The Other Bowl Games

With bowl games right around the corner, let’s take a second to look at some of the more exciting bowl matchups not having to do with a national title of any kind.

January 1, The Rose Bowl. Michigan and USC. We all now about this one. It’s the granddaddy of them all, the most historic bowl that neither one of these teams actually wanted to play in. In the matter of a couple weeks, USC went from out, to in this game. And Michigan went from in, to out but maybe in, to in. Both teams losing out on a bid for the national championship shouldn’t damper what looks to be a classic.

January 3, The Sugar Bowl. LSU and Notre Dame. Everyone is counting Notre Dame out of this one, and maybe for good reason. LSU has perhaps the most talented team in the country. But I wouldn’t put the Irish on the mat just yet. Charlie Weiss knows how to get his team going and Brady Quinn and company should be ready to go.

January 1, The Capital One Bowl. Wisconsin and Arkansas. If we had a tournament setup, these two teams would have had a strong argument for top regional seeds. Arakansas was the surprise team of the nation and played in the strongest conference. Wisconsin had just as impressive a season and just happened to be in the same conference as Ohio State. The folks at the Capital One Bowl have a good one.

December 23, The Papajohns.com Bowl. East Carolina and South Florida. Yeah, that’s right, this one is going to be a good one. This two teams had a very good year and, for the most part, no one saw it. East Carolina may have had the best year in North Carolina in football if not for Wake Forest, and South Florida added to the Big East’s fantastic ride this season. South Florida is favored, but believe me, this is a game ECU can win.

Those are the other four games I will have circled once bowl season gets going. Counting the national championship, you have my top five.

What games are you looking forward to?