College football this year in America has been full of upsets, blowouts and surprises. It has been a great year for watching, with higher scoring and more exciting games across the nation. And as we finish the season, we come to the finale of NCAA football—the BCS bowl games.
The five BCS bowl games (Rose, Sugar, Fiesta, Orange, and National Championship) promise to be some of the best in recent memory. With only five undefeated teams left in football, the others are trying to hand those teams their first loss of the season, or compete for the next best thing—a BCS win.
Rose Bowl – Ohio State vs. Oregon
This year’s Rose Bowl is the product of a subpar Big Ten Conference and an average Pac-10. Ohio State, generally a lock for the top ten at the end of the season, has lost two disappointing games, one to a USC team that looked shaky throughout the season, and the other to a Purdue team that finished below .500, with a 5-7 record. Terrelle Pryor has not looked like the quarterback that we expected, and Ohio State’s running game has been inconsistent throughout the year.
Oregon, representing the Pac-10, has had a season that surpassed many expectations, ending up being 10-2 and beating four teams in the top 20 throughout the year. Jeremiah Massoli, Oregon’s quarterback, has had a breakout year in terms of both running and passing, and I look for him to pick apart the Ohio State defense.
Prediction: Oregon – 38 OSU – 24
Sugar Bowl – Florida vs. Cincinnati
This year’s Sugar Bowl is probably the most anticipated game of the year. Florida, led by Tim Tebow, has been one of the elite teams in football each of the last four years, winning two national championships in that time. This year, after losing to Alabama in the SEC Championship Game, Florida finished with a 12-1 record. It is important to keep in mind that is has been more than two years since Florida lost back-to-back games.
Cincinnati, on the other hand, has relied on offense this year to win games, scoring an average of almost 40 points per game. With Tony Pike running quarterback for the number 3 team in the nation, and coming off of a huge win against #15 Pittsburgh, Cincinnati brings in a lot of momentum. I look for Florida to take advantage of Cincnnati’s inexperience, however, and pull out a big win.
Prediction: Florida – 35 Cincinnati – 24
Fiesta Bowl – TCU vs. Boise State
The Fiesta Bowl this year is not exactly what much of the media expected this year. The more traditional idea is matching the teams in the major conferences with the smaller undefeated schools, so that fans can see exactly how the smaller schools match up against more well-known teams. However, this year, we have two colleges outside of the BCS conferences playing one another, which will not end up showing much about either team in the larger scheme of things.
TCU has glided through the season, with only two of their twelve wins ending within 10 points. They played two ranked teams this year, BYU and Utah, who were each ranked #16 when TCU played them. It will be interesting to see how they handle a close game, with more pressure as the game winds down.
Boise State has played a few games that were slightly closer, however, with four games within 15 points this season, but a major question has been how they can handle playing a good team. Their only game against a ranked team, the first game of the season, was against Oregon and ended as a 19-8 win for the Broncos. This lack of good competition is the major question mark on Boise State. I look for TCU to exploit this inexperience on the big stage.
Prediction: TCU – 38 Boise State – 28
Orange Bowl – Iowa vs. Georgia Tech
Iowa and Georgia Tech face off in this year’s Orange Bowl, a stellar defense against a high-flying offense. However, the Orange Bowl this year is underrrated in terms of how competitive of a game I expect.
Iowa started off the year with nine straight wins and was looking like a possible BCS-Championship-caliber team before Ricky Stanzi, the Hawkeyes’ junior star quarterback, was injured. Iowa then lost two straight games, missing Stanzi in a big way, and eventually finishing 10-2. But now Stanzi has returned to the team and expects to start, looking to keep up his perfect record for his junior year. The Hawkeye defense is also a game changer in this game, after allowing only 16.5 points per game.
Georgia Tech (11-2), one of the most offensive teams in football, has scored at least 30 points in nine out of their twelve games this year. The Yellow Jackets have relied mostly on a rushing attack, with Jonathan Dwyer leading the way with 6.1 yards per carry this year. Josh Nesbitt, the quarterback, has run for 18 touchdowns as well as throwing for 10 TDs. I look for Stanzi to pick apart the Georgia Tech defense, and the Hawkeye defense to hold fast against Dwyer and Nesbitt.
Prediction: Iowa – 27 Georgia Tech – 24
BCS National Championship – Alabama vs. Texas
In a game that is highly anticipated, Alabama takes on Texas to determine this year’s national champion. Both teams bring extremely respectable résumés into the game, each with 13-0 records and signature wins over highly ranked teams.
Alabama is currently regarded as the best team in football, after blowing out top-ranked Florida by 19 points in the final game of the season. With five wins over top 25 teams this year, all by at least nine points, Alabama looks like the best team in football. Mark Ingram ran for over 1500 yards this year, with 15 touchdowns on the ground, and brought the Heisman award to Alabama for the first time in history. He highlighted a dominant year for Alabama, in which they beat opponents by more than 20 points per game.
Texas, on the other hand, has relied on leadership from their quarterback, Colt McCoy, throughout the year. McCoy threw for over 3500 yards this year, as well as running for almost 350 yards, and accounted for almost 70% of Texas’s total offense. The Longhorns were not quite as dominant as Alabama this season, but still finished undefeated and averaged 40.7 points per game, good for third most in the nation.
I look for a high-scoring shootout this game, with each possession being vital. Colt McCoy will show that he is the best player in college football with a huge game, and Alabama will not be able to cash in as often as Texas. The Longhorns will pull out the upset in dramatic fashion.
Prediction: Texas – 45 Alabama – 41
Photo is courtesy of bcsfootball.org.
For questions or comments, Jesse Buchsbaum can be reached at jessebu@gmail.com.
