NCAA College Football 2009 Bowl Week 1 Picks

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Fearless Rick's 2009 College Football Bowl Week 1 Picks

Rick Gagliano | December 19-24

All times Eastern

New Mexico Bowl, Dec. 19, Albuquerque, N.M., ESPN, 4:30 p.m., Wyoming Cowboys vs. Fresno State Bulldogs (-11 1/2, 55) - Welcome to bowl season, kicking off with a team which was shut out not once, not twice, but three times in 2009, the Wyoming Cowboys. The 6-6 Cowboys are a model of mediocrity fitting for this sparsely-attended bowl game. They were blanked during their regular season by Colorado, Air Force and Brigham Young. In their other three losses, they scored 10 points in each game, for an average of 5 points in their losing efforts. That, my friends, is downright ugly and undeserving of any post-season play, but here they are.

On the other side of the football is Fresno State, boasting one of the most prolific runners in the country, Ryan Matthews, who totaled 1664 yards on 245 carries. The Bulldogs should run Matthews (himself a bulldog of a runner) all afternoon in anticipation of a thorough plastering of a very weak-looking Wyoming squad. The Bulldogs have won 7 of their last 8 games and stand at 8-4 on the year. One more win will complete a strong season and bode well for next year.

PREDICTION: Bulldogs 34 Cowboys 6

St. Petersburg Bowl, Dec. 19, St. Petersburg, Fla., ESPN, 8 p.m., Rutgers Scarlet Knights (-2 1/2, 44 1/2) vs. UCF Knights - Since both teams are Knights, maybe they should joust instead of play football. One would tend to believe that Rutgers (8-4) is the superior team coming out a the competitive Big East, and apparently, the oddsmakers agree, though not by much.

The kids from Central Florida had a very positive season with coach George O'Leary, one of the best in the business, and have a number of quality wins and close losses on their resume. Their 4 losses (against 8 wins), were to Texas, Miami (both ranked), and top Conference-USA foes Southern Miss and East Carolina. Those two conference losses were by 7 and 5 points, respectively, and the Knights got better as the season advanced, beating then-#13 Houston, 37-32, and closing out with a lopsided 49-0 squashing of Tulane and a nifty 34-27 road win over UAB, another C-USA stud team. While Rutgers has had plenty of press the past few years, UCF has quietly turning last season's 4-8 record into this year's 8-4. Look out!

PREDICTION: Knights 28 Scarlet Knights 21

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New Orleans Bowl, Dec. 20, New Orleans, ESPN, 8 p.m., Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders vs. Southern Miss Golden Eagles (-3 1/2, 58) - What's better, a 7-5 team from Conference-USA or a 9-3 squad out of the Sun Belt? we're about to find out here as the Blue Raiders take their show to the Big Easy. Staistically, this game measures up well with evenly matched teams. Southern Miss scores 33 points per game, allowing 24.5. The numbers for the Blue Raiders are similar, scoring 31.2 while allowing 23. Both sport balanced offenses running out of mostly spread formations, so the defenses will be equally prepared.

The issue is how the Golden Eagles will do away from home, where they are a miserable 1-5 this season. Middle Tennessee went 4-2 on the road, and are sporting a 6-game win streak which gives them a slight edge. The points can only help.

PREDICTION: Blue Raiders 31 Golden Eagles 26

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Maaco Bowl, Dec. 22, Las Vegas, Nev., ESPN, 8 p.m., Oregon State Beavers (-2 1/2, 60 1/2) vs. BYU Cougars - Now here is a game worthy of bowl designation. Both teams are ranked in almost everybody's Top 25, battled for their conference titles (both finished second) and have positive, if not exceptional, records. The 10-2 Cougars lost only to Florida State and TCU and generally slaughtered the rest of their Mountain West opponents. The Beavers slugged it out in a much-improved PAC-10, only to fall in the final minutes of the final game at Oregon for the conference title and a trip to the Rose Bowl.

The Beavers are probably not miffed over missing out on a trip to Pasadena, since they get to go to Vegas, baby, instead. Besides, BYU may be even better than Ohio State, Oregon's Rose Bowl foe, so there's plenty on the line. Both teams specialize in the passing game, but BYU has a better defense overall, and that should serve them well in what should be a very entertaining and high-scoring affair.

PREDICTION: Cougars 34 Beavers 31

Poinsettia Bowl, Dec. 23, San Diego, Calif., ESPN, 8 p.m., Utah Utes vs. California Golden Bears (-3, 53) - This is usually one of the better bowl dates of the season, but the selectors may not get what they bargained for out of the PAC-10 with the Golden Bears, who were hammered in four losses to Oregon, USC, Oregon St. and Washington by a combined score of 145-30. Cal did have a couple of bright spots late in the season with wins over Arizona and Stanford, but they lack consistency and possibly, desire.

Utah is as good as it gets out of the Mountain West, a conference with a solid reputation and four excellent teams at the top: TCU, BYU, the Utes and Air Force. The Utes only losses were on the road and all of them to ranked teams - Oregon, TCU and BYU, and only the TCU game was a blowout, though the Horned Frogs busted up everyone they played this season, so that's nothing of which to be ashamed. The loss to the Ducks was by a TD, and they took the Cougars into OT in their season finale. Though Cal is favored here, Utah could stomp all over them.

PREDICTION: Utes 35 Golden Bears 21

Hawaii Bowl, Dec. 24, Honolulu, ESPN, 8 p.m., Nevada Wolf Pack (-15 1/2, 73) vs. SMU Mustangs - How nice, a trip to Hawaii. That's the reward for the Wolf Pack, a team which started the season with an ignominious 35-0 home loss to Notre Dame and two more losses, and ended it with a gutsy, 44-33 loss to Boise State after going 8-0 in the WAC, eventually giving way to one of this year's 5 undefeated teams. Losing to Boise State is no disgrace, but maybe having to play the 7-5 Mustangs is not exactly the match-up Nevada anticipated. Not that SMU is a bad team - they're not - they just don't impress, as their only quality win was against East Carolina, but that was back on October 10. They only beat Rice, the team which boasts the absolute worst defense in the country, by 3 points, 31-28, so the quality just isn't there.

Nevada led the nation in rushing offense, was second overall in yards per game (521.6) and 5th in scoring offense at 40.6 ppg. Looks like it could be a real snoozer.

PREDICTION: Wolf Pack 54 Mustangs 21

All times Eastern

Copyright 2009, 2010, Rick Gagliano, Downtown Magazine. All rights reserved. Downtown Magazine is located in the Uinted States of America and is not affiliated with the National Football League or the NCAA. For more information, contact us here. Use of this site is for entertainment purposes only.

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