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1. Alamo Bowl: Oregon vs. TCU
Can you say 1200 total yards of offense and 100 combined points? Sign me up
. Adams and Boykin should be completely healthy and this should be one of the better shootouts.2. Russell Athletic Bowl: North Carolina vs. Baylor
Hopefully Chris Johnson will be good to go for this one; if not, this won't be that competitive. But if he's good to go, this should become a shootout. I know most people don't think highly of Johnson, but he can put up numbers and with a month of preparation, I trust Briles to put something good together.
3. Sun Bowl: Miami vs. Washington State
This is a really interesting matchup. Is this a first-timer? Miami turned their season around and they appear to still be playing for something. Wazzu could be down both Luke Falk and Gabe Marks, but they still have guys who can make plays behind them. Bender was horrid against Washington, but, trust the system. A month of practicing as the starter, he'll be good to go under Leach. Wind is sometimes a factor in El Paso this time of year, so keep an eye on that.
4. Hawaii Bowl: San Diego State vs. Cincinnati
This is another really interesting matchup that might be a first-timer. San Diego State plays really tight defense, especially on the ground. I always make it a point to catch the Hawaii Bowl because then I can escape into daydream-land and it takes my mind away from the tundra of Michigan
5. Peach Bowl: Florida State vs. Houston
Billybud may hate me for this, but I like this matchup for both teams. FSU, if they show up, should handle Houston, but Houston on a good day can really make a game out of this. They are a lot better than NIU was in 2012. Greg Ward can throw and run and their defense has been solid this season. Stopping Dalvin Cook will make the difference. Just don't let him get loose for 89 yard touchdown runs and they can keep this in striking distance.
6. Bahamas Bowl: Western Michigan vs. Middle Tennessee
I wanted to cut this off at 5, but I had to give an honorable mention to the Bahamas Bowl. Hopefully this game will be as good as the one last year. Western laid a dud in their bowl game last season against Air Force and Middle Tennessee has a history of being snubbed (in 2014 and 2012). This should be a very competitive game on paper. I'll give another honorable mention to the Miami Beach Bowl between Western Kentucky and USF, or the Willie Taggart Bowl.
My Least Favorites
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1. Texas Bowl: Texas Tech vs. LSU
This is disappointing. The rumors kept pointing towards Texas A&M going here which could have really added a regional rivalry flavor to it. LSU isn't far from Houston, but man, this is the biggest mismatch on paper of the bowl season. No question. You have Leonard Fournette (and Guice and Williams) going up against the worst P5 run defense in the country (probably worse than Kansas'). Nuttier things have happened during bowl season so if they catch a couple of breaks on defense and keep pace scoring, it's within the realm of possibility that they could pull off an upset, but....If LSU shows up and hands the ball off 90% of the time, they win this going away. Fournette could go for 300 if they want him to. The more I reflect on this game though, I could see Mahomes playing a game of his life and turning this into a very exciting contest. Still, that run defense.
2. Arizona Bowl: Nevada vs. Colorado State
Here's a bowl you could have just deleted! Just send Nevada and Colorado State to two other games and cancel it. You should never, ever, ever, ever, ever have two teams from the same conference play each other in a bowl game. Luckily for these guys, I guess the silver lining could be that they didn't play each other this year. But still, this would be a massive buzzkill for me. This might be the bowl game with the two most disinterested football teams.
3. Idaho Potato Bowl: Akron vs. Utah State
I am extremely excited to see Akron in the postseason again for the first time in a decade, but I was hoping they would go to Detroit. I don't think there's any way they go out West and win this from a Utah State team that has a solid defense. Akron will struggle mightily to move the ball in this one. Akron actually does have the 17th ranked defense in the country, but even as most mid-majors have their stats a little inflated, theirs is extremely so because the offenses in the MAC East are downright awful.
4. New Mexico Bowl: Arizona vs. New Mexico
You can't always count out a team coming in sleepwalking, but I don't see any way Arizona loses this game. This is RichRod's second New Mexico Bowl, so maybe they won't come in focused, but as long as they keep running the ball, they should shred New Mexico. UNM might found some success on the ground if they can hit some big gains on the option, but I don't see it happening. This looks like a mismatch.
5. Pinstripe Bowl: Indiana vs. Duke
In theory, I like the idea of two non-traditional football teams playing it out in a bowl game where someone will walk away with a postseason W, but this one doesn't move the needle for me. Indiana is a little bit better than their record indicates, but this game has usually had a marquee draw in the past. Just based on the names, this feels like a dud.
6. Cure Bowl: San Jose State vs. Georgia State
This matchup is actually really interesting for me, but lets just say I can understand if the general fan doesn't share that enthusiasm.
I like cross-sectional kind of games (a MWC team travels to Florida to play a Sun Belt team that started football in 2010 and went 1-11 last year and also started this season by losing to Charlotte?), but this won't be a very well-played game. Georgia State's M.O. is the passing game and they do have a decent aerial attack, but that happens to really be San Jose State's strength. Georgia State will struggle to contain SJSU's offense in this game IMO. This could be competitive, but it will put a lot of people to sleep.
