Your College Football Bowls Preview Part Eight

Here’s a travesty for you: how the hell did Colt McCoy beat out Case Keenum for the O’Brien Award? A quick statistical comparison:

Colt McCoy: 3,512 yards, 27 TD, 12 INT, 7.5 YPA, 30 sacks, 147.46 rating

Case Keenum: 5,449 yards, 43 TD, 9 INT, 8.27 YPA, 16 sacks, 159.28 rating

And Keenum had like 200 more attempts than McCoy and just about half the sacks and a full yard better per attempt. There’s no statistical way to prove McCoy was the better quarterback.

If anyone’s argument really comes down to either that Texas is undefeated or that McCoy did it against better competition, then that person should be…well…injured bodily or something. It doesn’t take much to prove how bad McCoy was this year compared to his previous years. It’s a damn good thing these awards don’t really mean anything. No one can name the O’Brien award winner from 2005 without prompting unless they’re a fan of whoever the hell won.

Thursday, December 31, 2009

12 pm ET

Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl

Houston (10-3) vs. Air Force (7-5) (+5)

Apparently, this was quite the bowl game last year, so the bowl committee figured they’d run it again.

I really want to still love Houston. It’s like a significant other who cheated on me three times but is still so awesome that I want them back. Houston just rules. They do. And I still can’t believe they lost the three games they lost. They should be the other team in the BCS Buster conversation, but they’re not.

The bigger issue is that Houston’s defense is atrocious, and that’s most of the reason I had to write the previous paragraph. They’re especially terrible against the run, so I’d say Air Force might have an advantage there.

But I just can’t give up on Houston yet. This might be the last year of Case Keenum there, so we might as well watch them go out in a blaze of glory…by beating a service academy in the Armed Forces Bowl. Huh.

Pick: Houston

2 pm ET

Brut Sun Bowl

Oklahoma (7-5) vs. (21) Stanford (8-4) (+10)

This is the matchup of the day, as far as I’m concerned. The oddsmakers seem to believe that OU’s run defense will be able to stop Stanford cold and that Stanford’s defense won’t be able to stop whatever it is that Oklahoma does on offense these days.

Which brings me to my point: Oklahoma sucks this year. No matte what talent they have on both sides of the ball and how good their defense has been (and how bad Stanford’s has been at times), there’s no way they roll Stanford by ten and cover. If nothing else, Toby Gerhart and Stanford will be able to control the clock while OU’s running game and caretaker passing game are inconsistent at best.

Look, I expect Oklahoma to come out better than they were during the regular season. They’ve had a ton of time to practice and I’d bet they’re much more athletic than the Cardinal, but Stanford has “it.” Whatever “it” is. This is their year.

Oh wait, Andrew Luck is hurt? F*ck that sh*t then.

Pick: Oklahoma wins but doesn’t cover

3:30 pm ET

Texas Bowl

Navy (9-4) vs. Missouri (8-4) (-7)

It’s spread teams the Tigers have the most trouble with, but I don’t think Missouri’s defense is as good as some experts believe. I mean, they’re experts for a reason and everything, but the D got lit up a few times and they haven’t faced a triple-option offense this year. Hell, Mizzou only beat Nevada by ten earlier in the season. I guarantee the Tigers will have trouble with Navy’s offense for a while, but what I don’t know is if Navy can score enough points to keep up with Missouri’s offense.

Also, for the record, Ricky Dobbs is the greatest rushing quarterback in college football history, Tim Tebow fans. Just thought I’d throw that out there.

Pick: Missouri

6 pm ET

Insight Bowl

Minnesota (6-6) vs. Iowa State (6-6) (+3)

I’m starting to re-think how cool it was for Indiana to make this bowl game a couple years back now that I’m seeing this matchup. It suddenly seems like we might have been in a chump bowl all along. Or at least the 2007-08 incarnation of this game featured a much, much better matchup than this one.

Turns out Minnesota has been spending a lot of its New Year’s Eve’s in Tempe. IU’s berth there in 2007 is the only time in the last four years the Gophers haven’t played in the Insight Bowl. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not. But hey, consistent mediocrity is pretty much Minny’s calling card in every sport, right?

Pick: Iowa State

7:30 pm ET

Chick-fil-A Bowl

(11) Virginia Tech (9-3) vs. Tennessee (7-5) (+6)

Two VERY mediocre offenses are going to face off wherever the hell they play the Chick-fil-A bowl. And you can bet they’ll be surrounded by those annoying cow ads that the bowl sponsor always runs.

The most fun part of this one will be the matchup of defenses, Bud Foster vs. Monte Kiffin, and all that good stuff. I can’t believe the over/under is 50 in this game. I’d be surprised if the winning team crosses the 50 yard-line more than five or six times.

While Virginia Tech’s offense does have a couple of playmakers on it, I just don’t know what it is the Vols do that can’t be stopped by the Hokie defense. There’s just not that many impressive things there this year. A year or two from now, we might be able to talk, but I don’t think Tech should have much trouble limiting the Vols.

Pick: Virginia Tech

Bowls Part Seven

Bowls Part Six

Independence Bowl Preview

Music City Bowl Preview

Bowls Part Three

Bowls Part Two

Bowls Part One