With 35 bowls on tap, as much as a fan may love the game, anyone who attempts to watch every game runs the risk of suffering the effects of sensory overload. For those planning a more selective approach here are the ten bowl games no fan should miss.
Criteria for Selection
Those old enough to remember the good old days before television ratings, ad sales, and how well a university's fan base travels were the criteria used for ranking teams and handing out bowl invitations, know that the bowls were better back then.
Quality more than compensated for the quantity back in the days when there were far fewer bowls. Bowl selection committees typically produced competitive match-ups between teams that rarely played each other during the regular season. Teams were rewarded with bowl invitations in recognition for having good seasons rather than for having fan bases that traveled well.
This list of "best 10" was selected from the bowls that offer the most competitive, intriguing match-ups. The ultimate winner isn't already a foregone conclusion and the pairings are between teams that rarely if ever meet during the regular season.
The Top Five
While ESPN insists that the bowl season begins on December 17th with the New Mexico Bowl, that's one everyone but Temple and Wyoming alumni can afford to miss. Actually quite a number of the lower tier bowls can be safely missed. This must see bowl list starts with the Independence Bowl featuring Missouri vs. North Carolina. Both teams finished the season with identical 7-5 records and the game features the Big 12 vs. the ACC, two conferences that don't typically face off except in post-season. Expect a close game with the Tigers prevailing 27-24.
On December 28, the Big 12 takes on the Pac 12 with a game between Texas and California. This is another game with two evenly matched 7-5 teams. Rumor has it that Longhorn coach Mack Brown is on the hot seat and needs this bowl win to save his job. The teams had a common opponent in 2011, UCLA. Texas beat UCLA handily while Cal lost to the Bruins convincingly. In spite of that intriguing fact and the extra motivation on Brown's part, the inexperience at quarterback for Texas should be the difference in this one. California should triumph 35-31.
Notre Dame and Florida State is perhaps one of the top match-ups this bowl season. Both teams enter with identical 8-4 records and neither team quite lived up to lofty, preseason expectations. Two good defenses and two offenses capable of putting the ball in the end zone should ensure that this one goes to the wire. The Irish get the win in this one 27-20.
Houston was ambushed in the Conference USA Championship by Southern Miss and knocked out of almost certain selection to a BCS bowl. Penn State was a favorite to win the Big 10 up until the Nittany Lions were crushed by Wisconsin in the final regular season game. Still both had strong seasons and both will be motivated to win this game to wipe out a little of the disappointment suffered in their respective season-ending games. It was quite a coup for the Ticket City Bowl to claim these two quality teams. While the Penn State defense has acquitted itself well against run heavy offenses, the Cougar passing attack will prove too much for them. Houston will come out on top in this, the second annual Ticket City Bowl, 41-31.
After getting rear-ended by BCS manipulation designed to preserve the LSU-Alabama rematch, Oklahoma State was relegated to filling the Big 12 Champion role in the Fiesta Bowl. Oklahoma State's loss was every college football fan's gain with the Cowboys matched against quarterback Andrew Luck's Stanford Cardinal team. Third-ranked Oklahoma State versus fourth-ranked Stanford is arguably the best bowl pairing of 2011-12. The Cowboys have taken a lot of grief from the experts this season over their defense. But their opportunistic defense that needs just four turnovers to set an NCAA record was good enough to get wins over two other teams with pretty good quarterbacks, Baylor and Oklahoma. Stanford will suffer Oregon flashbacks when the Cardinal luck runs out in Glendale. O-State wins this one 38-21.
Final Five
The remaining five bowl games that shouldn't be missed, for the sake of brevity are presented only as a list with predicted final scores. Each of the games selected shares the common factors used to compile the first list of five; competitive match-ups between interesting opponents.
- Outback Bowl: Michigan State 21, Georgia 28
- Capital One Bowl: Nebraska 20, South Carolina 17
- Rose Bowl: Wisconsin 27, Oregon 35
- Orange Bowl: West Virginia 24, Clemson 34
- Cotton Bowl: Kansas State 28, Arkansas 31
Honorable Mention
Insomnia Bowl
Noticeably absent from the must see list is the BCS Championship game featuring the rematch of LSU and Alabama. It's definitely one to skip but it's the last game of the season so people will tune in.
Even those who don't subscribe to the theory that the system was gamed to produce this do-over for Alabama, the fact remains the outcome shouldn't be much different this time around. Both teams had peaked in performance by the time they played in November. There have been no key injuries for either squad. There has been no indication that Alabama has found a dependable field goal kicker since the loss to LSU. Unless you think low-scoring, defensive battles are just crazy good expect to have a hard time staying awake while watching this one. It won't require overtime this time around for the Tigers to beat the Tide 13-6.
Larry Darter - Larry Darter is a freelance writer and published author with three books to his credit. He is a graduate of the Univ. of Central ...
