| Peach Bowl, 7:30
p.m. EST Dec. 31, at Georgia Dome in Atlanta North Carolina (7-5) vs. Auburn
(7-4)
Unlike last year's Peach Bowl, there's very little fanfare about this season's SEC-ACC
clash. In 2000, a red-hot Georgia Tech team was stopped by the young, up-and-coming LSU
Tigers. That win boosted LSU's confidence going into the offseason and paved the way to a
SEC championship year. Auburn is hoping for the same type of springboard for its young
team as the Tigers desperately need a positive end to a season going south. North Carolina
is just trying to break the SEC's streak in the Peach Bowl. ACC teams have lost the last
five years. If you're into streaks like this, UNC has won its last four bowl games.
North Carolina was a strangely streaky team this season. After a murderous three-game
opening stretch when it lost to Oklahoma, Maryland and Texas (who would've ever guessed
that the one BCS team out of the three would be the Terps), UNC pulled off the shocker of
the young season by whipping Florida State 41-9 on its way to a five-game winning streak
— a stretch that included wins over four bowl teams. After losing to Georgia Tech,
the Tar Heels gagged away a 31-14, fourth-quarter lead to Wake Forest and its huge season
appeared gone. Fortunately, Duke and SMU were on the schedule and all sins were wiped
away.
The Tar Heels have won with a talented and active defense and a great two-QB rotation
of freshman Darian Durant and senior Ronald Curry. The two have combined to throw for
2,848 yards and 25 touchdowns. Auburn's rotating QB situation between senior Daniel Cobb
and freshman Jason Campbell has been painful to watch. Neither has had much to work with
and each has had trouble distinguishing himself from the other.
When the Tigers won, they did it with a bang but when they lost, they crashed with a
resounding thud. Wins over Mississippi, Florida and Georgia put the Tigers in control to
go to the SEC title game, but an inexplicably miserable performance against arch-rival
Alabama and a loss to LSU ended their season on a big-time down note. This is an extremely
young team that even now is still fighting through growing pains. Just when they found
their next great running back, Carnell Williams, he broke his collarbone and the
Tigers’ offense went into the tank. Now the Tigers have to also deal with the loss of
second-leading WR Deandre Green who was suspended indefinitely. For a team that lacks
weapons on offense, this is a loss the Tigers didn't need.
Players to watch: It's sort of funny how many are trying to knock Julius Peppers
down a peg after he's received all the accolades. The fact remains that he's the best
defensive end in college football and deserving of all of the hype. If you haven't seen
him yet, he's worth the price of admission. If Auburn somehow slows him down, DT Ryan Sims
will do the damage. With teams concentrating on Peppers, Sims had a great year and will be
a high draft pick as well.
The man primarily in charge of stopping Peppers will be Auburn's magnificent OT Kendall
Simmons who won the Jacobs Trophy as the SEC's top blocker. As one of the nation's top
tackles, he was simply dominating all season long and he'll have his work cut out for him.
Simmons is a devastating run blocker and good against power rushers, but we're not sure he
has the feet to stop Peppers. No one does. Also worth watching is the LB duo of
Dontarrious Thomas and Tavarreus Pounds. The two have been tremendous, combining for 183
tackles.
Auburn will win if... the Tigers outrush the Tar Heels. UNC's run defense has
been extremely strong this season thanks to its outstanding front line and a solid
tackling secondary, but the running game leaves much to be desired. North Carolina is 5-2
when it outrushes its opponent and 0-5 when the Heels are outgained on the ground.
North Carolina will win if... the Tar Heels can magically find a running attack
since the way to beat the Tigers is by running over them. In AU's four losses, Syracuse
ran for 226 yards, led by James Mungro's 142 yards and three touchdowns. Alabama's
Santonio Beard and Ahmaad Galloway combined for 326 yards and two scores. LSU's LaBrandon
Toefield ran for 120 yards and a score. Arkansas QB Matt Jones ran for 99 yards. The
Tigers were almost upset by inferior teams such as Vanderbilt (as Lew Thomas ran for 173
yards and two scores) and Louisiana Tech (as Joe Smith ran for 129 yards and a touchdown)
by getting steamrolled over. In Auburn's other five games, no one ran for 100 yards on the
Tigers and Auburn won all five.
Our Prediction: North Carolina 23, Auburn 20
This one has us totally stumped. North Carolina doesn't have the running attack to hurt
the Tigers, but Auburn's offense does nothing to excite us either. Both teams have
surprised us all season and we won't be surprised by any outcome, but we're taking the Tar
Heels as we think the UNC defensive line will be the difference. If Auburn gets
sensational play out its quarterbacks, the Tigers will win. But in the end, we think
Peppers and Sims will control them and the game.
Cotton Bowl, 11 a.m. EST Jan. 1, at Cotton
Bowl in Dallas
Oklahoma (10-2) vs. Arkansas (7-4)
It's a return to the days of the Southwest Conference vs. the Big 8 in this year's
Cotton Bowl as these two teams should provide one of the hardest-hitting games of the bowl
season. Both possess defensive killers in the back seven and both have offenses that are
slightly less creative and interesting than your average Wednesday night TV lineup. You'd
think Oklahoma should dominate with relative ease, but bowl games are weird. Sometimes the
most obvious looking bowls become the shockers of the season.
Houston Nutt's Arkansas team might look like big-time underdogs to the mighty Sooners,
but this team never got the credit it deserved. With little offense and a 1-3 start, the
Hogs were dismissed as being an also-ran SEC team that would have to fight to get out of
the bottom of the conference. Then they discovered a 6-5 freshman named Matt Jones who
doesn't look like much of a scrambler, but the young quarterback became their best runner.
He injected life into the offense as the combination of Jones' running and sophomore Zak
Clark's passing led the Hogs to six straight wins, beating South Carolina, Auburn and the
classic, seven-overtime win over Mississippi. They closed the season on a slight down note
losing a great game to LSU, but the Hogs are still strong winning games with tough
defense, a great coaching staff, a rotation of several running backs and smoke and
mirrors.
Oklahoma is roughly two plays away from being undefeated and playing for the Big XII
title and possibly the national championship. The last time we saw the Sooners, they were
giving away a shot at the Big XII title by losing a shocker to Oklahoma State. For most of
the season, OU was unimaginative and stagnant on offense, relying on its unbelievable
defense to win games. Set up by great field position from its defense and the great
punting of Jeff Ferguson, the Sooners’ offense rarely had to win games, they just had
to not lose them. When WB Jason White tore his knee up against Nebraska, the Sooners
suddenly turned on the jets as the passing game started going downfield more in wins over
Texas A&M and Texas Tech, then went into a shell against Oklahoma State. The defense
is still one of the nation's best. The two times it gave up more than 20 points in a game
were to Kansas State, which came back in garbage time before falling 38-37, and North
Carolina, which scored three late, meaningless scores in a loss.
Players to watch: Everyone already knows all about S Roy Williams and LB Rocky
Calmus. There's more to this defense as the front line rarely received any accolades since
everyone, including us, kept gushing over the two award-winners. Freshman DT Tommie Harris
is a lock for All-America honors over the next few years as he's already one of the
nation's top defensive linemen. He's a rock in the middle and if he's not double-teamed,
he'll be in the backfield all game long. Helping out Calmus all year have been sophomore
LBs Teddy Lehman and Jimmy Wilkerson who combined for 151 stops and 28 tackles for
loss.
Oklahoma isn't the only team with studs on defense. Arkansas has two unsung superstars
in sophomore FS Ken Hamlin and senior LB Jermaine Petty. The two are tackling machines,
Petty registered 140, and Hamlin is one of the few defensive backs in the country who
rival Williams' hitting ability. On offense, QB Jones has been a magical runner averaging
eight yards per carry. He ran for more than 100 yards twice and added a 99-yard game
against Auburn. He doesn't really throw yet, but few quarterbacks can run like he does.
Arkansas will win if... the Hogs stop the OU rushing game. Oklahoma netted a
total of zero rushing yards against Oklahoma State and 105 against Nebraska. It ran for
nine against Kansas State and 63 against Texas. OU lost two of those games and was pushed
to the limit in the other two. In OU's easy wins over good teams, the Sooners ran for 157
yards on Texas A&M, 92 over Texas Tech and 108 against North Carolina. Hardly big
numbers, but those were enough to open up the passing game. If Arkansas stuffs RB Quentin
Griffin, QB Nate Hybl will have to win the game and we're still not sold he can do it.
Oklahoma will win if... the Sooners open up the offense. They threw the ball
downfield against Kansas State and Texas A&M, but for some reason they were
ultra-conservative against Texas and Nebraska, relying on their defense to win. Arkansas
is going to have a hard time moving the ball, but the Hogs’ secondary can be thrown
on. We don't think OU will be able to run and there's no way the short passing game will
work against this group which means Hybl must force the ball downfield to WRs Mark Clayton
and Antwone Savage.
Our Prediction: Oklahoma 24, Arkansas 6
We have no idea how Arkansas scores points. The offense has absolutely no passing game
and they have a hard time running the ball when Jones isn't scrambling, but somehow this
team gets it done. In this game, Oklahoma's linebackers are way too fast for the Arkansas
option to hope to work which means QB Clark is going to be a key player throwing the ball.
We have all the respect in the world for the job Nutt does, but the Oklahoma coaching
staff has had a month to prepare and after sitting on the OSU loss, there's no way head
coach Bob Stoops will allow his team to not come out fired up. We just don't see how
Arkansas can score on the Sooners, but if OU gets conservative and plans on letting its
defense win the game, this could be really close as Arkansas has a good enough defense to
stop OU cold. We're guessing OU will score one defensive touchdown and will win on field
position.
Outback Bowl, 11 a.m. EST Jan. 1, at
Raymond James Stadium in Tampa
Ohio State (7-4) vs. South Carolina (8-3)
Didn't we JUST do this? Last season these two teams played what turned out to be one of
the most important games in each program's recent history when South Carolina beat Ohio
State 24-7 in the 2001 Outback Bowl. Under head coach Lou Holtz, South Carolina made the
turnaround from punching bags to contenders complete with the punishing win over Ohio
State. The Buckeyes looked undisciplined and fell apart in John Cooper's final game as the
OSU head coach. It turned out to be a step back to go two steps forward. After firing
Cooper, OSU hired one of the brightest new coaching stars in college football, Jim
Tressel.
Few teams went through more ups and downs than Ohio State did the past 12 months. They
lost Cooper, then they had to deal with a new coaching staff, the starting QB was vilified
by Buckeyes’ fans, they rolled over in the second half against Wisconsin, they lost a
tough one to Penn State, they went on a roll with the starting QB playing well, the
starting QB was arrested for drunk driving and suspended causing the Buckeyes to get
drilled by Illinois, then did the impossible (at least under Cooper) and beat Michigan in
Michigan. Whew! The Buckeyes got through it all on the strength of one of the nation's
best secondaries, the legs of RB Jonathan Wells, who somehow slipped under the radar of
national stars, and great coaching by Tressel. He never wavered throughout all the
adversity of QB Steve Bellisari's arrest and could've bent the rules and played him
against Michigan. He didn't and the Buckeyes still won.
South Carolina announced it was a team to be reckoned with by beating Georgia at
Georgia, Mississippi State (at the time, it looked like a good win) in Starkville, and
Alabama all by a total of eight points. A crushing, 10-7 loss against Arkansas and a
tough, 17-10 loss to Tennessee knocked the Gamecocks down a peg, then everything went
south as the vaunted USC defense was destroyed by Florida. The Gamecocks follow the Lou
Holtz blueprint step by step. 1) Have a pounding running game. 2) Play tough defense and
3) don't take too many chances with the passing game. Sound familiar?
Yes, these teams are almost mirror images of one another. Both are conservative, both
run the ball, don't like to throw, are well coached and don't turn the ball over. We can't
wait to see which team pulls out the quirky stops and opens up the playbook a little bit.
Players to watch: You know those quarterbacks, like Trent Green, who you never
really noticed in college, don't get drafted (or get taken late) then somehow become good
pros? It's a long shot, but Phil Petty might be just that sort of player with prototypical
size, good mobility and great arm strength. Unfortunately, he's never had a receiver to
throw to and has been hamstrung by the Lou Holtz rushing offense. If South Carolina gets
crazy and actually tries to (gasp!) throw the ball, Petty could be the surprise of the
bowl season. Also worth watching is if Holtz plugs in QB Corey Jenkins, the team's third
leading rusher, for a few plays.
Ohio State will send its normal number of stars to the NFL over the next few years.
From Wells to C LeCharles Bentley to the underused WR Michael Jenkins to FB Jamar Martin,
the Buckeyes are stocked with talent. The best of the bunch is S Mike Doss who is one of
the biggest hitters in college football and one of the country's premier playmakers. He
led the team in tackles with 79 and made three interceptions. You'll hear his name early
and often.
Two of the best pro prospects won't be playing due to injury. USC LB/DE Kalimba Edwards
blew out his knee against Florida and OSU CB Derek Ross, one of the nation's interception
leaders with seven, will miss the game with shoulder and toe injuries. Ross, a junior, has
announced he'll turn pro.
South Carolina will win if... the Gamecocks outrush Ohio State. The same can be
said for OSU since the winner of the ground game will win the game. If USC can hold Wells
under 100 yards, it has got a good chance as the Buckeyes are 5-2 when he passes the
century mark and 2-2 when he's under 100. USC will have to throw the ball a little bit and
without Ross, Ohio State might be slightly vulnerable through the air. That can only
happen if the running game is working and Doss is cheating up on the line.
Ohio State will win if... the passing game is working. Jenkins and Chris Vance
are turning into a lethal receiving combo and give the Buckeyes weapons that USC doesn't
have. Both teams will play bone-crushing defense and both teams are going to pound away
with their running games. Jenkins and Vance can be the difference.
Our Prediction: Ohio State 24, South Carolina 17
The Buckeyes aren't talking about revenge for last year's loss as much as they're
looking for redemption. They aren't mad about losing to USC last year, they're mad at the
way they played and are coming in with a purpose and a focus that we don't think South
Carolina has. While we've said these two play the same type of game, Ohio State is just a
little better in just about every area except quarterback. The offensive line is stronger,
the running backs are a bit more talented, the receivers are better and the defense, with
Edwards out for USC, is tougher. This will be close and we hate to pick against Holtz with
a month to prepare, but this Ohio State team has too much talent.
Gator Bowl, 12:30 p.m. EST Jan. 1, at ALLTEL
Stadium in Jacksonville
Florida State (7-4) vs. Virginia Tech (8-3)
So what if Syracuse, who was 6-1 in the Big East, deserves to be here over Virginia
Tech? The Hokies are the sexier team right now anyway after they came close to pulling off
the upset against Miami. The last time we saw these two play, Michael Vick and Peter
Warrick were putting on one of the greatest shows in bowl history in the 2000 Sugar Bowl.
While these two teams aren't nearly as good as those two, they're both so young that it's
not impossible that they'll meet again in a bowl game in the next few years with much
higher stakes.
Florida State has had to suffer through serious growing pains evidenced most by the
roller coaster year of freshman QB Chris Rix. He's eighth in the nation in passing
efficiency and he's gotten better as the season has gone on, but he has a knack for
throwing interceptions at the worst times. The defense hasn't bailed him out too much this
season as the ’Noles have their usual great athletes, but they just have to learn how
to play and need their swagger back. The Seminoles lost that mojo in a 41-9 thumping
against North Carolina and were steamrolled by NC State in a 34-28 loss, but this is still
a very talented team that'll bring the program back to the elite level soon.
Virginia Tech appeared to be at that elite level even though the Hokies lost Vick, but
you just don't take away a player like No. 7 and then lose a running back like Lee Suggs
without taking some sort of hit. Even in Tech's Sugar Bowl season, the Hokies needed Vick
to bail them out of jams in a couple of close games and this year, they lacked that
superstar to save them in losses against Syracuse and Miami. QB Grant Noel is competent,
but he won't win games for Tech by himself and is missing a decent receiving corps to
throw to. The question remains: Who has Virginia Tech beaten? Oh sure, the defense
dominated against the Western Michigans, West Virginias and Temples on the slate, but
against the four bowl teams on their schedule, they went 1-3, giving up 26.5 points and
308 yards per game.
Players to watch: If you haven't seen them yet, here's your chance to see
freshman RB Kevin Jones, the future of the Hokies’ program, and one of the nation's
best linebackers, senior Ben Taylor. Taylor led the Hokies with 121 tackles and along with
Jake Houseright, Tech has the linebackers to keep Rix from running out of the pocket and
to keep the FSU running game in check.
Jones, the newest Tech superstar to wear No. 7, represents how far the Hokies’
program has come. Virginia Tech used to succeed with overacheiving players who were passed
over by other schools. Jones is one of the first superstar recruits (he was the top
prospect on our list) to pick Tech over the traditional big-time schools and proves that
VT really is one of the nation's elite powers. After Suggs went down, the Hokies started
Keith Burnell, then Jones won the starting job and exploded in the last three games by
running for 496 yards and three scores.
Florida State has a couple of star linebackers of their own in senior Bradley Jennings
in the middle (who's questionable with a knee injury) and sophomore Kendyll Pope on the
outside. The two combined to make 234 stops and, shock of shocks for FSU players, are
lightning quick. Missing from this ’Noles team is the unstoppable, Peter Boulware-,
Jamal Reynolds-, Andre Wadsworth-type of pass rusher, but junior Alonzo Jackson is growing
into that special type of end. They've got a stud in the middle in sophomore DT Darnell
Dockett. He's not huge, but he's great at getting into the backfield.
Virginia Tech will win if... the Hokies’ run defense is a stone wall. Rix
is good, but he's more effective when he's moving out of the pocket and if the running
game is taking the heat off him. Florida State's four lowest rushing totals of the year
came against North Carolina, Miami, North Carolina State and Florida. They lost all four
of those games, averaging 86.5 yards per loss. In the seven wins, the ’Noles averaged
183 rushing. The FSU defense isn't good enough to shut down the Hokies’ running game
so they'll have to put up a bunch of points. If RB Greg Jones and Seminoles’ running
game aren't working, Tech will have a huge advantage.
Florida State will win if... they force Tech to win through the air. Noel throws
the ball well and, like most quarterbacks, is fine when he gets a ton of time to set his
feet, but he doesn't have much to work with. Andre Davis is a top-shelf receiver, but the
Miami secondary completely shut him down as he didn't even get a ball thrown his way. If
he doesn't get open against Florida State, forget about the Hokies winning as Tech doesn't
have another productive receiver. If the ’Noles stack against the run bringing up
their fabulous safety, Chris Hope, Davis will have one-on-one coverage against the average
FSU corners.
Our Prediction: Florida State 27, Virginia Tech 17
We really like Virginia Tech ... next year. The Hokies’ defense is awesome and the
running game is as strong as any in the nation, but we're not sold on the fact that
they're ready for prime time. Florida State looked explosive against Maryland, Clemson,
Georgia Tech and Virginia and while FSU is just 3-4 against bowl teams, Virginia Tech is
1-3. We can't get over how dominating the Seminoles’ offense looked at times this
year and think the ’Noles have too much balance on offense and too much speed on
defense.
Florida Citrus Bowl, 1 p.m. EST
Jan. 1, at Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Fla.
Tennessee (10-2) vs. Michigan (8-3)
It's not true that this bowl has been renamed the Florida Consolation Bowl as Tennessee
blew its chance to go to Pasadena and Michigan whiffed on its shot at going to New Orleans
with losses in their last games. While this isn't a BCS game, it might as well be as the
Vols and Wolverines beat their conference champions who are squaring off in the Sugar
Bowl.
The real question is whether or not Tennessee can overcome the devastating heartbreak
of the SEC Championship. After the shocking emotional win over Florida in The Swamp, the
Vols seemed to lose some of their energy against LSU and the Tigers knocked them out of
the Rose Bowl. The Vols were never considered much of a threat for the national title
after giving up a late touchdown in a home loss against Georgia and scoring
less-than-impressive wins against South Carolina, Notre Dame and Kentucky. Yet the Vols
hung around with a great record and then shocked the college football world by beating the
Gators. UT brings an outstanding multi-dimensional offense led by star RB Travis Stephens
and WRs Donte Stallworth and Kelley Washington.
Michigan was two weird plays away from being unbeaten going into the Ohio State game. A
77-yard TD return of a blocked field goal cost them the Washington game and an inept
timekeeper allowed Michigan State to win late in East Lansing. Led by a strong defense and
an uninspiring, but effective, offense, the Wolverines were in the Big Ten title hunt all
season until the inexplicable collapse to the Buckeyes. This isn't nearly as strong a
Wolverines team as the one that won last year's Citrus Bowl, but there's still plenty of
talent and if Tennessee lets down at all on offense, Michigan can win this game with its
defense.
Players to watch: The obvious stars like Stephens, Stallworth and DT John
Henderson stand out for the Vols, but watch out for DE Will Overstreet. Dinged by injuries
most of the year, he still gutted it out and benefited from all the attention paid to
Henderson. Overstreet has a linebacker’s speed in a defensive end’s body and
could wreak havoc on the Wolverines. On offense, OG Fred Weary is a devastating run
blocker and if you like watching great run blockers, keep an eye on No. 70.
In a year of great receivers in the Big Ten, Marquise Walker was one of the best,
catching 81 passes for 1,043 yards and 11 scores. Strangely though, his two best games
came in losses as he caught 24 passes for 310 yards and four scores against Michigan State
and Ohio State. On defense, LB Larry Foote is one of the nation's best run stoppers and
hits like a ton of bricks. If he's not having a big game stopping Stephens, Michigan will
be in trouble.
Tennessee will win if... QB John Navarre is forced to win the game. Tennessee is
great at hitting quarterbacks — just ask Rex Grossman — and if Chris Perry, B.J.
Askew and the Michigan running game isn't working, Navarre will need to win the game and
we don't think he can do it. Tennessee has problems with mobile quarterbacks and Navarre
is hardly nimble. Sophomore QB Jermaine Gonzales has better feet but if he's in the game,
it's over.
Michigan will win if... the Wolverines’ defense gets really nasty. T.J.
Duckett rumbled for 211 yards and his Spartans controlled the clock for 36:57 against
Michigan. Ohio State held on to the ball for 33:51 led by the rushing of Jonathan Wells
who gained 129 yards and three touchdowns before leaving with an injury. Wisconsin gave
Michigan all it could handle as Anthony Davis had a huge day. The Wolverines can't let
Stephens go off and must get pressure on QB Casey Clausen or he'll burn the suspect
Michigan corners.
Our Prediction: Tennessee 23, Michigan 17
We don't see the two teams doing a lot of scoring as each defense will be ultra-revved
up after lousy performances in their last games. Tennessee's defense is a little better,
Clausen is better than Navarre, Stephens is better than Askew, Washington and Stallworth
are better than Walker and Bellamy and Tennessee is better than Michigan. Will Tennessee
play fired up and not sulk about not being in the Rose Bowl? If the Vols play up to their
potential, they'll win.
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