CollegeBowlProjections.com

The 2008 Texas Longhorns will be considered one of the teams in the nation that had as much right as the Florida Gators to receive the national championship trophy.  The Longhorns were a victim of the Bowl Championship Series and Big 12 rules. Despite defeating the Oklahoma Sooners on a neutral field and being in a tie for the Big 12 North division, the Longhorns didn’t win the tie-breakers to advance to the Big 12 championship and receive an invitation to the national title game.  Their loss at Texas Tech on a last second play was the dagger to their national title hopes.

The Longhorns led the Big 12 in defensive yards and points allowed.  They also had a high power offense led by Colt McCoy at quarterback.

The 2009 Texas Longhorns schedule has two major dates to circle on your calendar.  October 17th the Longhorns renew their rivalry in Dallas against the Oklahoma Sooners.  This game may determine if one of these teams will play for the national championship game at the end of the season(although this wasn’t the case last year).

October 31^st the Longhorns travel to Stillwater, Oklahoma to face the Oklahoma State Cowboys.  The Cowboys will be ready to avenge their 28-24 loss at Texas last year.  The Cowboys have most their key players returning in 2009 and will be one of the top teams competing for the Big 12 title.

The out of conference schedule is once again weak this season.  The lack of good opponents out of conference in 2008 was another factor why the Longhorns were below the Sooners in the BCS rankings.  They didn’t help their case with the computers by scheduling another four lousy games this year.

Popularity: 29% [?]

The best conferences in bowl games:
Pac-10 5-0
SEC 6-2

The worst conferences in bowl games:
Mid-American 0-5
Big Ten 1-6

Great Defenses:
Florida holding Oklahoma to 14 points.

TCU holding Boise State to 16 points.  The last time Boise State was held under 20 points was September 8, 2007(Washington 24 Boise State 10)

Lousy Offenses:
Oregon State 3 Pittsburgh 0.  The Beavers had an excuse missing the Rodgers’ brothers for the game but Pitt needs to desperately find a quarterback for next season. Pitt quarterbacks completed 9 of 27 passes for a total of 89 yards, 0 touchdowns and 1 interception.  Can you imagine how many more yards LeSean McCoy could run for if they had a decent pass game?

We didn’t see that coming:
Notre Dame thumping Hawaii 49-21 in the Hawaii Bowl.  After all the debate about Charlie Weiss returning, the Irish gave the Warriors a whoopin on their home turf.  Casey Clausen went 22/26 401 yards and 5 touchdowns.

Ole Miss putting 47 points on Texas Tech in Texas at the Cotton Bowl.  We knew the Big 12 didn’t have the best defense but we didn’t see the Rebels giving Tech a bunch of their own medicine.

Utah 21 Alabama 0 after 11 minutes in the first quarter.  The Crimson Tide were blown away by a far better prepared team in the Sugar Bowl.

We saw that coming:
USC dominating another Big Ten team in the Rose Bowl.  Pete Carroll prepares his team as well as anyone for bowl season.

Virginia Tech winning the Orange Bowl.  The Cincinnati Bearcats are new to the BCS and showed they didn’t have the poise to defeat a young Hokie team.

Another BCS mess:
Why do we continue to deal with this terrible system?  Who is rolling in all the cash from the bowl systems that won’t allow a change?  Why aren’t the over 50 non-BCS schools not working together to destroy this system?

We endure another year with controversy about the number one team in the nation.  Florida, USC, Utah and Texas should all have a piece of the title this season until they fix this joke of a system.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Most college football fans would argue the Big 12 was the best conference this season.  With three one-loss teams (Oklahoma, Texas and Texas Tech) the conference appeared to be the cream of the crop.  Those teams haven’t played their bowl games yet and we’ll see how they fair against the other best teams in the nation but the Big 12 is on a rocky start this bowl season.

Missouri barely got past Northwestern in the Alamo Bowl.  Chase Daniel threw a career high three interceptions in the game and couldn’t get past  the Wildcats until overtime.  Missouri went into the game as a 12-point favorite.

Oklahoma State took a beating against the Oregon Ducks in the Holiday Bowl.  The Ducks had two one hundred yard rushers in the game as they scored 35 points in the second half.  Oklahoma State’s Kendall Hunter couldn’t get anything going on the ground and finished with only 37 yards.  Oklahoma State went into the game as a three point favorite and lost by 11 points.

Did we overestimate the power of the Big 12 this season?  Were Missouri and Oklahoma State a bit overrated and the top teams will still prove their dominance this bowl season?

It’s still early too tell which conference will win the bowl conference records this year but we have two surprises at the top.  The Big East and Pac-10 conference are leading the race at 3-0.  These two conferences arguably were the two weakest BCS conferences this season but their bowl games performances are proving the opposite.  The ACC was the “deepest” conference this year but are only 3-3 this bowl season.  They’ve managed victories against Navy, Wisconsin(Big Ten 0-2), and Nevada(WAC 1-4).

Bowl games begin to be played at all hours these next couple of days. We’ll finally find out which conferences will raise to the top.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Most experts believe the Big 12 was the best conference this season. The teams in the conference will get their chance to prove it this bowl season. How many games do you think they will win?

The Big 12 teams are favored in five of the seven bowl games. A 5-2 record in bowl games would be impressive but It may not matter if the Sooners don’t defeat the Gators in the national championship game.

Big 12 Bowl Games

Alamo Bowl

Missouri -12 vs. Northwestern

Holiday Bowl

Oklahoma State -3 vs. Oregon

Insight Bowl

Kansas -9 vs. Minnesota

Gator Bowl

Nebraska vs. Clemson -2.5

Cotton Bowl

Texas Tech -6 vs. Mississippi

Fiesta Bowl

Texas -8.5 vs. Ohio State

BCS Game

Oklahoma vs. Florida -3.5

Popularity: 3% [?]

Popularity: 1% [?]