Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic: International Bowl

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International Bowl

Location: Rogers Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Matchup: Rutgers vs. Ball State

Spread: Rutgers -9

Smartass Comment about the Bowl Itself: It doesn't help our reputation across the globe that we export this one of all bowl games. And why isn't Mexico vying for this bowl or do I need to ask?

Thoughts: One thing I love about Ball State is that they have a player older than me. Which makes me feel better about my place in life. Brandon Crawford and the rest of the Ball State defense will be responsible for stopping Ray Rice in his last game. I almost never pick against Rutgers and don't see any reason to do here. The MAC, which used to be a breeding ground for great NFL players like Ben Roethlisberger and Byron Leftwich is down and has been down for a couple years now. I don't see the conference winning any bowl game, nonetheless this one.

Pick: Rutgers

Confidence: 23 out of 32

Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic: FedEx Orange Bowl

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FedEx Orange Bowl

Location: Dolphin Stadium, Miami, Florida

Matchup: Kansas (At-Large) vs. Virginia Tech (ACC Champion)

Spread: Virginia Tech -3

Smartass Comment about the Bowl Itself: The arrow between the E and the X points you to insignificant victory.

Thoughts: Kansas will try to score its first win over a Top 25 team this season, IN A BCS BOWL GAME. That's all I need to know. And oh by the way Missouri won by thirty-one two days ago. I don't mind that Kansas is here because it gives us our own day to giggle at Mark Mangino several times and see if he found any new places to gain weight over banquet season.

Pick: Virginia Tech

Confidence: 26 out of 32

Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic: Tostitos Fiesta Bowl

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Location: University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale, Arizona

Matchup: West Virginia (Big East Champion) vs. Oklahoma (Big XII Champion)

Spread: Oklahoma -9

Smartass Comment about the Bowl Itself: The Tostitos Fiesta Bowl...where there are more sights of the word Tostitos than Tostitos in a bag of Tostitos. Yumm...Tostitos!

Thoughts: If yesterday didn't provide enough excitement for you, here's a game with two teams with something to play for. West Virginia with a chip on their shoulder due to the departure of their old Head Coach. Oklahoma returning to the site of last year's embarrassing loss to Boise State. That matchup here is Oklahoma's 8th ranked Rushing Defense against Pat White and Steve Slaton and the West Virginia spread option offense. While an angry West Virginia team may be tough to bet against, Oklahoma is as talented on the offensive side of the ball and much better defensively.

Pick: Oklahoma

Confidence: 28 out of 32

Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic: Allstate Sugar Bowl

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Location: Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana

Matchup: Hawai'i (At-Large) vs. Georgia (At-Large)

Spread: Georgia -7.5

Smartass Comment about the Bowl Itself: Where would people from Hawai'i be excited to travel to for a bowl game? Can someone answer me that?

Thoughts: Nobody loves the mid-majors more than me. Last year's Boise State win over Oklahoma was one of the greatest moments of my sports watching life. A Hawai'i win wouldn't make it any less special, in fact it would further the cause for more access to BCS and New Year's Day bowls. I just don't think this Hawai'i team is capable. They have playmakers at the WR position and June Jones' offense could frustrate Georgia for a while. But Georgia is the tougher more talented team, playing as well as anyone in the country. They slept on a smaller conference opponent the last time they were in the Sugar Bowl. I don't see them doing that again.

Pick: Georgia

Confidence: 21 out of 32

Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic: Rose Bowl presented by Citi

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Location: Rose Bowl (duh!), Pasadena, California

Matchup: Illinois vs. Southern Cal

Spread: USC -13.5

Smartass Comment about the Bowl Itself: Haven't I said enough. The most arcane institution in the sport and all that holds back college football from being even better than it is.

Thoughts: Juice Williams is a fun player to watch and Rashad Mendenhall is a bruising runner. That's great but they are a step below USC and the rest of the teams playing in the BCS for that matter and should be outclassed here. Any other team but Illinois makes this perhaps the best game of the day but instead we're stuck with what we have. Which could be a close game for a half just to make me worry about such a bold prediction but I doubt it.

Pick: USC

Confidence: 31 out of 32

Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic: Capital One Bowl

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Location: Citrus Bowl, Orlando, Florida

Matchup: Michigan vs. Florida

Spread: Florida -10

Smartass Comment about the Bowl Itself: Any chance I won't see an ad where some family's frequent flyer miles are blacked out?

Thoughts: I'm sure Michigan's seniors are going to play hard in their last game. I'm sure the Wolverines are going to play hard for Lloyd Carr. But this is the same spread offense that Appy State and Oregon ran on them, run better than anyone. It's almost impossible for Michigan to stop Tim Tebow in this game, forget the Heisman curse. Forget Michigan

Pick: Florida

Confidence: 30 out of 32

Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic: Gator Bowl

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Location: Jacksonville Muncipal Stadium, Jacksonville, Florida

Matchup: Texas Tech vs. Virginia

Spread: Texas Tech -6

Smartass Comment about the Bowl Itself: Jacksonville...Florida's New Jersey!

Thoughts: Lot of talent on display. Especially when Texas Tech has the ball. Quarterback Graham Harrell will try to get the ball to Michael Crabtree while being rushed by Defensive End Jake Long for Virginia who projects to go in the first five picks of the draft. While Texas Tech had a good season last year, it should have a great one next year. Starting with this game.

Pick: Texas Tech

Confidence: 17 out of 32

Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic: AT&T Cotton Bowl

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Location: Cotton Bowl, Dallas, Texas

Matchup: Arkansas vs. Missouri

Spread: Missouri -3

Smartass Comment about the Bowl Itself: Is this why a stadium that hosts 3 games a year and is 75 years old is still standing?

Thoughts: If Darren McFadden doesn't play for Arkansas, you don't really need any but here we go just in case. Its been history that teams that are spurned by the BCS lay eggs in the bowls they are usually sent to but I don't think this will be the case for Chase Daniel and Mizzou. There are some legit doubts about how good the Big XII North is the meat behind Mizzou's 11-2 record. I think Daniel, who won't come out for the draft next year wants to start off a Heisman campaign right in this game and more importantly prove that Missouri is as good as their record. A one dimensional (or no dimensional) team like Arkansas would be a good win.

Pick: Missouri

Confidence: 15 out of 32

Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic: Outback Bowl

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Location: Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, Florida

Matchup: Wisconsin vs. Tennessee

Spread: Tennessee -2

Smartass Comment about the Bowl Itself: Because at 11am on New Year's Day all you want to see is Aussie Chips on your television set every commercial break.

Thoughts: Who would've thought Wisconsin's season of high expectations would end up here? Bret Bielema is once again challenged with stopping another SEC offense, like he did last year in the Capital One Bowl against Arkansas. We'll see Erik Ainge without OC David Cutcliffe, who took the head coaching job at Duke and six players who were declared Academically Diseligible (last time I promise). Plus you have to wonder how good the practices were for Tennessee with all this going on weeks after they almost won the SEC.

Pick: Wisconsin

Confidence: 11 out of 32

Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic: Chick-Fil-A Bowl

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Location: Georgia Dome, Atlanta, Georgia

Matchup: Auburn vs. Clemson

Spread: Clemson -2.5

Smartass Comment about the Bowl Itself: Name was changed after too many southerners started ordering peaches from their local Chick-Fil-A.

Thoughts: Both are Ag schools, Both have the nickname Tigers, Both have orange in their uniforms, Both are coached by men named Tommy, Both are ranked too high preseason and fail to meet expectations...the similarities are endless between Clemson and Auburn. Which is what makes this game hard to pick. Clemson Quarterback Cullen Harper has improved exponentially this season but couldn't "win the big one" against Boston College earlier this year. This game has less pressure, I think Harper will prosper which is why I'm going with the Purple Tigers here.

Pick: Clemson

Confidence: 3 out of 32

Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic: Insight Bowl

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Location: Sun Devil Stadium, Tempe, Arizona

Matchup: Indiana vs. Oklahoma State

Spread: Oklahoma State -4

Smartass Comment about the Bowl Itself: If a coach had any kind of Insight, his team wouldn't be sent to a second-tier bowl like this.

Thoughts: Head Coach Bill Lynch got the Hoosiers to this bowl fulfilling the promise of the late Terry Hoeppner in the biggest feel good story of the college football season. Everyone knows Mike Gundy by now. You might not know Okie State WR Adarius Bowman 6'4" 220lb. Wide Receiver who could be a first round pick in the NFL Draft. Just as I like to pick against teams that aren't happy to be in mid-level bowls, i like to pick teams like Indiana who treat them as if they were on New Year's Day or later. That's why I'm going with Indiana but as the confidence tells you, I wouldn't bet my car on it.

Pick: Indiana

Confidence: 2 out of 32

Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic: Roady's Humanitarian Bowl

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Roady’s Humanitarian Bowl


Location: Bronco Stadium, Boise, Idaho

Matchup: Fresno State vs. Georgia Tech

Spread: Georgia Tech -6


Smartass Comment about the Bowl Itself: How many Roady’s truck stops do you think Larry Craig did Humanitarian duties in?

Thoughts: Not only is Georgia Tech in the ACC’s “punishment bowl” for an underachieving season, they lost head coach Chan Gailey to firing and will be coached by DC Jon Tenuta who, while a great DC gives me flashbacks of Robert Loggia in “Necessary Roughness” taking over Hector Elizondo’s playbook and whistle. Can he get the Yellow Jackets motivated to play this game. Maybe but I doubt it.


Pick: Fresno State

Confidence: 12 out of 32

Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic: Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl

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Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl


Location: LP Field, Nashville, Tennessee

Matchup: Kentucky vs. Florida State

Spread: Kentucky -10


Smartass Comment about the Bowl Itself: None! The Music City Bowl is a fine tradition in a fine town! (they haven’t let me in yet)

Thoughts: I’m going and will be blogging the experience for this blog when I come back. I’d rather save my witty commentary for then. As most people know Florida State has suspended 34 players out of Academic Diselgibility after an online course cheating scandal was uncovered involving players. Kentucky Andre Woodson gets to showcase his skills in a real competitive game. FSU is coming with nothing to lose so I expect them to make a game of it for a while but they simply don’t have the manpower to compete and I’m not sure if they ever did.

Pick: Kentucky

Confidence: 29 out of 32

Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic: Brut Sun Bowl

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Brut Sun Bowl


Location: Sun Bowl Stadium, El Paso, Texas

Matchup: South Florida vs. Oregon

Spread: South Florida -6.5


Smartass Comment about the Bowl Itself: The thought of the smell of Brut in the sun is almost enough for me to not watch this game.

Thoughts: After Dennis Dixon got hurt and quarterback Brady Leaf took over the wheels came off. Just as you can imagine they would if their running back Johnathan Stewart got hurt and Tomlinson Jana-Carter was their running back. South Florida is another team that couldn’t hold onto #2 but they played remarkably well out of conference including a win at Auburn. I expect them to impress here, easily handling the Ducks.

Pick: South Florida

Confidence: 22 out of 32

Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic: Armed Forces Bowl

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Bell Helicopters Armed Forces Bowl


Location: Amon G. Carter Stadium, Fort Worth, Texas

Matchup: Air Force vs. California

Spread: California -3.5


Smartass Comment about the Bowl Itself: You know, I was on the fence about what brand of helicopter to buy after Christmas but since they support college football, I’m gonna go get me a Bell! Maybe two!

Thoughts: Let’s say you played football for Cal in 2007. You started out the season with a big win over Tennessee. You were one of the 15 teams ranked #2 this season, even though like 13 other teams, you weren’t that good. You stumbled, check that, you collapsed down the stretch and are on your way to Fort Worth, not New Orleans where you thought you might be, to play in the Armed Forces Bowl, not the BCS National Championship as you thought you might be, to play a service academy with their option offense and Coach of the Year candidate Troy Calhoun. Not exactly Remember the Titans. I don’t see this season ending well for Desean Jackson and the Bears.

Pick: Air Force

Confidence: 14 out of 32

Bertuccci's Bowling for Bowls Classic: Petrosun Independence Bowl

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PetroSun Independence Bowl


Location: Independence Stadium, Shreveport, Louisiana

Matchup: Colorado (Big XII, No. something) vs. Alabama (SEC, No. I have to be honest I’ve been guessing this whole time)

Spread: Alabama -3.5


Smartass Comment about the Bowl Itself: Everyday Should be Saturday does it better than I could. The first and worst of the bad bowls.

Thoughts: I hate both these teams and neither deserves to be in any kind of bowl. Alabama finished their season shamefully and they’ll be reminded of that on their way to Shreveport. Colorado had to score eleventy billion points to beat lowly Nebraska. I’m taking Alabama slightly because I believe Nick Saban is on the verge of looking ridiculous and a man like Nick Saban can not be made to look ridiculous.




Pick: Alabama

Confidence: 1 out of 32