The most wonderful time of the year kicked off on Saturday with five bowl games. 

After an off day on Sunday, the season continues with the Miami Beach Bowl on Monday—the first of seven more bowl games before Christmas. 

Below is the full slate of remaining games, followed by a preview of a few of the most anticipated non-playoff matchups.

Notable Games

Music City Bowl: Texas A&M vs. Louisville

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The Music City Bowl wasn’t initially one of the most intriguing matchups on the schedule, but the past week has suddenly brought unwanted attention to Texas A&M. 

After losing the starting job this past season, it wasn’t a shock when quarterback Kyle Allen announced his decision to transfer on Twitter last week. 

But when the current starter, freshman Kyler Murray, announced that he would also transfer, it raised some serious questions about what is happening to Kevin Sumlin‘s program in College Station. 

After losing the top two quarterbacks on his depth chart in the span of a week, Sumlin is left with JUCO transfer Jake Hubenak to start the bowl game against Louisville. 

Hubenak was lightly recruited before walking on at Oklahoma State and eventually playing one season at Blinn College—the same school Cam Newton played at before Auburn—where he lit up the scoreboard with 47 touchdown passes in eight games. 

It’s extremely difficult to predict this matchup due to Hubernak’s inexperience, but his JUCO success certainly makes it appear as though he’s more than the average third-string quarterback. If he can simply manage the game and not become a liability, the Aggies should be able to hold off Louisville.

Prediction: Texas A&M 35, Louisville, 28

Birmingham Bowl: Auburn vs. Memphis

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Memphis has already knocked off one SEC team this season (Ole Miss), so it’s a mild surprise that Auburn is favored by 2.5 points in this matchup. Although the spread likely has something to do with the fact that this is effectively a home game for Auburn. 

Memphis closed out the season by losing three of its final four games, but all three losses came at the hands of teams ranked in the final College Football Playoff rankings (Temple, Houston, Navy).

In close matchups, it’s best to side with the better quarterback, which in this case is clearly Memphis’ Paxton Lynch. 

Lynch, who was recently placed at No. 2 in Todd McShay’s NFL mock draft, could be playing his final game for the Tigers and will be motivated to make a statement before likely declaring early for the NFL draft. 

Prediction: Memphis 31, Auburn 28

Rose Bowl: Stanford vs. Iowa

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The Hawkeyes deserve credit for exceeding expectations this season, but it’s also fair to question their achievement based on the schedule they played. 

Despite impressive overall stats, Iowa benefited from an early-season schedule which padded the stats and helped skew the opinion of the Hawkeyes defense. 

This is most evident in a breakdown of the Hawkeyes rushing defense, which eroded as the season wore on:

The Hawkeyes’ early-season defense was aided by dominant performances against Illinois State, North Texas and Iowa State. The heart of the Big Ten schedule, however, exposed the Hawkeyes defense as teams such as Nebraska, Michigan State, Minnesota and Indiana found significantly more success.

Nothing the Hawkeyes have seen this season can prepare them for Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey, who should have no issues running all over the Iowa defense on New Year’s Day.

Prediction: Stanford 38, Iowa 31