FTRS Picks: Bowl Games Part 1

results from last week

One small change occurred last week. Cliff Clavin remains in the 1 spot, but we now have a tie for second place between BuzzForPresident and @LeeNobody. Congrats to our top 3 contenders on the year. To everyone else, good luck in the bowl season.

The most wonderful time of the year, football games on everyday. If you like football, and a bit of chaos, then you’re going to enjoy this part of the year. Get some eggnog, sit back on the lounger, and look at the tv while your family unwraps presents.

More than 40 picks this time, so this article should carry us through the holidays. If you’re curious where I got the spread from, I used the spread on ESPN Bowl Mania. It amuses me though how many different spreads there are for these games depending on which website you are looking at.

I’m going to keep putting these out weekly, I would hate to make people make all their picks for the entire bowl season only for a NY6 bowl team to have half their starters decide to sit out. These posts will go through December 24th and the remaining bowls will post next week on Thursday.

picks:

Hometown Lenders Bahamas Bowl: Miami (of Ohio) Redhawks v UAB Blazers (-11.5)

Logan: Did Trent Dilfer already take over UAB? No the spread is big in their favor because The Redhawks just don’t have anything that stands out on offense or defense. Redhawks have a mediocre QB, they don’t have much of a run game to speak of, and their defense isn’t great. I will say that Miami has only been blown out (lost by more than 10) 3 times this year; in their losses to Kentucky, Cincy, and Ohio (not Ohio State). I will choose to side with the Blazers, but I won’t fault anyone for thinking that Redhawks can keep it close.

Logan’s Pick: UAB

Duluth Trading Cure Bowl: UTSA Road Runners v Troy Trojans (-2.5)

Logan: Aww man... both these teams are pretty good but have different ways of winning. Troy is your big boy defense while UTSA is a high flying offense. During championship week I went against my normal grain and took an offense heavy team to beat the defensive minded one. That bit me when Utah destroyed USC... I guess I’ll take Troy this time and hope it goes more to plan.

Logan’s Pick: Troy

Wasabi Fenway Bowl: Cincinnati Bearcats (-1.5) v Louisville Cardinals

Logan: Louisville is suffering from some unfortunate injuries at the end of the season. They’ve still put up good numbers over the past few weeks, but not the same ones they had earlier in the year. I just don’t feel it would be smart to pick Louisville here given the change over of players and staff.

Logan’s Pick: Cincy

Cricket Celebration Bowl: Jackson State Tigers (-16.5) v North Carolina Central Eagles

Logan: A 16.5 point spread is a bit much for a team that just lost their coach. Don’t doubt Jackson state will win, but I think it’ll be closer than 17 points.

Logan’s Pick: The Eagles (Fly Eagles Fly)

SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl: Florida Gators v Oregon State Beavers (-7.5)

Logan: I rode with Oregon State against Oregon. Despite the spread I will continue to ride with the Beavers on this one.

Logan’s Pick: Beavers

Jimmy Kimmel LA Bowl Presented by Stifel: Washington State Cougars (-4.5) v Fresno State Bulldogs

Logan: First off, can we have a discussion about who is sponsoring bowl games these days? Second off, I am not going to pick against the Mountain West Conference Champion when they are playing against a 7-5 team from a mountainous and western region.

Logan’s Pick: Fresno State

LendingTree Bowl: Rice Owls v Southern Miss Golden Eagles (-4.5)

Logan: Did Rice really deserve to be in a bowl game more so than GT did? I’m sure there’s a reason Rice got picked, but their stats are not good. Yeah Southern Miss should take this one pretty easy.

Logan’s Pick: Southern Miss

New Mexico Bowl: SMU Mustangs (-2.5) v BYU Cougars

Logan: I’m not gonna lie, I know next to nothing about either of these teams. I think BYU has the advantage on talent... but I might as well be speculating on that. I do think BYU has turned things around following their bad streak in October. I think BYU finds a way to win this one.

Logan’s Pick: BYU

Frisco Bowl: North Texas Mean Green v Boise State Broncos (-4.5)

Logan: Trusting Boise State has gotten me in trouble of late... but I’m still gonna do it. What can I say, I like potatoes and the whole blue thing they have going on.

Logan’s Pick: Boise State

Myrtle Beach Bowl: Marshall Thundering Herd (-12.5) v UConn Huskies

Logan: Gotta love UConn finding a way to make a bowl game. Can they win this one? Probably not but I’m willing to take a chance on them finding a way to cover this large spread.

Logan’s Pick: UConn

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl: Eastern Michigan Eagles v San Jose State Spartans (-3.5)

Logan: This one is tough to pick. Both teams match up really well in terms of defense. I think San Jose well fair better because they have the better QB overall.

Logan’s Pick: San Jose State

RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl: Liberty Flames v Toledo Rockets (-1.5)

Logan: Spread on this is so close. Sticking with my theme of picking the better QB in a matchup I will take Toledo in this matchup.

Logan’s Pick: Toledo

R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl: Western Kentucky Hilltoppers v University of South Alabama Jaguars (-2.5)

Logan: USA does have a very good running back, but I’ve seen more from the Hilltoppers this year in terms of offense and defense. I think Western Kentucky is gonna straight up win this game.

Logan’s Pick: WKU

Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl: Baylor Bears (-5.5) v Air Force Falcons

Logan: Initially I was going to pick Baylor without thinking much about this game since they have the talent edge over Air Force. Then I looked at the stats and Air Force has been consistently great at running defense this year. Running the ball happens to be where Baylor gets most of their stats. Now I’m actually leaning to Air Force winning this game.

Logan’s Pick: Air Force

Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl: Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns v Houston Cougars (-2.5)

Logan: This game is going to be a shootout. Both of these teams are of the “we just need to be the ones that score last” mentality. Neither seem to have much of a defense and win by putting up higher numbers than their opponents. I will give Houston the edge in this one as they have by far the better QB in the matchup.

Logan’s Pick: Houston

Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl: Wake Forest Demon Deacons (-1.5) v Missouri Tigers

Logan: Here we have the story of two teams who are trending in the opposite direction. Wake Forest struggled to find their footing down the stretch at the end of the year. Meanwhile Mizzou was able to string together some close wins to find a way to make a bowl game. I’m guessing Mizzou is going to be more excited for this game so I’ll go with my gut and say the Tigers who want it more will end up winning.

Logan’s Pick: Mizzou

Easy Post Hawai’i Bowl: Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders v San Diego State Aztecs (-1.5)

Logan: I think being on the west coast will be a big benefit here for the Aztecs. The Aztecs rely more on their defense than their offense, so if some skill players for the Blue Raiders are struggling with the time change San Diego State could take advantage of small mistakes. That may be a stretch, but what the heck, I prefer defensive teams anyway.

Logan’s Pick: Aztecs