinesttia
#18 TCU (10-2) vs Louisiana Tech (8-4)
Winner – TCU
Score – 34 – 27
Why – Don’t sleep on the bulldogs, TCU may take this game lightly because of the disappointment of not getting a BCS bowl bid.
Confidence – 34 of 35
MAACO BOWL LAS VEGAS
#7 Boise State (11-1) vs Arizona State (6-6)
Winner – Boise State
Score – 37 – 21
Why – I know that Nebraska was beaten by Washington last year in a similar situation, but this really would be a shocker if ASU wins.
Confidence – 35 of 35
SHERATON HAWAII BOWL
#21 Southern Miss (11-2) vs Nevada (7-5)
Winner – Southern Miss
Score – 35 – 34
Why – Southern Miss better not get a big head after beating Houston. They should have been undefeated but laid eggs against sub-par Marshall and UAB.
Confidence – 30 of 35
AdvoCare V100 INDEPENDENCE BOWL
Missouri (7-5) vs North Carolina (7-5)
Winner – Missouri
Score – 27 – 20
Why – Missouri is on a roll lately and they have played the Big 12 teams tough all year long.
Confidence – 14 of 35
LITTLE CAESARS BOWL
Western Michigan (7-5) vs Purdue (6-6)
Winner – Western Michigan
Score – 45 – 42
Why – Western Michigan has one of the best offenses and Purdue has played games like this against the MAC before.
Confidence – 4 of 35
BELK BOWL
Louisville (7-5) vs North Carolina State (7-5)
Winner – North Carolina State
Score – 24 – 20
Why – NC State is coming off of two memorable games and Louisville has been struggling against teams that aren’t in the Big East.
Confidence – 7 of 35
Military Bowl — Pres. By Northrop Grumman
Toledo (8-4) vs Air Force (7-5)
Winner – Toledo
Score – 54 – 47
Why – This could go either way, but it will be very high scoring. Both offenses are great and both defenses are mediocre.
Confidence – 10 of 35
BRIDGEPOINT EDUCATION HOLIDAY BOWL
#24 Texas (7-5) vs California (7-5)
Winner – Texas
Score – 30 – 27
Why – Very close matchup, almost a pick em in my opinion.
Confidence – 5 of 35
CHAMPS SPORTS BOWL
Florida State (8-4) vs Notre dame (8-4)
Winner – Florida State
Score – 20 – 17
Why – Notre Dame is 1-4 against good teams this year. However, FSU hasn’t distinguished themselves against good competition either. The FSU defense will be the difference in this game.
Confidence – 6 of 35
VALERO ALAMO BOWL
#12 Baylor (9-3) vs Washington (7-5)
Winner – Baylor
Score – 42 – 35
Why – See last year against Nebraska if you want to know if Washington can win. However, two bad defenses will hurt Washington more than Baylor and Robert Griffin III.
Confidence – 31 of 35
BELL HELICOPTER ARMED FORCES BOWL
Brigham Young (9-3) vs Tulsa (8-4)
Winner – BYU
Score – 31 – 20
Why – Tulsa has played poorly against good competition. BYU also had some BCS conference wins this year.
Confidence – 19 of 35
NEW ERA PINSTRIPE BOWL
Rutgers (8-4) vs Iowa State (6-6)
Winner – Rutgers
Score – 17 – 14
Why – As pumped up as Paul Rhoads is going to get his team, Rutgers essentially has the home field advantage. Iowa State had a couple of big wins but they have still lost 6 of their last 9 games.
Confidence – 11 of 35
Franklin American Mortgage Music City
Mississippi State (6-6) vs Wake Forest (6-6)
Winner – Mississippi State
Score – 37 – 21
Why – Mississippi State has played a brutal schedule and played well against some of the best teams in the country. Wake Forest has lost 4 of their last 6.
Confidence – 23 of 35
INSIGHT BOWL
#14 Oklahoma (9-3) vs Iowa (7-5)
Winner – Oklahoma
Score – 37 – 14
Why – Besides for beating Michigan, Iowa has played poorly this year including an embarrassing loss to Minnesota. Oklahoma was once the #1 team in the country before stumbling down the stretch.
Confidence – 33 of 35
MEINEKE CAR CARE BOWL OF TEXAS
Texas A&M (6-6) vs Northwestern (6-6)
Winner – Northwestern
Score – 40 – 38
Why – Texas A&M is going to have a hangover after firing Mike Sherman. Dan Persa will lead Northwestern to a bowl win after falling just short the past couple of years.
Confidence – 21 of 35
HYUNDAI SUN BOWL
Georgia Tech (8-4) vs Utah (7-5)
Winner – Georgia Tech
Score – 35 – 27
Why – The fact that Utah lost to Colorado when they had a chance to go to the Pac-12 Championship. Georgia Tech will run the ball all day long.
Confidence – 20 of 35
AutoZone LIBERTY BOWL
Cincinnati (9-3) vs Vanderbilt (6-6)
Winner – Cincinnati
Score – 30 – 23
Why – Vandy plays teams close, but they can’t seem to actually win these games.
Confidence – 32 – 35
KRAFT FIGHT HUNGER BOWL
Illinois (6-6) vs UCLA (6-7)
Winner – UCLA
Score – 27 – 17
Why – Both teams lost their coaches, but UCLA had some backbone when they played Oregon. Meanwhile Illinois lost 6 in a row and their offense hasn’t scored more than 17 points in these games.
Confidence – 2 of 35
Chick-fil-A BOWL
#25 Auburn (7-5) vs Virginia (8-4)
Winner – Virginia
Score – 24 – 17
Why – Auburn has not done well against teams with a good defense. They average less than 17 points a game against teams with a defense in the top 3rd.
Confidence – 12 of 35
TICKETCITY BOWL
#19 Houston (12-1) vs #22 Penn State (9-3)
Winner – Penn State
Score – 25 – 24
Why – Houston is going to have an emotional letdown after losing their BCS bowl bid. Penn State has one of the best defenses in the country and will be on an emotional roller coaster of their own.
Confidence – 3 of 35
OUTBACK BOWL
#16 Georgia (10-3) vs #17 Michigan State (10-3)
Winner – Michigan State
Score – 34 – 30
Why – Georgia may be an SEC team, but they had an easy schedule this year as most of the SEC East was rather weak. Michigan State needs this one if they ever want to be taken seriously as a big time program.
Confidence – 1 of 35
CAPITAL ONE BOWL
#9 South Carolina (10-2) vs #20 Nebraska (9-3)
Winner – South Carolina
Score – 25 – 20
Why – I will call this the Forrest Gump bowl game; “I was running”. Both of these teams run the ball and have good/great defenses. USC got lucky and didn’t play Alabama or LSU. Nebraska has a couple of poor performances in big games this year.
Confidence – 9 of 35
TAXSLAYER.com GATOR BOWL
Ohio State (6-6) vs Florida (6-6)
Winner – Ohio State
Score – 18 – 13
Why – Ohio State has lost 3 straight, but won some big games earlier in the year. They also have their coach of the future and of Florida’s past in Urban Meyer. Florida doesn’t have the offense to win this game and hasn’t played well for much of the season.
Confidence – 18 of 35
ROSE BOWL GAME PRESENTED BY VIZIO
#5 Oregon (11-2) vs #10 Wisconsin (11-2)
Winner – Oregon
Score – 48 – 38
Why – Oregon clearly has the better offense even though they are going against Monte Ball. Wisconsin will struggle defensively against Oregon like they did against Michigan State. The Badgers may keep it close but Oregon will win.
Confidence – 27 of 35
TOSTITOS FIESTA BOWL
#3 Oklahoma State (11-1) vs #4 Stanford (11-1)
Winner – Oklahoma State
Score – 42 – 37
Why – This will be a shootout, but OK State has a little bit more offensive firepower than Stanford and Andrew Luck.
Confidence – 13 of 35
ALLSTATE SUGAR BOWL
#11 Virginia Tech (10-2) vs #13 Michigan (10-2)
Winner – Michigan
Score – 35 – 28
Why – Virginia Tech’s defense hasn’t seen an offense like Michigan this season. They lost both games to Clemson and layed an egg in the ACC championship game. Denard Robinson has saved his best for the end of the season and one of the worst defenses in the nation last year has been transformed into a top 20 defense in one season.
Confidence – 22 of 35
DISCOVER ORANGE BOWL
#15 Clemson (10-3) vs #23 West Virginia (9-3)
Winner – Clemson
Score – 34 – 27
Why – It was same old Clemson until they surprised Virginia Tech. There is just no way of knowing about West Virginia with their poor losses and lack of competition in the non-conference and Big East.
Confidence – 26 of 35
AT&T COTTON BOWL
#6 Arkansas (10-2) vs #8 Kansas State (10-2)
Winner – Arkansas
Score – 38 – 24
Why – Arkansas has a potent passing game and Kansas State is susceptible to being beaten by these types of teams.
Confidence – 29 of 35
BBVA COMPASS BOWL
Southern Methodist (7-5) vs Pittsburgh (6-6)
Winner – Pittsburgh
Score – 25 – 22
Why – SMU has played poorly since they beat TCU back in October. Pittsburgh won this bowl game last year.
Confidence – 25 of 35
GODADDY.com BOWL
Arkansas State (10-2) vs Northern Illionois (10-3)
Winner – Arkansas State
Score – 37 – 34
Why – These teams are pretty even, but Arkansas State has a better defense which gives them the edge.
Confidence – 16 of 35
ALLSTATE BCS CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
#1 LSU (13-0) vs #2 Alabama (11-1)
Winner – LSU
Score – 17 – 13
Why – LSU is the best team in the country right now. They beat Alabama on the road and the Tide are lucky to get the rematch. It will be another defensive battle, but some TDs will be scored this time around.
Confidence – 24 of 35
Mobile Betting
Did you know that you can make bets from your mobile device? Take a look at these iPhone Sports Betting Sites for more information.
