Back at Blogging!

Long time no blogging! I've relocated my operations to:

The Daily Hail Mary

Hopefully I won't quit like I did with this site. In retrospect, I probably had a pretty good thing going on, but I wanted a fresh start. Hope to see you there! ;)

Okay, NOW it's Official

I don't think I can run Saturday Sound Offs well enough anymore. I think I used to do a good job of updating it on a regular basis, but I just have not been able to get any meaningful posting done and things don't look too much brighter from here on out. This site was fun to keep up with for the year and a half or so that it was operating, but now it's just burdensome and I feel like it's more of a chore than anything else.

So, if you've heard the same spiel before, you'd be correct. I said I was going to discontinue the site back in April, I think? Yeah, sometime around spring. But this is for good.

So, so long and have a happy college football season!

ESPN Snubs Georgia

I hate to basically regurgitate somebody else's post (originally posted on Awful Announcing), but I found this really interesting. ESPN snubbed the Moreno leap versus Central Michigan when they did their Sportscenter Top 10, but apparently added it into another broadcast. Tell me how this isn't better than a diving catch from a Twins/Royals game.....

So, according to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution article, Mark Richt felt like his guy got the shaft and said that ESPN didn't do their homework. I'd think so! The bigger story here is that Knowshon Moreno was stupid enough to jump over one of my Chippewa tacklers. He should know that there would be a hapless arm tackle that Moreno would shed by standing still, the CMU defense's acquiescence and all. Shame on you, you should know better than that, to put on an unnecessary show in that manner.

Don't Believe the Hype: Unsportsman Like Conduct

There is a buzz about the BYU slim victory over a medicore Washington Husky team. BYU's defense proved itself to not be very good and frankly the game should not have even been this close, because BYU running back Harvey Unga fumbled at the one which would have put BYU up by two touchdowns, or just look at BYU's defense on that last drive that let Washington's Jake Locker get a first down on a fourth and ten broken play that allowed Locker to run for the first down.





In the Bleachers posted what the new rule is for excessive celebration which is:

After a score or any other play; the player in possession immediately
must
return the ball to the official or leave it near the dead ball spot.

Washington quarterback Jake Locker did toss the ball up pretty high after
he scored, and technically the ball was not handed to a ref or was it placed
near the play, but his intent was not to rub it into BYU. The best place written
about this call is ESPN’s Pac-10 blogger Ted Miller.

The Spirit of that rule was completely betrayed by the call. And, oh by the
way, smart officials have been ignoring it these first two weekends (see
ASU's Keegan Herring launching the ball skyward
without sanction after he scored a TD vs. Stanford).

Totally agree with Miller it was a celebration that was not intended to show up BYU, and yeah the kick was blocked and that technically was the reason did not go into over time. However, the distance moved the ball back from a near chip shot to a more difficult extra point that was now a 32 yarder, plus the influx in emmotions of a great score and now the low of a penalty.

Other things I have been hearing is from the Salt Lake Tribune Blogger Jay Drew who’s quotes are quite humorous, and very pro BYU for a journalist who is supposed to cover the Cougars.

A side tangent is that the Utah media is very soft and would ratther be buddy-buddy with the coaches and players then ask legit questions. Just look back at when the BYU freshman receiver, I forget his name, was complaining about being so low on the depth chart and when local radio was asking him about it and when Bronco Mendenhall and other BYU coaches heard they became very upset and defensive about talking to him, and told the reporters to leave. Sorry about that, but here are Drew’s quote.

…Announcers on the highlight shows are saying the ruling kept the game from
going into overtime. Well, not exactly. The blocked PAT — regardless of the
length — kept the game from going into overtime. I’m not sure the kick would
have made it from the normal extra-point length.

Are you serious, Jay! Hate to be reptitive, but the extra point to tie the game at normal length was tough enough with two seconds, but toss in the extra 15 yards and the highs and lows of a good touchdown run by Jake Locker and then a penalty.

Congrats to BYU for getting the win and making the clutch block by Jan Jorgense, but COME ON the penalty was interpeted wrong and took the fun out of the game.

As always go check out more Mountain West news at The Mountain West Conference Connection

The Week That Was: Week 2

1. The Ruling on the Field is.....Atrocious.

I'm sorry, I'm really, really getting sick and tired of the NCAA pulling out all the stops to suck the fun out of college football. I really am. Hey, here's a grand idea, let's make it more like the NFL. Yeah, that's a good idea.

The NCAA Gestapo has stuck again, folks, and in case you were living under a rock all Saturday, Washington was the victim. BYU gave up a last-minute drive to the Huskies while Jake Locker capped it off with a TD run, but, he threw the ball in the air after he scored. What a gloating bastard.

Of course, who knows how that would have affected the outcome of the game. There was definitely more added pressure on the offensive line which may or may not have led to BYU having a better shot at blocking the FG-range extra point. Lou Holtz said it best (did I just say that?) when he mentioned that, hey, maybe Washington would have gone for two, maybe the kicker, blockers, and snap holder would have been in a different mindset and the same could be said for BYU's special teams smelling blood in the water. Still, whether or not it was blocked, it's beside the point. The NCAA has cracked down on this too much. If you watched the game Friday night, Nate Davis was flagged for spiraling a ball after rushing for a first down and Enrique Dozier was penalized for celebrating after a sack.

Excessive celebrations should be just that: Excessive. There's nothing egregious about the three instances that I mentioned. Diving into the endzone? Fine. Taunting a player? Fine. Spiking the ball? Maybe. But it really does depend on the situation. If it's the first quarter and Locker hauled the ball in the air, maybe it matters. But you have to take into consideration the point of the game because the adrenaline and meaning at that specific time means more to the player. I'm not saying the 1st quarter isn't as important as the 4th quarter, but when you score with 2 seconds, you can't blame the players for being more excited than scoring on 2nd and goal with 8 minutes left in the second quarter.



2. A College Football Fan's Conundrum.

Another year, more dreadfulness. And Notre Dame played absolutely dreadful. That's probably going to be the word I use a lot to describe Notre Dame: Dreadful. It's a team that played a dreadful San Diego State team, made dreadful offensive decisions, has a gross lack of development which in turns makes the players play dreadfully, and they're just a dreadful team.

I have to say, as a Michigan fan, I enjoyed last season for the Fighting Irish. It was my guilty pleasure to see them lose to Navy and Air Force and to get stomped against Michigan, State, Georgia Tech, Penn State, and USC. But, I try to separate my fanhood from my objective bloggerhood, and while I don't take myself that seriously, I'd like to be fair to Notre Dame. And, analyzing the game, they played poorly. San Diego State has gotten an unfair beating for losing to Cal Poly, in what was a pretty evenly matched game. Even though the Aztecs should go 2-10 or something in that neighborhood, it's not like they're Army or Utah State (we'll get to them in a second). If they lose to Idaho later, then we'll start talking. I think I have the issue pegged down when it comes to Charlie Weis, and it's that he's a very smart x's and o's guy, but he has no idea how to surround himself with a staff that assists him in developing players. Watching Notre Dame, I can't say that there was one guy who really wowed me compared to last season. It still looks like the same old team. It doesn't matter what their recruiting rankings are judged by Rivals or Scout, it matters if there are coaches in tact who know how to develop them. Ed Orgeron is a perfect example, and Charlie Weis is another. He's not long for the Golden Domers if Notre Dame continues this. As for their futures, I think a bowl game is a possibility. It's not a given. I mean, plenty of analysts, for one reason or another, seem to be circling North Carolina, Washington, and Pitt as victories, but those are far from easy games for Notre Dame. I'm giving them 6-6.

But, on to that conundrum that I mentioned. While every college football fan who isn't a lover of the Irish wants to see Notre Dame fail, there's an underlying theme in every fan's subconscious that wants to see Notre Dame succeed. Admit it, you know it. Isn't college football more fun when a team that you really, really don't like wins and pulls out miracles at the last second? Sure it's frustrating, but you watch the games with more passion than you would otherwise. I can say for a fact that Notre Dame was really annoying in seasons like 2002 and 2005, but you watched them with a passion, didn't you? It's a weird situation where I can never truly be satisfied. I should probably see Sigmund Freud, maybe he can straighten me out.

3. Forget the Race for the Top, the Bottom is Really Interesting, too.

Did anybody watch Army on ESPN Classic? Anybody? Well, the Wildcats won 28-10 in what is projected to be a down year by Wildcat standards without Ricky Santos at QB.

Army is really bad, guys. They're trying to follow the Navy option formula for success, but it's not working out yet. They still need to find the right fit as a head coach, because the Bobby Ross era was pretty stagnant and Stan Brock obviously has no clue what he's doing. But besides Army, there's Idaho who could be the worst team in the nation. They got drilled by Arizona 70-0 on the opening day, but they did manage to beat Idaho State who is a bad team, even at the FCS level. Still, that game was more competitive than it should ever have been so that's not good, either. I guess the third team in the running would be Utah State, but they at least managed to score some points on Oregon. I realize the Ducks won 66-24, but I would honestly be a little worried that the Aggies scored 24 points on my defense. The fact of the matter is, that the three regimes here are pretty hopeless and Brent Guy, with a stunning vote of confidence from the Utah State administration, may be out of a job by 2009 or possibly at the end of this year and Robb Akey will be synonymous with utter failure in the college football ranks. And, obviously, you can't forget about Florida International.




4. Mascots......Gotta Love 'Em!

It was kind of surprising for me to see aggressive coaching backfire, like the Temple/UConn game, for instance. I didn't see it, but I recall Charles Arbuckle talking about a failed fourth down for Virginia in yesterday's game against Richmond.

But, at the Liberty Bowl, Rice seems to be experiencing a second wave of luck reminiscent of the 2006 run to a New Orleans Bowl stomping against Troy. The Owls picked off a pass late against Memphis QB Arkelon Hall who was about 15 yards shy of setting up a reasonable field goal and took it back all the way, causing the Rice mascot to take a stumble or attempt at cartwheel, I couldn't quite tell which on the video. When I saw that play developing, I thought for sure that Arkelon Hall was going to toss a pick. He seemed uncomfortable with the pressure cranked up a notch and it seemed when they got the no-huddle going that he felt the need to make a play where there wasn't one. It shouldn't have been all that hard to throw against Rice's putrid secondary with athletes at receiver like Carlos Singleton and Maurice Jones, but the Tiger defense screwed the team over by giving up three Owl touchdowns in the 4th quarter and the two-point conversion.

It just seems odd to me that you can possibly snatch defeat from the jaws of victory by nursing a 35-20 lead in the waning moments of a football game. Anyway, it was a fun game and it was what college football is all about. As for an underlying literary reference (as SMQ would put it), Hall's stitched name was falling off of the back of his jersey on that drive. Kind of like how his name might be falling on the depth chart after this game. Clearly, a bit of foreshadowing. In all seriousness though, I believe that Will Hudgens give Memphis the best chance to win. They play Marshall on the road next week, a make-or-break game for their bowl aspirations. Rice though will try to continue their streak of good luck against suddenly not-cellar-dweller Vanderbilt.



5. Rocky Mountain Blues.

After the Rocky Mountain Showdown, the two rivals, Colorado and Colorado State, were able to cool their jets off and take it easy against Eastern Washington and Sacramento State, respectively. Should be good depth-builders, right? Nu-uh.

Neither game was accessible to me via television, so checking the box scores, the games sounded ridiculously close. I know EWU is one of the favorites to win the FCS title this year, but there's really no reason why Colorado needed two late scores to finally put the Eagles away. The Buffaloes were actually down by 17 at one point, but Cha'Pelle Brown picked off a Ryan Nichols offering and took it back for a touchdown during the final moments of the game. I hate to brag, but I actually called this as being a close game in July with my Eastern Washington preview where I listed Colorado under "Ehhh....Maybe...". Nostradamus-esque, I know it.

As for Colorado State though, their performance sounded hideous. The Hornets aren't a very good team to begin with who finished 3-8 last season while losing to New Mexico 58-0. Hornet QB Tony Washington connected on a 40 yard touchdown pass to take the lead, 20-17 in the fourth quarter. But, the Rams set up a FG with under two minutes. While Sacramento State got the football back, Mike Pagnotta recovered a fumble which allowed Ben Deline to set up for a chip-shot FG as time expired. Final score, 23-20 Rams. Not a performance that Steve Fairchild has to feel comfortable in, and by the looks of it, this is not a good football team.

Anyway, just thought these particular games were interesting. How about that week for the Big Sky, though? Montana comes through with a road win against elated Cal Poly, Weber State was beating Hawaii at the half, Eastern Washington was oh-so close to pulling off a shocker against Colorado, Idaho State being as bad as they are held their own against Idaho, and Sacramento State almost won a game they had no business being in.




SSO's Totally Worthless Top 25:

1. Georgia
2. USC
3. Florida
4. Oklahoma
5. Ohio State
6. Missouri
7. Texas
8. Auburn
9. LSU
10. Penn State
11. Oregon
12. Wake Forest
13. Wisconsin
14. Cal
15. Alabama
16. Kansas
17. USF
18. Texas Tech
19. ECU
20. BYU
21. Utah
22. Arizona State
23. West Virginia
24. Georgia Tech
25. Clemson

Others Receiving Meaningless Consideration: Fresno State, Arizona, Tulsa, Oklahoma State, Illinois

Game Balls!

Okay, so it's North Texas. But the Gus Malzahn offensive train keeps on-a-rollin' with David Johnson, the new generically-named Tulsa QB. He had 418 yards and 6 scores through the air. Impressive. Of course, you have to give Giovannia Vizza some credit here because the Mean Green are notorious for turning the ball over and not scoring points to go along with their oodles of yardage, but Vizza had 247 yards and 2 TDs with no picks.









I'm going to go ahead and give the silver football to the entire ECU football team. If there's ever a scenario where the Pirates are one of two or fewer undefeated non-BCS schools, I say give them a shot on three conditions: NC State and Virginia turn out to be average and not terrible like they look so far, West Virginia and Virginia Tech compete for their conference championships, and that no more than one team from C-USA comes within a hair of beating them. If that's the case, it's not a stretch to suggest that they may beat out a one-loss Ohio State, who you know is at the mercy of skeptical voters.

I'm getting a little off-track, back to the game. ECU may or may not have pulled off an upset, but it was a good win with great defense and enough offense to get by. As has been stated, they probably have the most athletic defense in all of the non-BCS ranks and have been worthy of skipping ahead of BYU and Utah in the polls. Congrats.


What a day for Cal and Jahvid Best. The Golden Bears whooped up on the hapless Washington State Cougars by a score of 66-3, but Best bested the Wazzu run defense with 14 carries and 200 yards. Not to mention, 3 scores and a YPC of about 14 yards. This guy is absolutely sensational.















I'm going to take the Kool-Aid Alert segment to discuss the Ohio State/USC game coming up next week. The Ohio game is insignificant. The Bobcats never had a chance from the opening kickoff because you knew they were going to screw up somehow and basically give the game away, even with Ohio State not trying. But the Buckeyes played well in the fouth quarter and they looked disinterested most of the game. It's okay, there will be another day, Ohio State fans. While it's not necessarily a good thing that they didn't try, they were suffering from "looking ahead" as many over the weekend pointed out. It's not a big deal, the much-anticipated game will not be a blowout, and Ohio State isn't as bad as they looked. Relax.



Word of the Week: Apprise.

-verb
to give notice to; inform

Somebody has to apprise the mainstream sports media of a few things. I noticed throughout the day some glaring errors from ESPN and one from NBC sports. The one from NBC was a small deal, but I just thought it was funny that they misspelled Steven Threet's last name as "Threat". Just thought it was ironic because he hasn't been much of one lately. But as for ESPN, I recall Lee Corso saying something about Pitt's record, which I believe applies to season openers. I could be wrong, I'm not sure. But I think he went on to say something about how they haven't lost to the MAC, but they did lose to Toledo in 2003 and to Ohio in 2005, so the Bowling Green loss isn't out of the ordinary for Pitt, at least in this millennium. I might be talking out of my butt because I had just woken up, but I remember him saying something incorrect about the MAC. Anyway, moving on. The bottom line for ESPN was really confusing for me yesterday. I noticed that the bottom line said Northern Arizona was playing "New Mexico High" which took me back for a second. I suddenly realized that they were talking about New Mexico Highlands. Later in the day, the bottom line said that NAU was facing off against "Las Vegas." Which isn't the case, they were as a matter of fact, playing NM Highlands. The other error came in the form of St. Cloud State. Yes, they play football, not just hockey, but their game yesterday was against transitioning North Dakota, which the bottomline had correct midday. But, later that night it was switched to "Grand Forks". Puzzling. But, after a little research, it was obvious that ESPN had, for some reason, switched the name of the school with the town they were located in (NM Highlands in Las Vegas, New Mexico and UND in Grand Forks, North Dakota). I just thought it was weird because I've never heard of a D2 team called Las Vegas or Grand Forks.

And the other thing, tell the operators of the Arkansas broadcast to update their bottom line once in a while. They had games that ended two hours ago still in the 3rd quarter and I had no idea what down and yardage there was with their graphics. There was a crucial 3rd and 9 late in the Arkansas/UL Monroe game that the Razorbacks converted, but when I saw it, I thought it was 1st down.

Sorry....Again

Yeah, so as I said earlier, I was having sort of a tough week. This didn't allow me to get any blogging done prior to Thursday night, so props to Jeremy for posting something previewing the upcoming games.

Hopefully, I'll be back in full swing by Monday, but I won't guarantee anything. Just to go on the record, I do happen to like a few upsets this week with Temple over UConn, New Hampshire over Army, Akron over Syracuse, Eastern Kentucky over Western Kentucky (not sure how much of an upset that is), and my real stretch is Richmond over Virginia. I'm probably wrong about most of these, but that's why they call them upsets!

As for the bigger games this week, give me Georgia Tech over Boston College, BYU over Washington big, Georgia over Central big, Penn State over Oregon State even with the suspensions, Oklahoma in a competitive game against Cincinnati, West Virginia on the road against ECU, New Mexico in a tight one against Texas A&M, Pitt rebounds against Buffalo, USF avoids an upset against UCF, Northwestern staves off Duke late, Maryland survives an upset against Middle Tennessee, Oklahoma State takes care of business against Houston, Kansas wins comfortably against a solid Louisiana Tech team, Minnesota beats Bowling Green even coming off of the Pitt win, Florida stomps Miami, and Stanford doesn't knock off Arizona State.

I have a bad feeling that this will be a rough week for me prediction-wise considering I'm taking a lot of road teams, but I'll eat crow if the situation calls for it. That's the weekend in a nutshell, be back by Monday! :)

Don't Believe the Hype: This Weekends Games

If you listen to the national media it seems like college football is taking the week off in anticipation of the Ohio State at USC game next Saturday night. Fans of college football have the saying any football is better then bad football, but there are interesting games this weekend that are worthy to watch.

The first game that should be a good watch is Miami (OH) at Michigan which is on ESPN at noon eastern. This is not must see tv, but it could be a train wreck which are always fun to watch to see if Michigan is as bad as people are saying. The Wolverines could have a 2007 Notre Dame like season, now Miami, OH is nothing special but a chance to see what Michigan can do against an opponent they should beat.

Another game, BYU who travels to Washington at 1pm pacific time on Fox Sports Net. The reason to check this game out is to see if BYU can win a road non conference game, something they have not done since they beat Utah State by one in 2002. Plus, there is talk in Seattle with Ty Willingham being on the hot seat, that BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall could be his replacement. Bronco played college football in the Pac-10 at Oregon State, another reason to watch is to see a good BYU team who has a chance to make a BCS bowl game this year.

Then there is Central Michigan who travels to Georgia at 3:30 eastern, now this game is shown locally or if you have ESPNs game plan or espn360.com. This is a more interesting matchup then the common fan may think, because Central Michigan has star quarterback Dan LeFevour who lead the 2007 Chippewas to the MAC title and an offense that averaged 38 points per game. This could be a trap for Georgia who next week takes on Arizona State on the road, this has upset alert on this game.

Another game that has interesting written on it is a Pac-10 verse Big 10 matchup with Oregon State traveling to Happy Valley to play Penn State. This is a 3:30 eastern start on ABC and Penn State looks to be a team that could challenge Ohio State for the Big 10 title, and Oregon State is a solid opponent. The Beavers did get snyped by Stanford last Thursday, but Mike Riley who is probably one of the most underrated coaches in the country will come prepared agaisnt Joe Paterno.

The last game is San Diego State at Notre Dame at 2:30pm central time on NBC. Notre Dame should, and I stress should wipe the floor with the Aztecs. This is must see football just for the reason to see if Notre Dame's offense has a pulse or even if their defense can stop anyone.

As always go check out The Mountain West Conference Connection for all of your MWC needs.

Game Previews: FAMU vs. DSU, South Carolina vs. Vandy

When: 7:30 PM ET, ESPNU

Why You Should Care: I'm going to begin highlighting some of the FCS primetime Thursday night games that are aired on ESPNU, so I suppose I'll start with the FAMU/Delaware State game tonight. The Hornets are trying to defend their MEAC title while Florida A&M has the potential to be a big conference sleeper.

Florida A&M Will win Because...: Well, they have a week of football under their belts, unlike the Hornets. The Rattlers took out Alabama State in the opener, winning 30-20. They got solid offensive play, but most importantly, excellent special teams contributions.

Delaware State Will Win Because...: They're still one of the favorites to win the MEAC. Even though South Carolina State is predicted to win the conference, the Hornets still figure to be one of the best teams in the conference. Keep in mind, they beat Florida A&M 20-7 last season and played great defense a year ago.

Keep an Eye on...: CB LeRoy Vann. Vann was dominating on kickoffs with 3 returns for 158 yards and a score. Not to mention, he's a good CB who should limit the Delaware State passing game.

And the Crystal Ball Says: Give me Delaware State. Even though Joe Taylor was a good hire for the FAMU program, it won't result in a win against one of the MEAC favorites. Even though there won't be a ton of offense, look for Kareem Jones at RB and Vashon Winton at QB to have solid games in a victory. Should be close though, I'll say Hornets 20-14.




When: 8:30 PM ET, ESPN

Why You Should Care: Is anybody tired of seeing South Carolina on Thursday nights? They're on every single year and if I recall, we've seen them play UCF, Mississippi State, Kentucky, NC State, and now Vanderbilt. That's off of the top of my head, too, I don't recall if there have been any more. In protest, mainly because South Carolina hasn't been worthy of the Thursday night slot that many times, I'm going to be watching Florida A&M and Delaware State.

South Carolina Will Win Because...: They have a QB. Maybe. Chris Smelley seems to be the guy to lead the offense with a semblance of efficiency unlike Tommy Beecher. Even though it was late in the game, Smelley stepped his game up a notch and took South Carolina to the next level. Also, they may have the best defense in the SEC, and that's no joke.

Vanderbilt Will Win Because...: Their defense isn't too shabby, either. Especially in the secondary. Led by CB D.J. Moore, the Commodores shut down Miami offensively last week in a game that really was supposed to be a win for the MAC at home. Chris Nickson established himself as the starter, but will get a bigger test from this Gamecock defense.

Keep an Eye on...: RB Mike Davis. Even though statistically Miami had a good deal of passing yards, the pass efficiency defense was really good for the Commodores. Running the ball to shy away from a talented secondary will be crucial for South Carolina.

And the Crystal Ball Says: Going with Vanderbilt is really tempting here, mainly because you get the sense that South Carolina will lay an egg after receiving some national hype over a not-so-special victory against a lackadaisical NC State team, but South Carolina has what it takes to pull out a road squeaker. Look for offensive yards to be at a premium and the game should be decided by a big turnover or a huge special teams play. South Carolina wins, 23-18.

Going Through the Motions

Ugh. I haven't been able to update the site very frequently, mainly because I'm pretty much drained right about now. I've been working, sleeping for 10 hours a day pretty much, and watching the convention. As a matter of fact, I'll probably just go to sleep right now. Maybe back in full force by Friday.

Bowl Projections: Week 1

This is a new, basic feature where I gaze into my hazy crystal ball and spit out meaningless predictions. Rip to shreds in the comments, if you like, I don't mind.

Humanitarian Bowl: Boise State vs. North Carolina
New Mexico Bowl: New Mexico vs. Louisiana Tech
St. Petersburg Bowl: Pitt vs. UCF
Las Vegas Bowl: Utah vs. Arizona State
Congressional Bowl: Navy vs. Bowling Green
New Orleans Bowl: Florida Atlantic vs. Southern Miss
Poinsettia Bowl: Wyoming vs. Minnesota (at-large)
Hawaii Bowl: Nevada vs. Arizona
Motor City Bowl: Central Michigan vs. Michigan State
Meineke Car Care Bowl: Georgia Tech vs. Cincinnati
Champs Sports Bowl: Maryland vs. Michigan
Emerald Bowl: UCLA vs. Boston College
Independence Bowl: Arkansas vs. Kansas State
Texas Bowl: Oklahoma State vs. Louisville
Papajohns.com Bowl: Notre Dame vs. South Carolina
Alamo Bowl: Kansas vs. Illinois
Holiday Bowl: Oklahoma vs. Cal
Armed Forces Bowl: Tulsa vs. TCU
Sun Bowl: Oregon State vs. Nebraska
Music City Bowl: Ole Miss vs. Virginia Tech
Insight Bowl: Purdue vs. Colorado
Chick-fil-A Bowl: Alabama vs. Wake Forest
Outback Bowl: Auburn vs. Wisconsin
Gator Bowl: Miami vs. USF
Capital One Bowl: Penn State vs. LSU
Rose Bowl: Ohio State vs. Oregon
Orange Bowl: Clemson vs. BYU
Cotton Bowl: Tennessee vs. Texas Tech
Liberty Bowl: Fresno State vs. ECU
Sugar Bowl: Florida vs. Missouri
International Bowl: Rutgers vs. Temple
Fiesta Bowl: Texas vs. West Virginia
GMAC Bowl: Ball State vs. Houston
BCS Championship: USC vs. Georgia

Thought I'd explain a few things first. Clemson should still win the ACC. I know they got smashed, but they have enough talent and are just mediocre offensive line play away from a BCS appearance. I'm not predicting that Temple will win their division, but I do believe that they'll get to 7-5 and the bowls will pit Navy and Bowling Green together to avoid a rematch, although Navy will be on the bubble with a tougher-than-usual schedule. I don't see the ACC filling all of their slots with the way Virginia and NC State performed, so I bumped up Maryland to the Champs Sports Bowl which left the Congressional Bowl open; the Congressional Bowl has a back-up tie-in with the MAC. I'm joining the bandwagon while there's still time with BYU. I predicted that Washington would beat them at home and it doesn't look like the Huskies will be up to the task. Fresno State will be an at-large pick to face-off against C-USA champion, ECU, kind of like what happened with Boise State and Louisville. Some of these projection sites I see (like CBS Sportsline) have New Mexico not in the New Mexico Bowl, which is kind of surprising for me. Yeah, that's pretty much all I have to say about this. Tell me what you think!