College Bowl Game Picks and Predictions
Written December 9, 2009 by Nick Jones
Now that the college football bowl teams have been announced, we can all start our predictions. But really, how do you analyze these games to pick a winner? First, these are teams from completely different conferences and areas of the country that have never played each other. Second, some of them are thankful to be playing one more game this season while others think they have been overlooked or underappreciated.
So we have to look at the teams’ physical strengths and weaknesses, but also their mental toughness. The physical part might be the easiest part to research and analyze. What style of football do they play? How have they performed offensively and defensively? Maybe one team has dominated the running game but only because all their opponents have trouble stopping the ground game. Or maybe a team has handled the tough running backs all season but can’t handle a pass happy quarterback or exceptional receivers.
The mental part of teams’ preparedness might be tougher to judge. A team that is feeling overlooked by a major bowl often has a hard time getting fired up for the game. But many 6-6 teams are ecstatic to get a chance to continue their season. Not all 6-6 teams are equal though. Depending on their conference, some 6-6 teams play much tougher opponents than others. So we have to consider what conference a team plays in and their strength of schedule. The other part of the mental aspect of a team is how they handle an extended layoff between games. The Big 10 conference season ends a month and a half before the BCS Championship game – that’s a long time to “prepare”. During this layoff many things can happen to the personnel that we have to be aware of – suspensions, injury updates, coaching changes.
One final thing to be aware of is location, location, location. Even though bowl games are played on neutral sites, many times those sites are decidedly closer to one school than the other. This can give a team a decided advantage by making it basically a “home” game. Lots of teams brag that they travel well, but no matter how well supporters follow a team, playing close to home is always easier.
So get those office pools ready, do your homework, and have fun! It’s going to be a great couple of weeks of college football!
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