CollegeBowlProjections.com

After 15 years “Touchdown Jesus” can celebrate a bowl game victory.  The Fighting Irish defeated the Hawaii Rainbows (we still think of them as the Rainbows not the Warriors) 49-21 on Christmas Eve.  The win was the first in a bowl game since they beat the Texas A&M in the 1993 Cotton Bowl.

More encouraging to Irish fans than the win should be the play of Jimmy Clausen and Golden Tate.  Clausen threw for a Notre Dame bowl record 401 yards and 5 TD’s.  Sophomore receiver Golden Tate had 6 catches for 177 yards and 3 TD’s. Charlie Weiss has to be ecstatic that he is going to enter 2009 with such great momentum.  Perhaps Weiss can use the momentum to extend his stay in South Bend past next season.

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The TCU Horned Frogs defeated the Boise State Broncos 17-16 in the Poinsettia Bowl. This was a fight between two non-BCS teams who were just edged out of the BCS bowl games this season.  The TCU victory also gave the Mountain West Conference a 2-0 edge over the Western Athletic Conference in bowl games.  Colorado State earlier defeated Fresno State in the New Mexico Bowl.

if TCU had beaten Utah earlier in the season then Boise State and TCU would of been fighting for the non-BCS slot.  The debate would of been whether TCU deserved to jump Boise State with one loss during the season.  The Horned Frogs dropped a game against Oklahoma.  Would you of picked TCU over Boise State?  Would Boise State’s victory over Oregon been enough to get them into the big dance?

The final result showed both teams were evenly matched.  Unfortunately neither team had the opportunity to show their game against a good BCS team in the bowl system.  It’s always unfortunate when Cinderella must face Cinderella in a match-up and the ideal situation for the BCS bullies.

Look for both of these teams fighting for the BCS bid next season.

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CollegeBowlProjections.com has released their top ten candidates for the prestigious Heisman Trophy award in 2009. We’ve left off a few candidates who we believe will enter the draft. We realize some of these players may still declare for the draft.

Colt McCoy has to be the top candidate after Texas was shut out of the national championship game and was narrowly defeated by Sam Bradford for the Heisman Trophy this year. Tim Tebow is second because he has already won the award and voters tend to give their vote to new winner. Who would you add to the list? Who did we completely forget?

Our Top Ten:

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BYU players, coaches and fans ended the season on a sour note. They had high expectations for this season. Especially after they started the season defeating UCLA 59-0 after the Bruins came off a victory against the then-ranked Tennessee Volunteers, won a nail-biter in Washington, and then blew out their next opponent to prove the Washington win wasn’t a fluke.

Unfortunately everything fell apart at TCU on a Thursday night(warning to all ranked teams—don’t play on Thursday night) and then a meltdown by quarterback Max Hall—throwing five interceptions—against rival Utah.  The Las Vegas Bowl was a sloppy performance by both BYU and Arizona. The Cougars were playing there for the fourth year in a row and showed their lack of excitement on the field.The Cougars hoped to reach their first BCS bowl game this season but instead saw Utah get invited to their second BCS bowl.

The Cougars should be delighted if they represent the Mountain West next year for the fifth straight time.  It will be very difficult for the Cougars to contend for a BCS bid with rumors they will face Oklahoma in the new Dallas Cowboys stadium, hosting the Florida State Seminoles at home and perhaps hitting the road to Arizona State.

The Cougars have the advantage in the Mountain West Conference next season because they will host TCU and Utah at home.

The Cougars have three big questions going into next season:

• Will wide receiver Austin Collie enter the NFL draft?
• Will quarterback Max Hall return to form and limit mistakes on the field?
• Will the Cougars improve on the defensive side of the field in order to compete against their out of conference schedule?

CollegeBowlProjections.com is leaning towards another Las Vegas Bowl appearance or Poinsettia Bowl invitation for the Cougars next season.

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Our worthless Bowl Championship System has selected the games for us to watch this holiday season. Are you satisfied with the match-ups? Isn’t the Poinsettia Bowl(TCU-Boise State) perhaps the second most exciting game this bowl season?

What match-ups would you select for the BCS games? We decided to give you our wishes for the holiday season.

Bowl Championship Game

Texas vs. USC - Didn’t Texas defeat Okahoma on a neutral field?  Does anyone doubt Texas would of defeated Texas Tech at home or on a neutral field?  Texas was robbed.

Florida lost at home to Ole Miss.  A loss at home is a huge negative in our book.  USC lost at Oregon State on a Thursday night game.  USC gets our nod as the opponent.

Fiesta Bowl

Oklahoma vs. Alabama - Nick Saban’s defense gets the opportunity to stop the Sooners passing attack led by Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford.

Rose Bowl

Penn State vs. Utah - Who needs a Pac-10 vs. Big Ten match-up?  We’re tired of seeing USC blowout another Big Ten team in the Rose Bowl.  These two teams seem evenly matched to us this season.

Sugar Bowl

Texas Tech vs. Florida - This game is offense, offense and more offense.  This would be a great game to watch.

Orange Bowl

Cincinnati vs. Virginia Tech - The rest of the bowl games won’t mean anything but to the fans of each university.  We’ll give the Big East and ACC their token BCS game.

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The Bulls took care of business defeating the Memphis Tigers 41-14 in the St. Petersburg Bowl. All eyes will be on the the Big East teams to see how well they compete this bowl season. Many feel the Big East was the weakest link in the BCS conferences and might of been weaker than the non-BCS Mountain West conference this season.

South Florida finishes their season on a positive note.  At one time they looked like the team to beat in the Big East.  They had nice victories against Kansas and North Carolina State to begin the season.  However the Big East competition was too fierce for them.  They dropped their first four of five games in conference and never had a shot to reach the Orange Bowl.

South Florida’s victory has the Big East at 1-0 to start the bowl season.

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