I'm still awful at this

First off, I want to give a shout out (can I do that if I'm white?) to the juniors on UNC's defense who announced they're all coming back next year. Marvin Austin, Quan Sturdivant, Bruce Carter, Kendric Burney, and Deunta Williams all would've been drafted if they had declared, but they believed they're all be back as seniors. This basically guarantees that UNC will have the best defense in the ACC next year and a top-10 unit nationally, and it also gives us a shot to beat LSU in the season opener and contend for an ACC title. We'll discuss this a lot more in the future, but I am surprised and excited that all of them are returning.

I'm going to agree with Found that yesterday's NFL games were terrible. However, I was actually rooting for one of those teams to tank. As a Bengals fan, I actually wanted my team to lose last night to guarantee a rematch against the Jets instead of a rematch against the Texans (who already drilled Cincy earlier in the year and always lights up the Bengals defense). I didn't feel good about rooting for my team to lose, but it was a necessary evil to give us the best chance in the playoffs.

But I don't like people who cite Week 17 in the NFL as a reason that college football "gets it right" by not having a playoff. I think that BS because it only happens for one week, maybe two, of the season. In college football, a playoff system would still require teams to have 1 or 2 losses at the most, so it's not like they'd be able to take a month off and coast. Games would still mean something, and I highly doubt an 11-0 Alabama team would rest its starters and lose the Iron Bowl just to get ready for its first playoff game. I'm not calling Found out for promoting a non-playoff system - just a side rant that his post reminded me about.

Boise St. +7.5 over TCU

There's no doubt in my mind that TCU has been the more impressive team this year. The Horned Frogs play better defense than Boise, and they have more impressive wins (I discount Boise's win over Oregon because it was in Week 1). However, I have generally been wrong about every bowl game this year, so I'll pick the opposite of what I really think and go with Boise to keep it within a TD. Ironically, I see this game as more of a 20-14 slugfest than a 45-42 shootout. I am basing this prediction on Boise's game against Oregon (which I realize I already discarded earlier in this paragraph) and TCU's ability to smother teams defensively.

Georgia Tech -3.5 over Iowa

Aside from the UNC game, this was by far the easiest game of all the bowls for me to pick. One, my girlfriend is a Yellow Jacket and she's one of only about 6 people who could theoretically read this post. She'd be pissed if I took Iowa. Two, I am starting to believe in the triple option after being one of its biggest detractors for the past year. People like Oltz who think that GT only runs three plays are woefully mistaken. Paul Johnson is one of the smartest coaches (note: sheer intelligence doesn't always correlate with winning; see Miles, Les) in football, and his offense has so many damn wrinkles and intricacies that it changes just enough week to week to give defenses fits. Three, Iowa sucks. I'm sorry Gregg, but your Hawkeyes got bye on smoke and mirrors for long enough. Good teams don't get down by 3 TD's to Indiana. Good teams don't beat beat Northern Iowa by 1 point at home. It will always concern me when a team has a month to get ready for the option offense, but I am sticking to my guns here and taking the Jackets. Up with the White and Gold!!!

Troy +3.5 over Central Michigan

I don't know much about this game, but here's what I do know: Central Michigan plays in the MAC, and the MAC (0-4 in bowl games so far) sucks more than a girl on Tiger Woods' speed dial. I also know that Troy runs the spread for nearly 500 yards/game and drilled LSU in Death Valley last year for two-thirds of a game before collapsing. Give me the points.


Oltz - I will get back to you shortly with my Butch Davis thoughts.