Final Bowl Musings

Well, we've come to the end of the line. Believe it or not, despite all my bitching and bellyaching, the numbered musings for bowl season stand at 6-4. I skipped sending anything out for the International Bowl because I figured that nobody would have any interest. Let me make two quick points before I begin:

1. I think the AP should vote Utah the National Champions. They are the only undefeated team in the country, and they handled Bama relatively easily. Don't give me this bullshit about jumping people in the polls. Before they beat Bama, you couldn't really make a "strong" case for them due to their schedule, but now you can. They beat everyone on their schedule, including 2 Top 10 squads. If I was an AP voter, I'd have absolutely no problem voting them #1.

2. Steve Spurrier should be fired because he sucks ass. Watching his team get the shit kicked out of them by a decent Iowa team and execute at the level of an 8th grade team was a disgrace. 5 years into his tenure and his quarterbacks still play as if they need to major in clue searching. The rumblings should start now, and if he can't get things going, they need to bring in some other hack and pay him $2Million less to go 6-6.

On to the remainder of the bowls, and the countdown to next year.

11. Texas -8 1/2 v Ohio St: I haven't checked lines this morning, but this is what it was last night. Some places might still have it at 8. Jim Tressel actually has a pretty good track record in bowls in which he is catching a lot of points and people aren't giving his squad much of a chance. Consider the MNC game in early '03, the Fiesta Bowl the next year against the K State team that roughed up Oklahoma before they lost to LSU in the MNC game and the Alamo Bowl where they clobbered Oklahoma St as a significant dog.That being said, I think they are going to get hammered in this game. I assume that there is some danger that Texas won't want to be there, especially since Utah can make a better case than they can to the MNC, but we're talking about Ohio St here. People get up for them, and I assume that there will be a big mob of Red faced red garbed Buckeye fans making their presence felt, so there's some motivation there. I think the biggest aspects of this game will be Texas's ability to pressure the Freshman Pryor, and their ability to stop the run.. Texas is second in the country in sacks, 5th against the run and OSU has struggled to keep defenses off their Qbs, and 2 or 3 years from now, when Pryor is accepting the Heisman or doing a post game MNC interview or something like that, he'll recall how he was unprepared and too cocky for this game, etc and how he used the experience as a learning tool and got better. Oh yeah....Ohio St's defense isn't going to be able to stop Colt McCoy either, or at least enough to cover this number, because I think their offense will struggle. Texas needs to avoid penalties and turnovers, though.

12. Florida -3 1/2 v Oklahoma: It might be 3 in some circles. I locked it in at 3 awhile ago. Not sure what the line is going to do from here. Looking at the matchups in this game, obviously both teams have superior, championship level offenses. The difference in this one will be determined by which defense matches up better with the other offense. In this case, I think there is little doubt that it's Florida's defense. I don't think they'll have much trouble stopping OU's running game, and their pass defense is ranked second in the country. On the flip side, OU has struggled some against the run, and Florida can certainly run it whether it's with Tebow or whatever scat back speed merchant they decide to line up back there. OU has done a good job of pressuring the QB, much better than Florida actually, but I think Tebow's presence back there and their probable ability to run it a bit will offset the pass rush. Ultimately, in my opinion, all of the intangibles fall on Florida's side. I just can't foresee a scenario, given the recent history of both teams, where Oklahoma comes into Florida and puts it on the Gators. Bob Stoops V Urban Meyer seems to me to be a strong edge to Meyer if not a mismatch when you consider that OU has looked like half of it's previous self in it's last 4 bowl games. West Virginia rolled them last year. Boise beat the the year before that, and people forget that they led most of that game until the end as well. They were completely non-competitive in their last MNC game at the same venue. Meanwhile, there's Urban Meyer, looking on approvingly as balls bounce into the waiting arms of defenders in full stride once or twice a game, a play after a touchdown had been called back on a questionable penalty. I don't know that Florida's great fortune will continue, but I see no reason why not. I don't think there's any doubt that Florida will bring their A game. Recent history strongly suggests that OU will not, for whatever reason.

GMAC Bowl: Great matchup. 2 very good offenses in this one.....it's really a tossup.y recommendation would be to take whoever is getting points. Both offenses have huge edges over the respective defenses in all facets, although the gap is wider between Ball St's pass offense and Tulsa's pass defense. However, Tulsa will be able to run on Ball St all day long. Tulsa is much more prone to turning the ball over, but Ball St probably won't be able to get Tulsa off the field on 3rd down. You get the picture. Frankly I probably won't make the call on this one until I find out who's wearing the dark colors. It's that close.

Well, that does it. Going into these last 2, we're at 95-69 on the numbered musings for the year. A possibility of getting to 58 % with a sweep of these two, but most importantly, we're guaranteed a .500 bowl season even with a collapse on these last 2. With the way I've been handicapping bowls the past couple of years, I'll take it. Take care.