2017-12-19 06:48

I'm sorry, I did forget to post the first Bowl preview and only saw it after the weekend. Here the original post which was supposed to be published on Friday:

The Bowl season will start soon.

This season we have only 40 Bowls, the Poinsettia Bowl was eliminated after last season.

These are 37 regular Bowls, in addition 2 regular Bowls serving as Semi-Finals for the College Football Playoffs and the National Championship Game/Bowl as extra.

So initially 39 Bowls with 78 teams, and the big final is filled with the Semi-Final winners.

After 2 seasons in a row which needed 5-7-record teams to fill the last remaining spots, this season we have thanks to 1 bowl less in the mix and some different results than in the the past 3 more teams bowl eligable than needed.
The teams of Buffalo, UTSA and Western Michigan did not get a Bowl invitation.

This season the Bowls will start at Saturday, December 16th and will be played until Monday, January 8th, which is the National Championship game with no participator decided yet.

Now let's have a look at the BLOCK OF GRANITE BOWL GAMES FOR WAVE 1

Sat. Dec. 16
R+L CARRIERS NEW ORLEANS BOWL
Troy vs North Texas
@Mercedes-Benz Superdome - New Orleans, LA
This is played since 2001 and each team gets around 500.000$.
The teams are chosen from the CUSA and the SBC.
Both teams had good, if not great, seasons. Troy won a share of the SBC title with a 10-2 record and North Texas won their division and lost in the CUSA championship, having so far a 9-4 record.
Troy won their bowl game last season (Dollar General Bowl) and is playing their 4th New Orleans Bowl (2-1 record so far).
North Texas lost their bowl game last season (Heart of Dallas Bowl) and has played in the New Orleans team, as former SBC team they had a lot of chances to do that, 4 times, with a 1-3 record. So the 5th try now.
Vegas line is -6.5 for Troy, which is from my point of view not too much.
Troy did win against LSU during the season, while North Texas lost to FAU when it counted most.
Tojans win.

Sat. Dec. 16
AUTONATION CURE BOWL
Western Kentucky vs Georgia State
@Camping World Stadium - Orlando, FL
A new bowl since 2015.
Third try this season and the bowl is associated with the American Athletic Conference and the Sun Belt Conference teams.
Instead of a AAC team we have a CUSA team this season.
It's still hard to believe, but the payout for each team is 1.350.000$.
The matchup this season is not high level, both teams did have 6 wins, not more and finished mid level in their conferences.
Don't expect much here. Both teams did finish with losses and had not really good final games.
Georgia State is 6.0 favorite here, which seems OK, but this can go any way.
I'm willing to pick Western Kentucky here, because I think Georgia State is not on the same level as the Hilltoppers.
But this is a 55-45 decision, because Georgia State had some good games and did not play much worse than WKU and WKU had a descend losing streak at the end.
I pick WKU, because I think with time and preparation, this team is better than its record.
Hilltoppers win.

Sat. Dec. 16
LAS VEGAS BOWL
#25 Boise State vs Oregon
@Sam Boyd Stadium - Las Vegas, NV
I love that matchup, even now, when the Ducks lost their HC to FSU.
Two offense oriented teams will meet here.
It's played in the home of the UNLV Rebels.
It is played since 1992 and each team gets around 1.350.000 $.
Oregon is favored 7.5 points which is quite much, but Boise State had some down games at the end of the season, so it's no wonder they got downgraded.
Oregon has selected their HC by promotion of their OC, so the team will be highly motivated.
Can the Broncos win here?
Yes, but they need to be 100%.
My pick is Oregon will run the table in this. The only question is, whether the Broncos will stay in the game or whether they will not be able to score and lose by a high margin.
After overthinking this, I guess Oregon will have a great outing and win by 20+ points.
Ducks win.

Sat. Dec. 16
GILDAN NEW MEXICO BOWL
Marshall vs Colorado State
@ Dreamstyle Stadium - Albuquerque, NM
This is played at the University of New Mexico and is played since 2006.
Each team gets around 456.250$
It's a Bowl organized between the MWC and CUSA.
Colorado State has played here 2 times before, 2008 and 2013, and won both, while Marshall is here for the first time.
CSU is favored by 5.5 points, which is not much given the different conferences, and both teams have a 7-5 record.
Marshall lost their last 2 games in the season, the Rams ended the season with a win, after 2 tough losses against tough teams.
I expect the Rams to dominate here and win big.
Marshall was not able to win much in the not so strong CUSA, while Colorado State almost did upset competing Boise State and Wyoming.
Rams win.

Sat. Dec. 16
RAYCOM MEDIA CAMELLIA BOWL
Middle Tennessee vs Arkansas State
@Crampton Bowl - Montgomery, AL
A new bowl since 2014.
The bowl was played under the same name in the past (1948 and 1961-1980) but this new version is played since 2014.
It ties into the SBC and the MAC.
As far as it can be found, the payout for this bowl seems to be only 100.000 $, which is the worst of all bowls.
Since this is a quite new bowl, both teams did never play here.
Arkansas State is a good team, but lost their HC after the regular season.
So the team can either be worse or better. Usually better.
They are favored by 4.0 points, which is from my point of view a mistake.
I think Middle Tennessee has the potential to win here.
They are only 6-6, while ASU is 7-5, but they had several close games and did even win against Syracuse.
Overall this will likely be a high scoring a game.
Blue Raiders win.

‘Til next time
Jack6 on BLOCK OF GRANITE

Tags: Block of Granite