College Football Bowl Update

Now that we've gotten all the sub-par games out of the way, we can finally focus on some games worth watching. The Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl should be the best available game today. Although likely to be low scoring, plenty of talent will be on display.

A few interesting observations from last week:

The Mountain West is a surprising 4-0 in bowl competition so far and could go 5-0 if Air Force knocks off Cal. Even if Air Force loses, the MWC will still be the odds-on favorite to win the Bowl Challenge. The SEC is also 2-0 and will be favored in 5 of 7 remaining games.

Perhaps my memory is a little fuzzy but it seems like the bowls have always produced several surprising upsets. Some teams come in motivated while others show up disappointed. However, the only upset we've seen so far is East Carolina over Boise State, and perhaps Mississippi State over UCF. I don't see any upset possibilities today, with the exception of Air Force over Cal. Cal is currently a 4.5 point favorite, but at 6-6 and losers of six of their last seven, I don't know that Cal deserves to be favored over anyone. It should interesting to see how Florida State performs against Kentucky, given that about a third of their team has been suspended. The line has gone from Kentucky -3 to Kentucky -7 since the suspensions were announced.

Keep your eye on a couple of New Year's Day games. Michigan-Florida will be a high scoring affair, and I hope to see Tebow run roughshod all over Michigan, much like Dennis Dixon did. Everyone will be anxious to see how Hawaii plays against its first BCS opponent, Georgia. I expect Georgia's D to put the clamps on Colt Brennan, but I think the game will produce some fireworks.

Bonus: NFL observations

How the heck is Seattle 10-6? Oh yeah, they play Arizona, San Fransisco and St. Louis twice a year. In a sixteen game season, Seattle somehow managed to play only three teams with a winning record, going 1-2 in those games. I think Washington should be favored in that playoff game, although it looks like Seattle is an early four point favorite.

Congrats Tom Brady and the Pats. It will be that much sweeter for the rest of us when lose your first playoff game.

Tough luck, Browns. Nice finish, though. After starting 2-3, Cleveland was able to go 8-3 over its last eleven games and finished with a record equal to or better than four NFC playoff teams.