College Bowl Game Predictions

Its almost that time of year again! I'm sure we have all done our yearly "I hate the BCS" complaints to neighbors and friends and probably mentioned that a playoff system would be better to our co-workers. But the time to watch college football once again is fast approaching so lets take a look at whats coming up:

BCS Bowl Games:

National Championship-LSU vs. OSU
Once both Mizzou and WV lost their season finales, Ohio St. was declared a lock to be in the championship game. But does anyone think they will win? I don't. It almost seems to be a repeat of last year- OSU is a lock for the championship and a controversial SEC team gets in to face them. In last years championship, Florida blew OSU off the field. While I'm not sure it will be as bad as last years game, I do expect LSU to win handily. LSU has a defense that is recovering from some nagging injuries, and when healthy is most likely the best D in the nation. I do not think they will have trouble stopping a mediocre Buckeye offense. The other factor that plays a big role is LSU's quaterbacks. LSU has a two-man system with Matt Flynn and Ryan Perrilloux. Flynn is more of a pocket passer while Perrilloux is more of the athletic-running type. OSU's only loss of the season came against Illinois and their athletic QB Juice Williams who exploited the OSU defense. Perrilloux has a very similar style to Williams and I would expect LSU to study what Illinois did and use Perrilloux a lot in the game.

Final Prediction-LSU 38 OSU 17

Fiesta Bowl-West Virginia vs Oklahoma
This matchup sparks alot of interest between two of the bigger names in college football and pre-season favorites. For me, I think this will be a great test not only for WV, but for the Big East as a conference. The Big East has been widely regarded as a weak conference, but a win for WV against powerhouse Oklahoma would undoubtedly give some respect to the Big East. WV has been bi-polar this season. At times they can put up 40-50 points and totally dominate, or turn the ball over alot and look very sloppy. Oklahoma has beaten Missouri twice and also beat Texas, but inexplicably lost to two very mediocre teams in Texas Tech and Colorado. Oklahoma looked very good though in the Big 12 championship against West Virginia. My opinion is that the Big East is a weak conference, WV has played weak competition, and they will not be able to keep up with Oklahoma.

Final Prediction-OK 34 WV 24

Rose Bowl-Illinois vs. USC

Now I like Illinois and what they've done to bring their football program back from the dead, but I don't like this matchup. Sure they beat OSU, but I don't see them hanging with USC in this one. John David Booty is now healthy and had the Trojans rolling at the end of the season. I don't see Illinois' defense being able to even touch the USC offense.

Final Prediction-USC 48 Illini-21

Orange Bowl- Kansas vs. Virginia Tech

I can't recall there ever being a more un-interesting BCS bowl game. Kansas played a very weak schedule that avoided them playing Texas and Oklahoma. We all saw that Kansas just wasn't as good as Missouri when they played in the season finale. Now Kansas is a decent team, but they should not have gotten a BCS bid over Missouri. Virginia Tech started out their season getting wiped off the field against LSU 49-7, but then lost only once more the rest of the season. The question is, did they really get that much better, or was their ACC schedule just that inferior to that of a SEC schedule? IMO, these are two teams that are overrated and I really could care less what happens. Hopefully it is an even matchup however and is a good game

Final Crapshoot- Kansas 28 Virginia Tech 27

Sugar Bowl- Georgia vs. Hawaii

This one should be interesting, everyone wants to see how legit Colt Brennan and Hawaii is after going undefeated but playing the weakest schedule possible. I give Hawaii credit, they wanted to play a big-time out of conference schedule, but no one wanted to play them. After last year's incredible Boise St. upset of Oklahoma, could Hawaii do the same to Georgia? Not likely in my opinion. Hawaii has had some close calls against some pretty weak teams (Louisiana Tech game comes to mind) and struggled against the only power conference team they played-Washington. Georgia, led by their Freshman phenom running back Knowshon Moreno, was the hottest team in the country the last half of the season, when they won 6 straight that included wins over Florida, Auburn, Kentucky, and mid-major power Troy. I think Georgia will be Hawaii's first and only loss this season, but it will be a big one. I see Georgia running through the holes of that Hawaii Swiss Cheese Defense and putting a hurt on Colt Brennan and the Rainbows.

Final Prediction- Georgia 55 Hawaii 21