f13.net forums - Bowl Season 2008-2009

There are 34 bowls this year. I can throw out 20 of them right off the bat as completely ridiculous. I'll rate my top 10 best matchups, and my top 5 worst.

I'll start with the top 10 best:

10 - Mieneke Car Care bowl - WVU v. UNC - I like this match up because it's two teams who had good shots at winning their respective conferences, but the wheels came off at the end. WVU always has a good bowl track record, and UNC hasn't been to a football bowl in years. I know both of these teams will really battle for a win, even if it's in a lesser bowl game.

9 - Holiday Bowl - Oklahoma State v. Oregon - This is another match up of the "what could have been" variety. Oklahoma State is a very good offensive team and could have played in the conference title game if they played in the other division. Oregon is 2nd ranked in the PAC-10 and very capable of hanging 60 points on anybody. This should be a total shootout.

8 - The Peach Bowl (I refuse to call it a corporate name) - LSU v. GA Tech - LSU has fallen very far from their national championship status. They desperately need a bowl win to salvage any credibility left in their season. GA Tech is emerging as a very solid team under Paul Johnson, and were probably the hottest team in the ACC at the end of the season. Were they to have played in the championship game, I have no doubt they would have won.

7 - Citrus Bowl - Georgia v. Michigan State - Georgia never lived up the #1 preseason billing this year, and Michigan State couldn't fend off Penn State, but they still sport two of the best runningbacks in the nation. This game should be an interesting combination of ground war and long ball passing attack. Neither team really sports a defense worth a damn, so this could have a lot of offensive highlight reel potential.

6 - Rose Bowl - Penn State v. USC - Personally, I think both of these conferences suck, but this match up has a lot of old school rivalry potential. Couple that with Jo-Pa's old man insanity and this one should be a close game with a lot of good ole' fashioned hate.

5 - Cotton Bowl - Ole Miss v. Texas Tech - These are two teams that were major overachievers this season. Ole Miss is the only team to say they took Florida down, and Texas Tech is the only team to say they took Texas down. I think they are equally matched teams playing the two best conferences this year. Any SEC v. Big 12 match up comes with major bragging rights for the winner this season.

4 - Music City Bowl - Boston College v. Vandy - The fact that Vandy finally made it to a bowl is more than enough reason to tune in on this game. Nobody would have predicted that Vandy would make it, and the Music City Bowl is practically a home game for them. Get ready for a rowdy crowd who will be out for blood on this New Year's Eve match up.

3 - National Championship - Florida v. Oklahoma - No it's not #1 this year because the BCS got it wrong again, but it's still a decent matchup between two teams playing great football at the end of the season. The reason it's not higher is because I don't think anybody can beat Florida when they are well-rested, uninjured, and firing on all cylinders. I don't really expect this one to be very competitive, but there is a trophy at stake.

2 - Sugar Bowl - Alabama v. Utah - Utah is not Hawaii. They won't be the whipping boy that Hawaii was in the Sugar Bowl last year. This game will be much closer, much more competitive, and much more about respect than anything else. Alabama needs to prove itself after the devastating Florida collapse. Utah needs to win to prove that BCS busters deserve credit in the system.

1 - Fiesta Bowl - Texas v. Ohio State - Why is this the best bowl? Why does this match up trump all others? Two words. PISSED OFF. Texas and Ohio State played twice back in 2005 and 2006. Texas won a close game the first time around, and Ohio State soundly beat Texas in the second. These teams know each other, and they don't like each other. Both of them believe they were destined for greater things this season, and they are both pissed off that they didn't get it. Expect them both to pull out all the stops to show why they should have been national champions. It will be dirty, bloody, excellent football.

The 5 worst matchups:

5 - Hawaii Bowl - Hawaii v. Notre Dame - Notre Dame got in a bowl game? Seriously? Was anybody paying attention this season? Hawaii's barely above .500 this year, and Notre Dame is 6-6. The only thing that could make me care about this game is the fact that it's literally the only thing on Christmas Eve at night besides holiday movies. That, and watching Notre Dame get beat again would be highly amusing.

4 - Gator Bowl - Clemson v. Nebraska - Clemson fired their coach. They went from top 10 to unranked in a slide that seemed to never stop until the last 3 games. Nebraska was completely overshadowed in their conference by Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Texas Tech. Neither are ranked, both are extremely average teams, and this match up would put anybody to sleep. Do yourself a favor and watch the Citrus (Capital One) Bowl which is on at the same time.

3 - Orange Bowl - Cincinnati v. Virginia Tech - YAWN. Easily the worst BCS bowl, and one of the worst matchups of the season. The ACC had a horrible year this time around. Their "champion" would be 3rd or 4th in any other conference with a 9-4 record. Cincinnati is the Big East champ, who the BCS still seems content to coddle with an automatic bid every year. It's the last game on New Years day, so luckily I'll probably be asleep before halftime.

2 - Papajohns.com bowl - NC State v. Rutgers - First off, I hate the name. I pretty much hate any bowl that has no history and a corporate name only. Somebody call up Dick's Sporting goods to be a sponsor so we can get the Dicks Bowl. Anyway, the name isn't the only thing sucking in this bowl. NC State is horrible and barely made it to 6-6 with a 4 game run at the end. Rutgers went 1-5 and somehow came back to 7-5. Either way you've got an ACC team that finished dead last in it's division in a down year for the conference, and a Rutgers team who's only ranked win is against Pitt. You could make the case that Rutgers is playing good late, but I stopped caring early.

1 - Poinsettia Bowl - Boise State v. TCU - Wow, congratulations on going undefeated Boise State. You get to play...TCU? Hmmm, somebody got fucked here. This kind of match up is the reason why people scream for a playoff. You bust your ass all year long at a team, you win your conference, you go undefeated and you don't even get to a BCS bowl. No, you get to play the second place team of a conference that got picked ahead of you. Imo, they should just let Utah play Boise State and call it the "National Champship Part II: The actual undefeated teams."