Home for the Holidays

December 30th offers 4 games, which should all pan out to be good ones. In the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl, Army is representing the Armed Forces both off and on the field today. They have jumped out to an early 16-0 lead over SMU at the half. The second game of the day is the New Era Pinstripe Bowl featuring two 7-5 teams as Darren Sproles' Alma mater Kansas State takes on Donovan McNabb's Syracuse Orangemen (first two names that came to my mind ). Syracuse has had a rather pedestrian offense, averaging just 178 yards in the air, and 130 on the ground, but what they lack in offense, they make up for in D with the 13th best D in points allowed per game in the FBS. Kansas State has a solid rushing attack, so look for them to get their "feet in the water" with a lot of running plays to open the game. Kansas State takes a close one 24-20.

The third game, which also offers the longest bowl name with 6 words, UNC plays Tennessee in the Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl (say that 5 times fast). This one is interesting, because on paper, both teams look practically identical in terms of record, 7-5 & 6-6, avg points per game, average yards per game, etc. I think a huge factor will be the fact that Tennessee will be playing in their home state, but hey, its a bowl game, so who knows. The spread for this game is 0, so apparently Vegas thinks it will end in a tie (where was this spread during the MLB All-Star game a few years back?). My guess, the SEC team wins 25-21.

The 4th game of the day should be a good one, as UDub aka the University of Washington takes on the Cornhuskers of Nebraska in the Holiday Bowl. I am a little biased here because I was fortunate enough to be able to spend 2 months this summer playing baseball in Washington, and played with Jake Locker's cousin Brady (so vice versa, I am rooting for Brady Locker's cousin Jake, since Brade-O hated being called Jake's cousin) and my host family lived in Ferndale, WA which is Jake Locker's hometown, so Husky football and UW kind of grew on me. Washington will have their hands full as Nebraska looks like a clear winner on paper. In a classic bowl game thriller, I say UW some how, some way, wins 23-21 on a last second field goal.