Bowl Preview: More Games That Don't Matter

Two more bowl games for college football fans tonight. It should be noted that the BON triumvirate are a combined 19-1 in their college bowl pick `em league.

(23) Clemson vs Colorado: Champs Sports Bowl

I used to shop at Champs back in middle school, back before I ditched jerseys and baggy shorts for slacks and polos. Anyway, I didn't even know that Champs was still around, but I guess it's me that's changed. Champs is alive and well, and sponsoring a bowl!

Okay, they're not doing that well. They drew Colorado. Is there any team in more disarray than the Buffaloes right now? First the 70-3 loss to Texas. Then Barnett gets canned.

The silver lining is that they do have a new coach, and Dan Hawkins has been a capable play caller at Boise State. The bad news is that he just arrived. It's hard to imagine that Colorado is in any shape to play this game, but play they must. Meanwhile, Clemson has quietly had a very good year. They had a rough three game losing streak early in the year, but none of the losses was particularly bad, and they could have won all three. Since then, their only loss came by one point at Georgia Tech. This is a solid football team.

Tailspinning team against quietly solid team is easy to pick. We're taking Clemson in this one, 35-20.

Arizona State vs Rutgers: Insight Bowl

I have so little to say about this game it's not funny. Okay, that's not totally true. I just thought of something. My cousin goes to Arizona State, so that makes me a fan of them, I suppose. It's easy to forget, but the Sun Devils were a hot commodity following their near-upset of USC early in the year. That loss seemed to set off a self-destruct mode, but even their fall from the Top 25 wasn't as bad as advertised.

As for Rutgers, I think you all know how I feel about the state of New Jersey. Sometimes, a simple "No comment" is the right call.

Bowl games not involving SEC teams never feature good defense, so we'll take the Sun Devils in this one. My cousin gets a Christmas present tonight. Arizona State 41 Rutgers 27.

--PB--