Editor's Note: Judd Hall has had a strong regular season in college football. He's locked and loaded with winners for the bowl season as well. Are you ready to cash in big? Click to win!
There is just two weeks of free time between the conference championships and the start of the college football bowl season. But these two weeks can seem like forever if you don’t have something to keep yourself entertained.
Some folks read books, but that requires someone to sit still and actually use their imagination. Others spend time with their family, but that actually means you have to enjoy doing that…or at the very least enjoy the in-house Jerry Springer experience.
What do I do during this lull in the season? I find a way to put some money on it, that’s what I do! A person favorite of mine happens to be playing in the bowl pick ‘em.
If you’ve worked in an office full of gridiron maniacs, then you already know what I’m talking about. If you’re not familiar with the process, it’s fairly simple: there are 34 bowl games in the postseason and all you have to do is pick the winners.
While it is easy to just pick winners, there is a catch. You must affix a point value to each of your picks. That means your stone cold, five-star, “nobody’s trick” plays will get 34-points against it. And your selections that are basically coin flips will be of the one-point variety. And the rest of the game’s values are left to your discretion.
So now that you know how this thing works, I can show you the list that I’ll be using for this postseason.
My biggest play on the board might raise more than a few eyebrows with Boston College beating the Trojans. The Eagles closed out the season with three wins in their last four games. I’ll be the first to admit they were against some lowly squads and one mid-major (Central Michigan, Virginia and Maryland), but they’re wins nonetheless. Southern Cal is making its first trip to a non-BCS since Pete Carroll got to Los Angeles in 2001. The Trojans have been a bunch of underachievers this season – especially over the last five weeks. USC’s offense hasn’t progressed with Matt Barkley under center. If there was a team that wasn’t up to playing near home, it’s the Men of Troy.
When you get past that top pick of anyone’s sheet, you normally see a trend of favoring a certain conference. I’m not immune from this type of favoritism and it shows when it comes to the Big Ten. This league has been much maligned because of what the Buckeyes have done in BCS games recently (0-3 straight up, 1-2 against the spread). Yet I’ve taken Ohio State to pull off the minor upset against the Ducks in the Rose Bowl. It’s a spot where I’ll take a better defense to snuff out a good offense.
There are a few games for the Big Ten that show great defenses going up against impressive offenses. And out of the seven teams from that league, I’ve only faded the Golden Gophers against Iowa State in the Insight Bowl. Minnesota just flat out gave up at the end of the season after losing wide receiver Eric Decker for the year. And the Cyclones have more to play for after the years of mediocrity they’ve had to endure.
When it comes to the slate of BCS contests, Florida taking down the Bearcats in the Sugar Bowl is my biggest play at 20-points. The Gators will no doubt want to end the Tim Tebow Era with a big win. Couple that info with Cincinnati going into this matchup without Brian Kelly running the show and you have a recipe for a UF win.
I’ve got the Longhorns winning the national championship thanks to a better offense and defense that will be able to do enough to slow down Alabama in Pasadena. That gem is worth 13-points on my list.
The one game that I have as a basic coin flip out of the BCS bowls is the Fiesta Bowl between the Broncos and Horned Frogs. The “separate, but equal” bowl was already played one another last season in the Poinsettia Bowl with TCU winning 17-16. I know that Boise State has the better win on its record against the Ducks, but I believe that TCU is a more complete squad – especially on defense – and will squeak by in a battle of two teams that will be in next year’s Top 10.
You can reach Judd Hall via e-mail at judd@vegasinsider.com
