Three bowls left, in what has thus far been a largely forgettable bowl season -- not just in terms of subpar games -- but for our prognosticators. Only Ron Musselman sits at an equitorial .500 with his picks, with Ray Fittipaldo, a half game behind, and Chuck Finder having to go perfect to get to .500 for the season. Paul Zeise is condemned to finishing well below .500, as if covering the Sun Bowl wasn't punishment enough. The standings:
- Musselman: 15-15 (Ron didn't pick the Rose Bowl)
- Fittipaldo: 15-16
- Finder: 14-17
- Zeise: 11-19 (Paul didn't pick the Sun Bowl)
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Monday, Jan. 5
Fiesta Bowl: Texas (11-1) vs. Ohio State (10-2)
FITTIPALDO: Maybe Terrelle Pryor doesn't want to be the next Vince Young. Maybe he ought to settle for being the next Colt McCoy. I'll take Texas.
ZEISE: Texas could have easily been in the national title game but will have to settle for another BCS win over an overrated Big Ten opponent. Ohio State's defense is really good but the offense has a lot of growing up to do before it can scare anyone. Go with Texas.
MUSSELMAN: Colt McCoy adds to the Buckeyes’ recent bowl miseries in a Texas win.
FINDER: You'd figure this is Texas' nyah-nyah, finger-wagging, tongue-sticking-out message to the BCS about leaving the Longhorns out of the championship game. Normally, I'd say the pressure will get to Texas and Jim Tressel wins by playing it close to (sing along now) The Vest. But Colt McCoy is for real, and so is Texas.
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Tuesday, Jan. 6
GMAC Bowl: Tulsa (10-3) vs. Ball State (12-1)
FITTIPALDO: Yet another game that deserves a late December date is being played in the first week of January. I have but one question: why? The pick is Ball State.
ZEISE: These two teams both had visions of going undefeated but stumbled along the way and then lost in their conference championship game. Still, the MAC West, which is the division the Cardinals won, is stronger than the Conference USA West and Ball State is better on defense.
MUSSELMAN: Tulsa. QB David Johnson could produce some fireworks.
FINDER: Wow, a Tuesday night scorefest. Imagine if David Letterman decided to do his show live from Mobile, Ala. . . . nah. It's Tulsa time.
Posted
Jan 05 2009, 05:18 PM
by
Dan Gigler