Bowl Preview: Gator Bowl

Gator Bowl
Jacksonville Municipal Stadium, Jacksonville, Fla.
Nebraska vs. Clemson
Date: Jan. 1
Time: 1 p.m.
TV: CBS
Line: Clemson –2.5

About Nebraska: The Cornhuskers play in the Big 12 North, which must be nice. It’s kind of like the Chargers being lucky enough to play in the AFC West. I mean, somebody’s gotta win it, right? Nebraska isn’t particularly good in any area of the game. But Bo Pelini curses a lot, so they’ve got that going for them.

Intangibles:
Bill Callahan fired: +5
Bo Pelini coaching: +2
Bo Pelini playing safety at Ohio State in late 80s: -6
1984 Orange Bowl: +4
Completely undeserving of being in a New Year’s Day Bowl: -3

About Clemson: The Tigers got a head start this year, imploding at the beginning of the season and firing Tommy Bowden. They replaced him with Dabo Swinney, who nobody had ever heard of before, after Swinney wasn’t totally awful as the coach. Nice standards. I hear Ohio State is considering hiring Darryl Hazell as it’s next head coach. See what I mean, Clemson?

Intangibles:
Death Valley: +2
Touch the rock: -1
Touching themselves: +3
Overinflated opinion of football program: -4
Completely undeserving of being in a New Year Day’s Bowl: -3

Impact Player: One of those Clemson running backs that doesn’t get the ball enough. James Davis and C.J. Spiller. Really, there’s no reason for Clemson to throw the ball.

Bowl slogan: “yeah, we know. But their fans travel.”

Little known fact: Whoever wins this game will point to it as some big win that means the program is “back.” In fact, it will just be a win over another bad football team.

Watchability (1-5): 2

The Pick: Clemson 30, Nebraska 24

Bowl Prevew: Capital One Bowl

Capital One Bowl
Citrus Bowl, Orlando
Michigan State vs. Georgia
Date: Jan. 1
Time: 1 p.m.
TV: ABC
Line: Georgia –7.5

About Michigan State: The Spartans are always so cute. They play hard against good teams and think they’re relevant. Hey, that Javon Ringer is something. The rest of the team? Uh, that Javon Ringer sure is somethin’!

Intangibles:
Bobby Williams not coaching: +5
John L. Smith not coaching: +3
Blake Ezor: +2
T.J. Duckett to beat UM with no time on clock: hahahaha +4

About Georgia: After whipping up on a hilariously-poor Hawaii team in last year’s Sugar Bowl, the ‘Dawgs entered 2008 ranked No. 1. They proceeded to prove exactly how misguided that notion was by getting hammered at home by Bama and giving up 900 rushing yards to Georgia Tech to finish the season. Congrats on your national title, UGA!

Intangibles:
Savannah; +4
Rest of Georgia: -3
REM before 1995: +3
REM after 1995: -6

Impact Player: UGA quarterback Matthew Stafford will probably be the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft if he comes out, just based on talent. Based on production and consistency he might be the first pick of the Arena League. Kid’s gotta gun, but if he’s scattershot, the Spartans have a chance.

Bowl slogan: “Steve Spurrier would kill to get to this bowl game now.”

Little known fact: MSU quarterback Brian Hoyer is even more inconsistent than Stafford.

Watchability (1-5): 4

The Pick: Georgia 31, Michigan State 27

Did someone get the license plate?

Can someone tell me how Oklahoma State's Zac Robinson got up from this hit in last night's Holiday Bowl against Oregon? That's one tough SOB. He bounces right up, but watch as he's walking back to the huddle how he starts to stumble. He got crunched on that hit.

Bowl Preview: Outback Bowl

Outback Bowl
Raymond James Stadium, Tampa Bay
Iowa vs. South Carolina
Date: Jan. 1
Time: 11 a.m.
TV: ESPN
Line: Iowa -4

About Iowa: In an effort to continue their reign as college football’s most boring team, the Hawkeyes still run an endless supply of stretch plays and QB boots with incomplete passes. Kirk Ferentz is often rumored to take this boringness to the NFL where boring is a Sunday ritual.

Intangibles:
Chuck Long: +2
Hayden Fry: +1
Pink locker rooms: +2
Iowa City: -4

About South Carolina: After a brief resurgence under Lou Holtz, the Gamecocks have become comfortingly crappy under Steve Spurrier. Under a defensive genius like Spurrier, South Carolina has become known for its tremendous defense only to be hampered by a horrible offense and terrible quarterback play. Perhaps they should think about bringing in a new offensive coordinator.

Intangibles:
90 percent of fans think wearing “Cocks’ hat hilarious: -5
50 percent of fans talk like Foghorn Leghorn; -3
20 percent of fans look like Civil War general: -1
Weather: +5

Impact Player: Iowa running back Shonn Greene looks like a human fireplug. Amazing how much one good running back can make a sickly offense seem adequate.

Bowl slogan: “Outback” Rewarding mediocrity in football – much like our steaks.”

Little known fact: Only bowl game with a pirate ship.

Watchability (1-5): 3

The Pick: Iowa 24, South Carolina 12

Podcast: Episode 19

With five bowl games on New Year's Eve and another five on New Year's Day, Phil and Tom have plenty to discuss. Can the Big 10 win a bowl game? Is anyone going to watch the Orange Bowl? How important was Notre Dame's win in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl for Charlie Weis? The guys also talk about the future for Ohio State and West Virginia, as well as take a look at some of the bright spots from the bowl season and some of the not so bright spots. Hope you enjoy Episode 19.

Feed Shark

New Mexico: Haven for black coaches

It has been a good month to be a potential African American head football coach.

New Mexico State will officially announce UCLA defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker as the Aggies new coach on Wednesday (Dec. 31, 2008). Walker, who just finished his third season with the Bruins, becomes the seventh black head coach at the 119 major college football programs. Even more noteworthy is Walker is the fourth hired this month.

Earlier hires are Mike Haywood at Miami of Ohio, Ron English at Eastern Michigan and Mike Locksley at New Mexico.

It seems the non-BCS schools are more willing to take a chance on black coaches. Why? Much less pressure from big-spending alumni. In fact, many of these schools hope to be viewed by the media and other outsiders as forward thinking and willing to give a long shot an opportunity. Whatever the reason, I applaud the effort.

An interesting sidebar to this story, that I found at Dr. Saturday's blog, is that New Mexico, which has one of the nation's smallest black populations, now has black head football coaches at the state's flagship universities.

Bowl Preview: Chick-fil-a Bowl

Chick-fil-A Bowl
Georgia Dome, Atlanta
Georgia Tech vs. LSU
Date: Dec. 31
Time: 8 p.m.
TV: ESPN
Line: Georgia Tech -4

About Georgia Tech: The Yellow Jackets are going for their second straight embarrassment of an SEC "power" after thumping Georgia to end the season. GaTech ran for 1,200 yards in that game. Maybe it just seemed that way. But the Jackets can defintely run the ball.

Intangibles:
'Ramblin Wreck: +4
Three Amigos: +2
In Atlanta: +4
In Atlanta traffic: -4

About LSU: You may recall them as last year's national champs. But this year they was Implosion Island on the Bayou as the Tigers forgot how to play defense and had a quarterback from a local high school's JV team take over. Not the best combination.

Intangibles:
"Tiguh Bayt!": -5
Death Valley: +3
Hate Saban: +3
Hate Everyone else too: -1

Impact player: LSU QB Jarrett Lee. This kid was pretty bad, but if he plays well the Tigers can be a decent squad. Now, what exactly are the chances of that happening?

Little known fact: Chick-fil-A is not that good. It's okay, but I don't really get the love.

The Pick: LSU 31, Georgia Tech 26