Foss' Football Forecast, January 21, 2007

The NFL Divisional Playoffs were a little rough. I went 2-0 on Saturday, but then 0-2 on Sunday. My overall playoff record is now 5-3 for 62.5 winning percentage. I was glad to see the Indianapolis Colts go back to Baltimore and take down the Ravens 15-6. Whenever the Ravens play you know it is going to be a defensive duel, and the Colts scored just enough points, surprisingly they won without scoring a touchdown as Adam Vinatieri scored all of the Colts points with five field goals. He has to be the best free agent pick up of the season, and ironically now he has to face his former team to get the Colts to the Super Bowl. I see them doing it. I'm getting tired of seeing the Patriots in the Super Bowl. It's good for new teams to make it, and although the Colts have been there before (not since a win in 1971 over Dallas as the Baltimore Colts, 16-13 in Super Bowl V), it will be their first time for the fans of Indianapolis.

I also was glad to see the New Orleans Saints beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 27-24, their first win in a Divisional round to clinch their first trip to the NFC Championship Game although it means a road trip to Chicago. I think the Saints are the team of destiny this year and will reward the city for all they've been through with a trip to their first Super Bowl.

Last Sunday was a heart-breaker as my Seattle Seahawks couldn't defend their NFC Championship with a hard fought overtime loss to the Chicago Bears 27-24. The shocker of the day was in San Diego, at 14-2 I thought this was finally the Chargers year and they may be the team of destiny, but the Chargers ran out of juice against the playoff veteran New England Patriots in another close game, 24-21.

You already know who I want to win, but here are my official picks:

Sunday, January 21, 2007:
NFC Championship Game

new orleans (11-6) by 3 over CHICAGO (14-3)

AFC Championship Game

INDIANAPOLIS (14-4) by 7 over new england (14-4)

Should be two great games, enjoy!

Portland Trailblazers show improvement

It is hard to believe the National Basketball Association (NBA) season is half way over already and the Portland Trailblazers reached the halfway point with a 16-25 record, just one game ahead of last year's mark of 15-26, but the attitude and work ethic of the team this season is totally different.

The Blazers are still a very young team, but the new players are playing well, and in that 41st game showed that heart and stayed with the hottest team in the league, the Phoenix Suns only losing by five, 106-101. It was the 12th win in a row for the Suns.

I'm impressed with this year's Blazers over lasts. Last year's squad gave up the second half of the season only winning six more games to finish as the worst team in the league at 21-61. I am sticking by my prediction that this team can still have a winning season with 42 wins. They just need to go 26-15 the second half of the season and Coach Nate McMillian should give the team that goal, it is still possible. The Blazers lost five games by four-points or less in the first half of the season, if they had won those they would be only one game under .500 at 20-21 now. The Blazers wins have been pretty evenly balanced with a 9-12 home record and 7-13 on the road. A losing record at home is not acceptable. The team needs to reestablish its home court dominance and home court advantage. This is a fun team to watch and the crowd will get behind them and reward them for their hustle and enthusiastic play. They need to start a home win-streak. They have won two of their last three at home, which is a start.

Zach Randolph is leading the team with all-star caliber numbers. He is the 13th leading scorer in the league, averaging 23.8 points per game (ppg), 10th in the league in rebounding averaging 10.2 per game, 1.9 assists and 0.7 steals per game.

Brandon Roy has made the biggest impact among the rookies so far as the second leading scorer at 14.1 ppg, 4.1 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.2 steals. The team was clicking with him in the lineup to start the season as they got off to a 3-2 start before he went down with a heel injury that kept him out for 20-games. He was the Blazers Christmas present as Roy returned to the starting lineup on December 26th at Phoenix, but the Blazers are just 4-10 since his return as he tries to get back into the swing of things.

Some of the losing record can be attributed to the Blazers being injury prone. Joel Przybilla missed 13 games, and all the expectations of free agent Raef LaFrentz has not materialized as he has only played in 12 games as a Blazer. Darius Miles had season-ending right knee surgery on November 9th and has not played at all this season. This has been a blessing in disguise as he is currently the only bad egg on the team to mess up team chemistry. Without him playing the team is developing good team chemestry and developing a winning attitude under Coach Nate McMillan and playing well together.

Jarrett Jack is the other Blazer averaging in double figure scoring at 12.4 ppg, 2.4 rebounds, leads the team in assists at 5.6 per game, and is tied with Roy at 1.2 steals per game, as one of only three Blazers averaging over one steal a game. Juan Dixon at 9.4 ppg, and Travis Outlaw at 9.3 ppg, are just under double-figure points-per game.

The goal of this year's team was to improve outside shooting. Through the first half of the season the Blazers are averaging five 3-point baskets per game (tied for 22nd in the league out of 30 teams), and shooting 32.5 percent from three point range (25th in the league). The team could use another high scorer like a Jason Kidd or Vince Carter as the Blazers are averaging just 92.4 ppg (28th in the league), but shooting a respectable 44.8 field goal percentage per game (tied for 22nd). The Blazers still need to work on their team defense as they give up 96.9 ppg (11th), but 4.5 points more than they score. The Blazers only outrebound their opponent 38.4 to 37.6, overall they rank 28th in rebounding. This used to be a strong point for the Blazers as they always ranked in the top five teams. The team averages 6.8 steals per game, which is usually a strong point for a young team with quick hands, ranking them 19th in the league. The Blazer big men are doing a good job in the block department averaging 4.9 per game for a tie for 13th in the league.

Martell Webster leads the Blazers in 3-point shooting hitting 39.6 percent. Local boy Ime Udoka has had a good first half of the season. He is second on the team in 3-point percentage hitting 37.2 percent, averaging 8.6 ppg, 3.6 rebounds, 1.4 assists and is the other Blazer averaging 1 steal per game. In mid-December Udoka played a key role as the Blazers put together a five-game win streak, their longest of the season, to pull their record up to 12-14, including wins over the Los Angeles Clippers and Houston Rockets. Udoka scored in double-figures in four of the five games averaging 12 ppg, 4.2 rebounds, 1.6 steals, including a season-high four steals in the 89-87 home win over Houston, December 20th; averaged 2 three-pointers a game, including 3-for-3 in the home win over the Clippers, 109-99 December 15th. He scored a season-high 15 points in the win at Memphis, 85-79 December 13th.

During the five-game win streak, three of the five wins came on a six-game road trip in which they went 4-2, including a win at Detroit, 88-85, December 5th, lead by Randolph with 31 points in his homecoming.

While other teams have had on-the-court brawls, the Blazers stayed pretty much incident-free, except for December 8th at Indianapolis, when a frustrated Zach Randolph flipped off his home crowd (he is from Marion, Indiana) with just 15 seconds left in the game for fouling out. The Blazers lost the game 108-95 and Randolph has 29 points before fouling out. He did apologize after the game and said it won't happen again. It was the low point of the season for the Blazers as they lost seven of eight to drop to 7-14, but then they reeled off their five-straight.

The Blazers kind of peaked at the one-third point of the season at 12-14 as they haven't been that close to .500 since, with a lot of young players not used to the grind of an 82-game season, young players usually hit a wall around the 26-28 game point the length of an average college basketball season. 2007 hasn't been too good to them so far as they are just 3-7 and 4-11 since ending the five-game win streak, but they have hit a tougher point in their schedule too, but I can't make excuses for them.

The Blazers have proven they can compete with the best in the league and win on any given night, they just need to develop consistency. In the second half of the season, the goal should be to win at least three out of every five games as long as they stay healthy this should be possible and 42 wins isn't out of the question.

Foss' Football Forecast, January 13-14, 2007

First off, congratulations to the University of Florida Gators (13-1) for wrapping up the bowl season with a convincing win over the previously undefeated #1 Ohio State Buckeyes, 41-14 in the BCS Championship Game. Florida proved they deserved to be there, but I think most people were surprised they won so easily. The Gators proved defense wins championships, but they have been doing that all season, giving up 14 points or less in nine of their 13 wins, including two shutouts. After a 6-0 start, the only team able to beat the Gators was the then #11 Auburn Tigers, 27-17 in a tough road game. The Tigers (11-2) finished a respectable ninth in the final AP rankings and eighth in the USA Today Poll after a 17-14 win over Nebraska in the Cotton Bowl, which I predicted.

I like to see history made in sports, so I was glad to see the Florida Gators win the NCAA Division 1A football championship to become the first college to hold the NCAA Division 1A basketball & football titles in the same calendar year. It was a surprise last April when the Gators ended March Madness with the hoop championship for the first time, and then they stunned the sports world again winning the football title for the first time since 1996 and only second time in their history.

Kudos have to go out to the Boise State University Broncos too, who got the job done too and were the only team to complete an undefeated 13-0 season in one of the best Fiesta Bowl's in history, converting a gutsy two-point conversion in overtime to beat Oklahoma, 43-42! If it wasn't for an easy schedule, the Broncos could've played for the national title. You have to give them credit, they did beat five teams that went to bowl games, including four bowl winners: the San Jose State Spartans (9-4) beat New Mexico 20-12 in the inaugural New Mexico Bowl. It was a home game for the Lobos and they still couldn't win. The Utah Utes (8-5) beat Tulsa 25-13 in the inaugural Armed Forces Bowl; the Hawaii Warriors (11-3) easily rolled over Arizona State in their Hawaii Bowl home game, 41-24, and #21 Oregon State Beavers (10-4) won with a gutsy two-point conversion, 39-38, in their first Sun Bowl, over the Missouri Tigers. So including Oklahoma, the Broncos beat two teams in the final Top 25 rankings. The Broncos themself finished ranked fifth in the nation, and received one first place vote, needless to say their best season in school history.

I had one of my best bowl season's predicting all the games with a 23-9 record for a 71.9 winning percentage. I was glad to stay in single digit losses. Until the BCS Championship Game I had won nine in a row. Did anyone else have a better record? Ineed to be able to prove it, were your picks posted anywhere?Leave me a comment if you did. I could've made some good money if I bet on any of them, but I didn't, did anyone profit off my picks?

With the college football champion decided, it's time now to focus on the NFL playoffs. I got off to a good start going 3-1 in the first round Wild Card weekend. It wasn't a good weekend for New York fans as both of your teams the Jets and Giants (who by the way play in New Jersey) lost in the first round. I actually went out on a limb and predicted the Jets to upset the Patriots, but they crash landed 37-16, that was my only loss. I picked the Eagles to beat the Giants, but it was closer than I expected as it took a last second 38-yard field goal for Philadelphia to win, 23-20. I went 2-0 in Saturday's games with the Indianapolis Colts winning easily as expected 23-8 over the Kansas City Chiefs, and the Seattle Seahawks worked their post-season magic again in Seattle with a close, 21-20 win as the Dallas Cowboys muffed a last second field goal attempt, then quarterback Tony Romo was stopped on the two yard line, that's what happens when the Cowboys rely on a rookie quarterback.

It doesn't get any easier this week as we enter the Divisional Playoffs. The Indianapolis Colts (13-4) didn't earn home field advantage through the AFC playoffs like they did last season, so they face their first challenge Saturday, ironically in their former home town of Baltimore against the 13-3 Ravens. I'm picking the Colts to pull the upset. Happier times in New Orleans this year compared to last year as the Saints (10-6) have brought pride back to New Orleans and host a playoff game at the Superdome. The Saints won the NFC South to earn a first round bye in the playoffs for the first time in team history. The Philadelphia Eagles (11-6) are flying high having won six in a row, but I think the Saints will have help from above and send the home fans home happy. The Saints will advance to their first NFC Championship Game. I like the U2, Green Day song "The Saints Are Coming" their tribute to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. I think the Saints football team should make that song their theme song this playoff season. It would fire up the crowd even more if they show that video on the jumbotron before the game, or if Bono could perform it in a pregame show, but I doubt that would happen.

I knew if the Seattle Seahawks (10-7) wanted to return to the NFC Championship they would probably have to pass through Chicago and that showdown with the Bears (13-3) comes Sunday. The Seahawks have their stars back and are stepping up their play in the playoffs. It has been snowy and ice in Seattle this week, so a cold game in Chicago shouldn't bother them, I think the Seahawks can pull the upset and advance to defend their NFC Championship. In the other Sunday showdown, the San Diego Chargers (14-2) earned home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs and they are looking determined to make this their year. The Patriots (13-4) have to come to sunny California this year and that should make a difference as the Chargers are 8-0 at home this season, but the Patriots are 7-1 on the road, so it should be a good battle, but the Bolts should prevail.

Foss' Football Forecast:

Saturday, January 13, 2007:
AFC: indianapolis by 3 over BALTIMORE
NFC: NEW ORLEANS by 7 over philadelphia

Sunday, January 14, 2007:
NFC: seattle by 3 over CHICAGO
AFC: SAN DIEGO by 10 over new england

Enjoy the games all!

As an Oregon Duck, you know I couldn't go without complimenting the Oregon men's basketball team on their upset of #1 and undefeated UCLA last Saturday, 68-66. The 15th ranked Ducks are now 15-1 after their 60-55 win at Arizona State. They will prove if they are for real with a big showdown in the desert Sunday at the #10 Arizona Wildcats (13-2). A win will probably vault the Ducks into the Top 10. Oregon could still be undefeated, but were upset in their first game of 2007, January 4th at home to the USC Trojans by just two, 84-82, but made up for it with their big won over the Bruins. It was only the third time in school history the basketball program had beat a #1 team (all against UCLA), and the first time since 1974 when Coach Ernie Kent was a player for the Ducks and defeated Bill Walton's UCLA squad. The last time the Bruins visited McArthur Court as the nation's top-ranked team was Feb. 16, 1974. The Ducks stunned UCLA 56-51 in that game, earning the cover of Sports Illustrated, that upset also followed an Oregon loss to the Trojans. Coach Kent really has this team motivated and playing well as a team, I see the Ducks pulling another upset and will beat the Wildcats.

GO DUCKS & SEAHAWKS!

Foss' Football Forecast, January 6-7, 2007

Happy New Year everyone! I had a good final week of the NFL regular season winning 7 of 10. My final regular season NFL record was 64-41 for a 61.0 winning percentage. I was only stumbled up by three upsets as the Detroit Lions ended their dismal season on a high note defeating the Cowboys in Dallas, 39-31. The loss prevented the Cowboys from clinching the NFC East title after it seemed a lock with a four-game win streak during November. Instead the Cowboys handed it to the Philadelphia Eagles, who soared back into first place ending the season on a five-game win streak to win the division for the fifth time in the last six seasons. At 9-7, the Cowboys still earned the NFC wildcard spot, but are stumbling into the playoffs losing three of their final four games. The Cowboys loss, combined with a Seattle Seahawks win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 23-7 let the Seahawks host the first round wild card game against the Cowboys. The Seahawks won the weak NFC West with just a 9-7 record, but Coach Mike Holgren should be given a lot of credit for keeping his team together despite many injuries to star players as QB Matt Hasselbeck and last year's MVP RB Shaun Alexander missed most of the season. The team is getting healthy just in time for the playoffs and is catching the Cowboys at just the right time. The Seahawks should send the home crowd home happy and advance in the playoffs. It doesn't really matter what the Seahawks record is, they made it into the playoffs. The second season belongs to them as they look to defend their NFC Championship and earn a second trip to the Super Bowl.

My other two losses were San Francisco's upset of the Broncos in Denver in overtime, 26-23, knocking the Broncos out of the playoffs and the Kansas City Chiefs in. My third loss came in Green Bay's upset of the Bears in Chicago, 26-7. I wanted to take the Packers as a sentimental favorite, as it was most-likely QB Bret Favre's last game, and the Bears were playing with nothing to lose already clinching home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs with the best record of 13-3. If it was his last game Favre went out with style winning his last game over the best team in the NFC, he completed 21 of 42 passes for 285 years, one touchdown pass and one interception. He won his 147th game to tie with Dan Marino for second place all-time and it would only take two more wins next season to pass John Elway (148 wins) for the top spot. After a 1-4 start, the Packers were able to even their record at 8-8 to end the season in second in the NFC North after a four-game win streak.

Do they grow lemons in Miami? The Dolphins do as they gave rookie QB Cleo Lemon his first start. Like me, most of you are saying Cleo who? He was drafted out of Arkansas State two season's ago, but didn't see his first action until this season playing in three Miami games before getting his first start in the final game. He played well completing 18-of-36 for 210 yards, one touchdown and one interception, and rushed two times for nine yards, but it was just enough to keep the game close as the Indianapolis Colts won at home, 27-22. Lemon got his chance after the Dolphins benched Joey Harrington again after two staight losses to Buffalo and the New York Jets. Miami was 5-6 under Harrington, including a four-game win streak in mid-season to give the Dolphins playoff hopes, but sank at the end of the season. Former University of Oregon QB Harrington finished his first season in Miami completing 223 of 388 passes for 57.5 percent, 2,236 yards, 12 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. He rushed 19 times for 24 yards, was sacked 15 times and lost one fumble.

Another former Duck quarterback, A.J. Feeley had a better finish to end the regular season, starting his first game of the season, while Jeff Garcia was rested for the playoffs, Feeley threw for a career-high 321 yards and three touchdowns to lead his Philadelphia Eagles over the Atlanta Falcons, 24-17, it was an exact pick for me as I picked the Eagles to win by seven. While Harrington's season is over, Feeley will be Garcia's backup QB in the playoffs as the Eagles found a way to end the season on a five-game winning streak instead of collapsing when they lost their star QB Donovan McNabb for the season in game 10 versus Tennessee. The Eagles (10-6) play their divisional rival New York Giants (8-8) in the Wild Card playoffs. After a 6-2 start for the Giants, New York is stumbling into the playoffs losing six of their final eight. They had to win their final game against Washington, 34-28 just to make the playoffs. The Giants earned the wild card over Carolina and St. Louis, who also finished 8-8, by having a better conference record by one game over both of them. The Eagles should continue to soar as I see them winning by seven.

In the other two wildcard games, the Indianapolis Colts (12-4) should easily stampede away from the Kansas City Chiefs (9-7). The Chiefs won a wild one over the Jacksonville Jaguars at home, 35-30, in what was an elimination game as the Jaguars had a shot at the playoffs too. Then needed help to make the playoffs and were glad to see the 49ers defeat the Broncos to keep the Chiefs season alive. After a 7-4 start to almost assure K.C. of making the playoffs, they also struggled in the second half of the season, losing three in a row to drop to 7-7, but turned it around at the right time and ended the season with two-straight wins entering the playoffs. However, six of their nine wins came at home, while the Colts are undefeated at home (8-0) for the first time since 1958. The Colts should win easily, putting on a show for the home crowd and sending them home happy by two touchdowns.

New York's other team the Jets (10-6) also made the playoffs with a wildcard bid and also start on the road against a divisional rival the AFC East champ New England Patriots (12-4). I think the Jets like starting the playoffs on the road, they went 6-2 on the road this season and won their regular season meeting at New England, 17-14, so the Jets know how to win there. That loss dropped the Patriots to just 6-3 and it looked like their strangle hold on the AFC East title may finally come to an end, but New England finished strong winning six of their final seven games to win the division by two games over the Jets. The Jets also finished strong winning three in a row and five of their last six. It may come down to who has the ball last. The Patriots have the revenge factor, but I'm taking the Jets by at least three. It may come down to a last second field goal. It should be a defensive duel as the Patriots only gave up 237 points this season (only 14.8 points-per-game) the best in team history. The Jets defense isn't too shabby either only giving up 295 points or 18.4 per game. The Jets have the Patriots number this season and know how to shut down Tom Brady.

For the record here are my NFL Wildcard playoff picks:
Saturday, January 6, 2007:
AFC: INDIANAPOLIS by 14 over kansas city
NFC: SEATTLE by 7 over dallas

Sunday, January 7, 2007:
AFC: new york jets by 3 over NEW ENGLAND
NFC: PHILADELPHIA by 7 over new york giants

One final post script, congratulations to the Oakland Raiders who at 2-14 earned the first pick in the NFL Draft. Just goes to show, no matter how many all-star players Owner Al Davis signs, you can't buy a championship. Every team needs role players and guys who can play together. Only winning two games, the Raiders proved to be a bad chemistry project.

Enjoy the games all!

Foss' Football Forecast, December 31, 2006

The final day of 2006 also wraps up the final week of the NFL regular season. I had a tough week last week only going 4-6, ending my streak of four consecutive weeks with a winning record. Only Chicago, St. Louis, New Orleans and Baltimore came through for me. The biggest upset was the Houston Texans first ever win (in their 10th try) over the Indianapolis Colts on a last second field goal, 27-24. After a 1-8 start the young Arizona Cardinals are finally starting to play as a team and up to their potential, winning four of their last six, and upsetting the 49ers in San Francisco, 26-20, ending any chance of the 49ers making the playoffs. The 49ers loss allowed my Seattle Seahawks to finally clinch the NFC Western Division although they backed into it losing themselves to the red-hot San Diego Changers (nine-wins in a row) in Seattle, 20-17. This could finally be the Chargers year, but we'll get into playoff talk next week.

I knew I was stepping out on a ledge a bit picking the Bengals over the Broncos in Denver, but I felt Cincinnati was the better team and they led most of the game, but Denver held on in the snow in a close game, 24-23. Three other home teams failed me as Jacksonville lost to New England, 24-21, to almost eliminate the Jaguars from the playoffs; I wanted to pick Carolina over Atlanta, but Michael Vick playing at home seemed like a sure thing, but it turned into a defensive game with the Panthers prevailing, 10-3. Then on Christmas Day, the Cowboys didn't give the home fans any presents getting embarrassed by the Eagles, 23-7. My overall NFL record is now 57-38 for an even 60 winning-percentage.

Looking at this weeks games, I found the home team to be a strong pick in nine of my ten picks, some games were too close to call with team's needing a win to make the playoffs, so I tried to go with the safe games this week. Here are this week's picks:

NFL Sunday, New Year's Eve:
HOUSTON by 10 over cleveland
DALLAS by 14 over detroit
NEW YORK JETS by 14 over oakland
seattle by 7 over TAMPA BAY
PHILADELPHIA by 7 over atlanta
BALTIMORE by 14 over buffalo
INDIANAPOLIS by 10 over miami
SAN DIEGO by 14 over arizona
DENVER by 10 over san francisco
CHICAGO by 7 over green bay (possibly Brett Favre's final game)

Happy New Year all, may everyone have a safe, healthy and prosperous, 2007!

I hope everyone is enjoying the bowl games, we are finally getting to the major bowls, but are still a week away from the Championship Game as the Florida Gators still try to workout a plan to defeat the undefeated Ohio State Buckeyes.

Foss' Football Forecast, Dec. 24-25, 2006

I had a good week last week with my NFL picks going 7-3, my only three losses were the Tennessee Titans upset of the Jacksonville Jaguars, 24-17, the Washington Redskins upset of the Saints in New Orleans, 16-10, and the Pittsburgh Steelers surprisingly big win over the Panthers in Carolina, 37-3. My pick of the Baltimore Ravens over the Cleveland Browns by 10 was exact, 27-17. My NFL record overall is now 53-32 for 62.4 percent.

The Dallas Cowboys have the honor of playing in the national spotlight on both major U.S. Holidays: Thanksgiving and Christmas this season. I'm not so sure their families are happy about that.

Here are this weeks picks:
NFL Sunday, Christmas Eve, December 24, 2006:
chicago by 14 over DETROIT
indianapolis by 14 over HOUSTON
ST. LOUIS by 7 over washington
SAN FRANCISCO by 10 over arizona
cincinnati by 3 over DENVER
JACKSONVILLE by 3 over new england
new orleans by 3 over NEW YORK GIANTS
baltimore by 10 over PITTSBURGH
ATLANTA by 3 over carolina
Christmas Day, Monday, December 25, 2006:
DALLAS by 7 over philadelphia

Foss' Football Forecast College Bowls

With the Holidays just around the corner, it also means it's college bowl time again. The 32-bowl games kicks off Tuesday, December 19th in San Diego for the 2nd Annual Poinettia Bowl. I'm sure most people have not heard of this bowl, but with the weather nice in San Diego even in December, the city now hosts two bowl games, along with the more familiar Holiday Bowl on December 28th. There are three completely new bowl games this year with Albuquerque, New Mexico (New Mexico Bowl, Dec. 23), Birmingham, Alabama (Papa John's.com Bowl, Dec. 23) and Toronto, Ontario, Canada (International Bowl, Saturday, Jan. 6, 2007). The one in Canada will be the first bowl game played outside the United States since the 1937 Bacardi Bowl in Cuba. The GMAC Bowl in Mobile, Alabama isn't scheduled until Sunday, January 7, 2007 to fill the gap until Monday, January 8th BCS Championship Game in Glendale, Arizona when #2 Florida (12-1) will play #1 Ohio State (12-0) in the first bowl game at the new Arizona Cardinals Stadium. This is the first year the BCS has its own bowl game and is not rotated between the Rose, Fiesta, Sugar or Orange Bowl.

I remember when New Year's Day was the culmination of bowl season with the biggest games played on New Year's Day the most historic being the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Fiesta Bowl in Tempe, Arizona, Orange Bowl in Miami, Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California and Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. It will be nice to see the Sugar Bowl return to the Super Dome in New Orleans this season after it was forced to play in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta due to Hurricane Katrina. The first bowl to be played this year in New Orleans is the apt named New Orleans Bowl on December 22nd.

I thought about breaking down all 32-bowl games, but that would take up a lot of space and you probably just want to see my picks. I did my research on Yahoo Sports. So I will recommend everyone see their excellent preview of each game with historic comments on the team's bowl history and tendencies. See http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/scoreboard.

I will comment on some of the college's that made it to bowl games and ended long droughts, or don't have much bowl experience. One of the best stories is the Rice Owls (7-5) who will be playing in their first bowl game in 45 years, the New Orleans Bowl and it should be an interesting matchup against the University of Troy Trojans, also 7-5, who will be in only their second bowl game since moving up to Division 1A football in 2002. Middle Tennessee State (7-5) Blue Raiders are in their first bowl game, the Motor City Bowl in Detroit, since moving up to Division 1A in 1999. The University of South Florida Bulls (8-4) are playing in their second consecutive bowl game, the inaugural Papa John's.com Bowl in Birmingham on December 23rd, after not making one in their first four seasons in Division 1A. The University of Kentucky Wildcats (7-5) proved they are not just a basketball school anymore as Coach Rich Brooks led the football team to its first bowl game, the Music City Bowl, Dec. 29th, since 1999. Oregon State (9-4) is playing in its first Sun Bowl in El Paso and finished the regular season ranked 24th in the nation.

My Oregon Ducks (7-5) will get to spend the Holidays at home as they are in the second bowl game the Las Vegas Bowl on Thursday, December 21st. It should be an interesting matchup against #19 Brigham Young University (BYU 10-2), the former school of Duck offensive coordinator Gary Crowton, who coached BYU from 2001-04. BYU has won nine-games in a row, but their only impressive win was against #25 Texas Christian (TCU). The Cougars 10-2 record should not intimidate the Ducks and I will go against the spread and predict the Ducks will win by at least three points.

Well onto the picks:

Tuesday, December 19, 2006
1. Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego
#25 TCU (10-2) by 14 over Northern Illinois (7-5)

Thursday, December 21, 2006
2. Las Vegas Bowl in Nevada
Oregon (7-5) by 3 over #19 BYU (10-2)

Friday, December 22, 2006
3. New Orleans Bowl in Louisiana
Rice (7-5) by 7 over Troy (7-5)

Saturday, December 23, 2006
4. Papa John's.com Bowl in Birmingham, AL (inaugural)
South Florida (8-4) by 7 over East Carolina (7-5)

5. New Mexico Bowl in Albuquerque (inaugural)
San Jose State (8-4) by 3 over New Mexico (6-6)

6. Armed Forces Bowl (inaugural, formerly Fort Worth Bowl)
in Fort Worth, Texas
Utah (7-5) by 3 over Tulsa (8-4)

Sunday, December 24, 2006
7. Hawaii Bowl in Hololulu
Hawaii (10-3) by 10 over Arizona State (7-5)

Tuesday, December 26, 2006
8. Motor City Bowl in Detroit
Central Michigan (9-4) by 10 over Middle Tennessee State (7-5)

Wednesday, December 27, 2006
9. Emerald Bowl in San Francisco
UCLA (7-5) by 3 over Florida State (6-6)

Thursday, December 28, 2006
10. Independence Bowl in Shreveport, Louisiana
Alabama (6-6) by 3 over Oklahoma State (6-6)

11. Texas Bowl (inaugural, formerly Houston Bowl)
in Houston
#16 Rutgers (10-2) by 10 over Kansas State (7-5)

12. Holiday Bowl in San Diego
#20 California (9-3) by 7 over #21 Texas A&M (9-3)

Friday, December 29, 2006
13. Music City Bowl in Nashville
Kentucky (7-5) by 3 over Clemson (8-4)

14. Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas
#24 Oregon State (9-4) by 3 over Missouri (8-4)

15. Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tennessee
South Carolina (7-5) by 7 over Houston (10-3)

16. Insight Bowl in Tempe, Arizona
Texas Tech (7-5) by 10 over Minnesota (6-6)

17. Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando
Purdue (8-5) by 3 over Maryland (8-4)

Saturday, December 30, 2006
18. Meineke Bowl in Charlotte, North Carolina
#23 Boston College (9-3) by 3 over Navy (9-3)

19. Alamo Bowl in San Antonio, Texas
#18 Texas (9-3) by 10 over Iowa (6-6)

20. Chick-fil-A Bowl in Atlanta
#14 Virginia Tech (10-2) by 3 over Georgia

Sunday, December 31, 2006
21. MPC Computers Bowl in Boise, Idaho
Nevada (8-4) by 3 over Miami, Fla. (6-6)

Monday, January 1, 2007
22. Outback Bowl in Tampa, Fla.
#17 Tennessee (9-3) by 7 over Penn State (8-4)

23. Cotton Bowl in Dallas
#10 Auburn (10-2) by 7 over #22 Nebraska (9-4)

24. Capital One Bowl in Orlando, Fla.
#6 Wisconsin (11-1) by 3 over #12 Arkansas (10-3)

25. Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Fla.
#13 West Virginia (10-2) by 10 over Georgia Tech (9-4)

26. Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Ca.
#8 USC (10-2) by 7 over #3 Michigan (11-1)

27. Fiesta Bowl in Tempe, Arizona
#9 Boise State (12-0) by 3 over #7 Oklahoma (11-2)

Tuesday, January 2, 2007
28. Orange Bowl in Miami
#5 Louisville (11-1) by 10 over #15 Wake Forest (11-2)

Wednesday, January 3, 2007
29. Sugar Bowl in New Orleans
#4 Louisiana State (10-2) by 7 over #11 Notre Dame (10-2)

Saturday, January 6, 2007
30. International Bowl (inaugural in Toronto, ON, Canada)
Cincinnati (7-5) by 3 over Western Michigan (8-4)

Sunday, January 7, 2007
31. GMAC Bowl in Mobile, Alabama
Southern Mississippi (8-5) by 7 over Ohio (9-4)

Monday, January 8, 2007
32. BCS Championship Game
#1 Ohio State (12-0) by 10 over #2 Florida (12-1)

Well there you have it, enjoy all the Holiday bowl games, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Peace on Earth, good will to all humanity.

Let's not forget our troops overseas who won't be able to be home for the Holidays, but can get a piece of Americana through the bowl games!