Bowl preview, part 3

Here’s hoping you didn’t put money on Florida State to win the Motor City Bowl…..

On with Part 3;

New Mexico vs. Nevada
New Mexico Bowl
Saturday, December 22nd – 430pm

Ah, the benefits of having a bowl game played at home. Gee, what are the odds that the New Mexico Bowl would pick New Mexico to play?

Anyway, as much as I hate to see a team win a bowl that was pretty much created for them, New Mexico’s going to win this one. Take the Lobos and the points.

I’ve watched Nevada play three times this year, including a 3-point loss to Hawaii, a 69-67 thrilling loss to Boise State, and a 5-point early loss to Northwestern. They were all great games, but they were all losses. Plus, Nevada is 6-6 and they got their bowl eligibility by beating Nicholls State, Louisiana Tech, and Idaho. I can’t respect that.

New Mexico’s schedule wasn’t much easier, having lost to some pretty weak teams. But if you ever get asked “who’s the only team besides Oklahoma to knock off Missouri”, you can proudly proclaim that you know the answer and that it was New Mexico.

It’s the weakest bowl game of the season, and probably the only one I’ll have absolutely no interest in watching. How the hell a 6-6 team gets to play a 6-5 team during bowl season, I’ll never know. But it is what it is.

New Mexico 28
Nevada 27
Actual score
New Mexico 23
Nevada 0
The BBC – 4-0
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BYU vs. UCLA
Las Vegas Bowl
Saturday, December 22nd – 8pm

Our first rematch of the bowl season, and a pretty good game actually. UCLA knocked off the Cougars in the second week of the season, 27-17. But since then, BYU won nine straight games, and UCLA lost to Notre Dame.

I think the only edge for the Bruins will be their strength of schedule. They went 2-2 against ranked teams…but one of those wins turned out to be against a fraud of a Cal team and the other was against a Dennis Dixon-less Oregon. They have also lost four of their last five games and practically limped into their bowl selection.

Meanwhile, BYU plays in the much weaker MWC, but they blew through it at an 8-0 clip. They beat Air Force and Utah, but were fortunate enough to have both games at home.

It could be a tough game to call, but I’m going to have to go with the missionaries on this one. BYU didn’t play as many tough teams, but they knocked off the ones they had to down the stretch.

BYU 32
UCLA 22
Actual score
BYU 17
UCLA 16
The BBC – 5-0