Weekday Viewer's Guide, bowl picks: Temple-Toledo leads Tuesday slate – CBSSports.com
Bowl season may have begun on a Saturday, but that doesn’t mean the games are only played on Saturday. That’s the best part of bowl season! Once it begins, there’s a football game on every single day of the week (including NFL games, that is) — for three weeks.
If you like football, it’s fantastic.
The problem? There’s no real consistency as to when bowl games are being played, so it could be easy to lose track. That is why we’ve put together this handy little viewer’s guide for you to use this week.
There are bowl games every day this week, except Friday. We’ll let you know which game is being played when, and why you should watch it.
Don’t forget, you can check out our Expert Picks for every bowl game.
All times Eastern
Monday
Miami Beach Bowl: Western Kentucky (-2.5) vs. South Florida — ESPN, 2:30 p.m: WKU prevailed in a 45-35 shootout, which proved once again that the Miami Beach Bowl is one of the best and most exciting out there each season.
Tuesday
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl: Akron vs. Utah State (-6.5) — ESPN, 3:30 p.m: OK, so this isn’t the most exciting matchup in the world, but what else are you going to watch on a Tuesday afternoon? It’s still football! Whether you find this game all that interesting, though, it’s still pretty important to Akron. It’s the school’s first trip to a bowl game since the 2005 Motor City Bowl, and it’s only the second bowl game the Zips have ever been to.
Check out SportsLine’s pick and prediction for Zips-Aggies.
Boca Raton Bowl: Toledo vs. No. 24 Temple (-2.5) — ESPN, 7 p.m: This is one of those games that doesn’t look all that attractive if you haven’t been paying close attention, but trust me, it’s an interesting matchup. It wasn’t too long ago that both of these teams were ranked by the College Football Playoff Selection Committee, and each was still fighting for conference titles and the New Year’s Six bid that ultimately went to Houston. Now, there’s some question as to how Toledo will do without coach Matt Campbell, but these are still two good teams that could provide a very interesting game.
Check out SportsLine’s pick and prediction for Rockets-Owls.
Wednesday
Poinsettia Bowl: Boise State (-8) vs. Northern Illinois — ESPN, 4:30 p.m: In any other season, this might be one of the most intriguing bowl games of the season. Boise State and Northern Illinois have been college football’s version of Cinderella so many times over the last decade. It’s just, this season, neither team has had its best season. Northern Illinois played for a MAC title, but it’s still just 8-5 on the year, and Boise State only went 8-4 despite the Mountain West not being very good this season. All that said, this could still make for a fun game.
Check out SportsLine’s pick and prediction for Broncos-Huskers.
GoDaddy Bowl: Georgia Southern vs. Bowling Green (-7.5) — ESPN, 8 p.m: This game would have been a lot more fun a month ago. During the season, these two teams had high-scoring offenses, as Bowling Green is averaging 43.4 points per game while Georgia Southern’s putting 34.7 points on the board every week. And both teams accomplish all this in totally different fashions, as Bowling Green runs the same offense Baylor does, while Georgia Southern runs an option offense.
The problem is both teams will be playing this game under interim coaches, as Dino Babers left for Syracuse, while Willie Fritz moved on to Tulane. So it’s hard to know which teams are actually showing up for this game. Give it a shot, though, because if it’s the two teams we saw all season, this one could be great.
Check out SportsLine’s pick and prediction for Eagles-Falcons.
Thursday
Bahamas Bowl: Middle Tennessee vs. Western Michigan (-4.5) — ESPN, Noon: If you’ll allow me to go on a bit of a tangent here for a moment, I’d appreciate it. You see, Middle Tennessee and Western Michigan come from Conference USA and the MAC, respectively. Western Kentucky, which won C-USA, was rewarded with a trip to Miami for its bowl game, which isn’t bad. Bowling Green won the MAC and was sent to Mobile, Alabama.
Then there are these two teams. Both teams went 7-5 overall, and neither even won its respective division. And they get sent to … the Bahamas. Does this seem fair to you? Doesn’t it feel like something is wrong when the MAC champion goes to Mobile, and a team that finished behind it is rewarded with a trip to the Bahamas? Anyway, as for the game? It might be good; it might not be. I don’t know. I’m still confused by how these conferences choose which teams go where they wound up.
Check out SportsLine’s pick and prediction for Blue Raiders-Broncos.
Hawaii Bowl: San Diego State (-1.5) vs. Cincinnati — ESPN, 8 p.m: The Hawaii Bowl, also known as the Game I Watch When I Want To Stop Talking To Family While At My Sister’s For Christmas Eve Bowl. San Diego State got off to a bad start this season but cruised through conference play, going 8-0 and winning its games by an average of nearly 25 points per game. Cincinnati did not have a great season this year, but it’s still an offense that puts up 36.1 points per game. The problem is the Bearcats also give up 30 points per game. This leads me to believe we’re in for a classic, or an absolute blowout … no in between.
Check out SportsLine’s pick and prediction for Aztecs-Bearcats.
The Willie Taggart Bowl down in Miami kicks off the week’s bowl action. (USATSI)This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.
