A few gems buried in mountain of bowl games

By Ron Kantowski

Thursday, Dec. 18, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Not even Hank Jr. is ready for this much football.

If you thought last year’s bowlapalooza was too much, they’ve added two bowl games to bring the total to 34. More than half of the 119 teams in the former Division I-A qualified to play in the postseason.

You can’t blame the colleges. The payouts range from a mere $300,000 per team to $17 million for each team in the Rose, Orange, Sugar, Fiesta and BCS Championship bowls.

That makes it hard to cry for Texas, USC and Texas Tech when they claim they should be playing for No. 1 ahead of Florida or Oklahoma.

And don’t cry for unbeaten Utah, which not only rakes in $17 million but gets to spend New Year’s in New Orleans.

Four other Mountain West Conference teams were picked for bowl games — BYU gets a cool million to play Arizona in the Las Vegas Bowl; TCU, Air Force and Colorado State each get $750,000 for bowl appearances.

Right now, there’s too much money to be made to think about a BCS football playoff like the NCAA basketball tourney.

Maybe the bad economy will persuade sponsors and advertisers to stop paying for all these bowls. No one can watch this much football between now and Jan. 8.

But fans will try.

If you can find a ticket, let’s assume you’ll go to the Las Vegas Bowl on Saturday (even though the game technically is sold out, the economy should free up some seats that are normally spoken for).

Here’s our “pick six” for bowl TV viewing — Poinsettia, Holiday, Rose, Sugar, GMAC and (of course) the BCS title game. But then, we haven’t hit a parlay all year.

Here’s the complete bowl list. (All starting times are PST.)

Saturday

EagleBank Bowl at Washington, D.C., 8 a.m. (ESPN)

Navy (8-4) vs. Wake Forest (7-5)

A brand new bowl game kicks off the season with two pretty good teams.

New Mexico Bowl at Albuquerque, 11:30 a.m. (ESPN)

Colorado State (6-6) vs. Fresno State (7-5)

Mike Sanford’s shoulda, coulda, woulda bowl.

St. Petersburg Bowl in Florida, 1:30 p.m. (ESPN2)

South Florida (7-5) vs. Memphis (6-6)

The other new bowl game gives the Rays something to do with their bad baseball field in the offseason.

Las Vegas Bowl

at Sam Boyd Stadium, 5 p.m. (ESPN)

BYU (10-2) vs. Arizona (7-5)

This game might have matched a great defense (TCU) and an explosive offense (Cal). Now it’s just two explosive offenses.

Sunday

New Orleans Bowl in Louisiana, 5 p.m. (ESPN2)

Troy (8-4) vs. Southern Mississippi (6-6)

Troy scared the daylights out of LSU and played Ohio State tough.

Tuesday

Poinsettia Bowl at San Diego, 5 p.m. (ESPN)

Boise State (12-0) vs. TCU (10-2)

A great matchup of a wide-open offense and a stingy defense; plus it’s WAC vs. Mountain West.

Wednesday

Hawaii Bowl at Honolulu, 5 p.m. (ESPN)

Hawaii (7-6) vs. Notre Dame (6-6)

A Christmas present for the Subway Alumni, who have been nice enough not to fire Charlie Weis.

Dec. 26

Motor City Bowl at Detroit, 4:30 p.m. (ESPN2)

Florida Atlantic (6-6) vs. Central Michigan (8-4)

This Bailout Bowl matchup won’t save the Big Three.

Dec. 27

Meineke Bowl at Charlotte, N.C., 11 a.m. (ESPN)

North Carolina (8-4) vs. West Virginia (8-4)

A blue-collar bowl for two workmanlike teams.

Champs Sports Bowl at Orlando, Fla., 1:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Florida State (8-4) vs. Wisconsin (7-5)

This isn’t your dad’s Florida State team. But it isn’t Cal Poly, either, which Wisconsin beat by one point in overtime.

Emerald Bowl at San Francisco, 5 p.m. (ESPN)

California (8-4) vs. Miami (7-5)

If Cal running back Jahvid Best explodes, the fans in Las Vegas are going to ask “what if ...?”

Dec. 28

Independence Bowl at Shreveport, La., 5 p.m. (ESPN)

Louisiana Tech (7-5) vs. Northern Illinois (6-6)

Terry Bradshaw played at Tech. Mark Kellar played at Northern. He also played for the Chicago Fire of the World Football League.

Dec. 29

PapaJohns.com Bowl at Birmingham, Ala., noon (ESPN)

Rutgers (7-5) vs. North Carolina State (6-6)

This is the budget bowl — $300,000 per team and all the pepperoni you can eat.

Alamo Bowl at San Antonio, 5 p.m. (ESPN)

Northwestern (9-3) vs. Missouri (9-4)

The scoop on this one: These are two really good journalism schools which occasionally become bowl-eligible.

Dec. 30

Humanitarian Bowl at Boise, Idaho, 1:30 p.m. (ESPN)

UNR (7-5) vs. Maryland (7-5)

Do not adjust your sets, Wolf Pack fans. UNR gets to take on a tough Terps team on that awful blue turf.

Holiday Bowl at San Diego, 5 p.m. (ESPN)

Oklahoma State (9-3) vs. Oregon (9-3)

This game’s got a couple of high-octane offenses, good weather and gaudy uniforms.

Texas Bowl at Houston, 5 p.m. (NFL Network)

Rice (9-3) vs. Western Michigan (9-3)

Two of the best offenses that nobody has seen — or will see unless they get premium cable.

Dec. 31

Armed Forces Bowl at Fort Worth, Texas, 9 a.m. (ESPN)

Houston (7-5) vs. Air Force (8-4)

Look out Houston, storm’s a-coming through.

Sun Bowl at El Paso, Texas, 11 a.m. (CBS)

Oregon State (8-4) vs. Pittsburgh (9-3)

The Beavers were dreaming of roses; Dave Wannstedt was dreaming of oranges.

Music City Bowl at Nashville, Tenn., 1:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Vanderbilt (6-6) vs. Boston College (9-4)

Vandy gets to a bowl game for the first time since Ronald Reagan’s first term.

Insight Bowl at Tempe, Ariz., 2:30 p.m. (NFL Network)

Kansas (7-5) vs. Minnesota (7-5)

Rock chalk Gophers. Was the Big 12 really that porous? The Big 10 that bad?

Chick-fil-A Bowl at Atlanta, 4:30 p.m. (ESPN)

LSU (7-5) vs. Georgia Tech (9-3)

The Bayou Bengals are sinking; the Wreck is on the rise.

Jan. 1

Outback Bowl at Tampa, Fla., 8 a.m. (ESPN)

Iowa (8-4) vs. South Carolina (7-5)

Will anyone get up early to watch Coach Spurrier throw his visor?

Capital One Bowl at Orlando, Fla., 11 a.m. (ABC)

Georgia (9-3) vs. Michigan State (9-3)

A solid New Year’s appetizer.

Gator Bowl at Jacksonville, Fla., 11 a.m. (CBS)

Nebraska (8-4) vs. Clemson (7-5)

A battle of the underachievers.

Rose Bowl at Pasadena, Calif., 2 p.m. (ABC)

Southern Cal (11-1) vs. Penn State (11-1)

Pac-10 vs. Big Ten, Hollywood vs. Happy Valley and (maybe) Jo Pa’s last game.

Orange Bowl at Miami, 5 p.m. (Fox)

Cincinnati (11-2) vs. Virginia Tech (9-4)

Remember when the Orange Bowl used to be a pretty big deal?

Jan. 2

Cotton Bowl at Dallas, 11 a.m. (Fox)

Texas Tech (11-1) vs. Mississippi (8-4)

Tech throws on every down; Ole Miss is coached by a Nutt.

Liberty Bowl at Memphis, Tenn., 2 p.m. (ESPN)

Kentucky (6-6) vs. East Carolina (9-4)

Give me Liberty, or give me the Pirates and lay the points.

Sugar Bowl at New Orleans, 5 p.m. (Fox)

Utah (12-0) vs. Alabama (12-1)

If the Utes shock Alabama, it will be a great argument for a playoff system.

Jan. 3

International Bowl at Toronto, 9 a.m. (ESPN2)

Connecticut (7-5) vs. Buffalo (8-5)

Buffalo won the MAC title game but chose to “stay home” in Toronto.

Jan. 5

Fiesta Bowl at Glendale, Ariz., 5:30 p.m. (Fox)

Texas (11-1) vs. Ohio State (10-2)

The Longhorns will be looking to stampede the Buckeyes and make a case for No. 1.

Jan. 6

GMAC Bowl at Mobile, Ala., 5 p.m. (ESPN)

Tulsa (10-3) vs. Ball State (12-1)

Hang on to your seats. These teams can score.

Jan. 8

BCS National Championship at Miami, 5 p.m. (Fox)

Florida (12-1) vs. Oklahoma (12-1)

The nation’s best square off.