After last week’s list of favorite Christmas tunes, I heard back from several people requesting Christmas movies instead. While I do promise to get to those before the holiday, I wanted to first get to a list much, much more important this time year. That, of course, being my picks for college football bowl season.

(Note, all picks are listed/made on a strictly head-to-head basis. I will not be picking against the spread here (1) b/c gambling is still technically illegal and (2) my degenerate buddies that ask me advice on their bets wouldn’t much appreciate me giving away trade secrets for free.

That being said, here they are, in chronological order… (my picks are in bold)

Bowl                                Teams
New Mexico               Nevada vs. Arizona
Potato                        Toledo vs. Utah State
Poinsietta                  San Diego State vs. BYU
St. Petersburg          Ball State vs. UCF
New Orleans             East Carolina vs. Louisiana-Lafayette
Las Vegas                 Boise State vs. Washington
Hawaii                        SMU vs. Fresno State
Little Caesars           Western Kentucky vs. Central Michigan
Military                       San Jose State vs. Bowling Green
Belk                           Duke vs. Cincinnati
Holiday                      UCLA vs. Baylor
Independence         Louisiana-Monroe vs. Ohio
Russell Athletic       Virginia Tech vs. Rutgers
Texas                       Minnesota vs. Texas Tech
Armed Forces         Rice vs. Air Force
Fight Hunger            Arizona State vs. Navy
Pinstripe                   Syracuse vs. West Virginia
Alamo                       Texas vs. Oregon State
Buffalo Wild Wings Michigan State vs. TCU
Music City                Vanderbilt vs. NC State
Sun                           Georgia Tech vs. USC
Liberty                      Iowa State vs. Tulsa
Chick-fil-A                Clemson vs. LSU
Heart of Dallas        Purdue vs. Oklahoma State
Gator                       Mississippi State vs. Northwestern
Capital One             Georgia vs. Nebraska
Outback                   South Carolina vs. Michigan
Rose                        Wisconsin vs. Stanford
Orange                    Northern Illinois vs. Florida State
Sugar                       Florida vs. Louisville
Fiesta                      Oregon vs. Kansas State
Cotton                     Texas A&M vs. Oklahoma
Compass                Pittsburgh vs. Mississippi
GoDaddy.com        Kent State vs. Arkansas State
BCS Champ           Notre Dame vs. Alabama

Some random thoughts while we’re here…

–Toledo v Utah State could be the sneaky good game of the early ones. Lots of points scored here, I almost guarantee it. And it’s played on the Smurf Turf, which is always entertaining.

–For the first time since I’ve live on Oahu, I’m legitimately excited for the Hawaii Bowl. June Jones makes his return to Hawaii against a solid Fresno team, all for $5! Merry Christmas Eve!

–Also quite sad that I won’t be back in Nashville this year for the Music City Bowl. In what is basically a home game for Vandy, the atmosphere should be pretty electric.

–If you notice my picking against the Big Ten and Big East pretty much across the board, there’s a reason for that. Both conferences are awful. The only one I didn’t pick was Minnesota, and that’s b/c Texas Tech is in shambles right now.

–I am a Sooners fan, and will always pick them no matter what. That being said, they’re going to have their hands full w/ Manziel. Running QBs have always given them fits. The loss of A&M’s O-coordinator yesterday should help though…

–The only thing worse than the SEC’s air of superiority is how insufferable Notre Dame fans would be if they somehow pulled this off. No way, no how.

–Oklahoma, LSU, A&M and even Clemson all belong in the BCS. Cinderella stories such as Northern Illinois are for March Madness, not in college football bowl season.

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