Well, bowl games are arriving this week, and pretty much all of the are horrible looking except for the Maaco Las Vegas bowl, which pits Boise State versus Utah. But, the rest are all between mid-major teams like Troy and Ohio. But, in the NFL, there are six or seven really good games coming up on Sunday and one of them will essentially determine a division champion, that being Colts-Jaguars. So, allow me to start off your football weekend with the 10 best football games this weekend! O, and credit goes to Will Harris of espn.com for most college info, as I have no idea about these games.
College
BYU vs. UTEP
New Mexico Bowl
BYU was hoping to be in contention for the Mountain West title, but pretty much flopped right out of the gate at 1-4, and were out of the running, but they have roared back to finish at 6-6, as head coach Bronco Mendenhall took over as defensive coordinator to help the cougars rebound. The Miners however have gone in the opposite direction, starting out 5-1, and finishing 1-5, as their starting quarterback went down. My rule of thumb is if someone is one the down swing to finish off the year, they are not going to play well in the bowl game.
Pick: BYU 37, UTEP 13
Fresno State vs. Northern Illinois
uDrove Humanitarian Bowl
O, as a side note, bowl games have the oddest sponsors trying to get their names out there, and for me, I got no idea what uDrove is or anything, but look for these throughout bowl season. Now, onto the game. Northern Illinois got to the MAC championship game, and lost to Miami (OH), so that's how they ended up here in Boise on the blue turf. Northern Illinois not only lost to Miami, but they also lost their head coach and they ran into a defense intent on stopping them in the MAC championship game holding them to only 21 when they averaged over 60 the past three games. Fresno on the other hand has been amazing against BCS qualifying teams in bowl games, but they are 0-5 against fellow mid-majors. But, I think they'll break out against the Huskies.
Pick: Fresno State 24, NIU10
Troy vs. Ohio
R&L Carriers New Orleans
Troy is coming to this game again from winning the Sun Belt conference. But, they are not having their customary strong defense, which could hurt them, but not likely, as Ohio failed to secure the MAC East division championship against a weak Kent State team. So, Ohio will be coming in motivated to prove everyone wrong in this game.
Pick: Ohio 31, Troy 20
Southern Miss vs. Louisville
Beef O' Brady's St. Petersburg Bowl
This is the only game from now until next Wednesday which features a BCS conference team, that being Louisville. Louisville came back from a horrible few years under Steve Kragthorpe to be bowl eligible again under new coach Charlie Strong. Southern Miss has always been pretty good in the non-AQ conferences. Both defenses are not all that good, so it should be a shootout.
Pick: Souther Miss 42, Louisville 40
Utah vs. Boise State
Maaco Bowl Las Vegas
This is the premier bowl game until next Thursday at least, as both teams are ranked, and both teams had one or two losses. Boise's lone loss was against Nevada in Nevada, who is no slouch of a team, ranked in the top 20. Plus, I still believe Kyle Brotzman's field goal as time expired was good, look at the back angle, and you'd say it's good too. Utah's two losses were back to back as they got trounced at home by TCU and then also got trounced on the road at then struggling Notre Dame. But, now this is just a toss up game. But, I think Boise is definitely the better team.
Pick: Boise 45, Utah 20
NFL
Jacksonville at Indianapolis
This is the most important game of the weekend, as far as playoff positioning is concerned and if Peyton Manning can get to the playoffs for the ninth consecutive year. But, they have been injury ravaged the entire season, and Jacksonville has been on a roll since they fell to 3-4 when they lost at the Kansas City Chiefs. This game will essentially decide the division winner, as if Jacksonville wins, they'll be the AFC South champions, as they beat the Colts in Jacksonville earlier and own the tiebreaker over them. To me, even Peyton Manning cannot overcome all of the injuries the Colts have endured this season and Jacksonville has been under appreciated the entire season and will win.
Pick: Jacksonville 23, Indianapolis 20
Philadelphia at New York Giants
This game also has major implications as far as a division race is concerned, as both teams are vying for the NFC East lead and possibly the number 2 seed in the NFC. Both teams have just improved since their last meeting earlier in November. Both teams are banged up, as the Giants top two wide receivers are out for the season, while two pieces of the Eagles defense are gone for the season. So, it should be an excellent game, between two rivals, and I have confidence in the Eagles to win and win the division then.
Pick: Philly 27, New York Giants 23
New Orleans at Baltimore
This is the best intra-conference game of the weekend, and it is important to both teams, as New Orleans needs this game to keep pace with Atlanta in the NFC South race, and Baltimore would love to have Pittsburgh slip up against the Jets. Baltimore has been odd this season, as they have gotten big leads, but then nearly blown them. A perfect example came last Monday, when they were up big on the Texans, and then they had to win in overtime. While New Orleans has been sneaking under the radar and nobody has paid any attention to them since they fell to 4-3 against the Browns and everyone thought that their season was over. Since then, they've won six straight and are clicking on all cylinders right now.
Pick: New Orleans 34, Baltimore 24
New York Jets at Pittsburgh
Baltimore would love for the Jets to win, and the Jets need to win to keep from slipping even further and having a three game losing streak. The Jets have the perfect opportunity to do that versus a banged up Steelers secondary, as Troy Polamalu is most likely out of the game. But, the Jets will need to step up with their pass protection and Mark Sanchez will need to turn around his performance if the Jets are to win, especially because the Jets cannot run the ball against the top ranked run defense in the AFC.
Pick: New York Jets 17, Pittsburgh 13
Kansas City at St. Louis
While Green Bay and New England may be the featured game on NBC's Sunday night football, this game has more intrigue. The reason it has more intrigue is that it's a game between division leaders, and it could be classified as a "rivalry" game, even though these two teams only play each other every four years. This game is similar to the Steelers and Eagles in Pennsylvania, it's for state supremacy. This game all comes down to Kansas City's quarterback scenario. If Matt Cassel starts, Chiefs will win by double digits, if Brodie Croyle starts, St. Louis wins by double digits. My bet is that Croyle starts and will continue his streak of going winless.
Pick: St. Louis 28, Kansas City 12
Also, if anyone is interested and you still have time, please create a college bowl mania entry on espn.com, pick straight picks, and then search sports blog and PJ's sports blog will come up, compete against me for bragging rights this bowl season!
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