In honor of our BamaHammer Pick’Em Contest over on ESPN.com, I wanted to offer up some helpful hints and suggestions on this year’s matchups. The many coaching shakeups in the postseason make this year’s slate tough to pick, here are some insights to help with your picks. There is always more than meets the eye and these are some factors that will affect the outcome. FYI: If you have already submitted your picks, you can still go back and change any of them up until just before kickoff in that particular game.
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Cincinnati vs. Vanderbilt. 67 percent of voters believe the Bearcats overtake the Commodores, but that could prove to be a mistake. The ‘Dores are not as bad as their record indicates, and they should’ve won at least three more games than they did. Vandy took the Vols down to the wire and lost in overtime, while the Vols had their way with the Bearcats earlier in the year. Look for the Commodores to make a statement for the SEC.
Illinois vs. UCLA. 65 percent of voters don’t believe in the Bruins of UCLA. Both teams have interim coaches for this matchup, so it shouldn’t be a factor. Illinois has lost six games in a row and didn’t come close to winning any of them. UCLA has losses to six Top 25 teams, so don’t let the loss total fool you. Illinois’ offense has been anemic for the last two months, and I think they should be the underdog.
Wake Forest vs. Mississippi State. 80 percent of voters favor the Bulldogs and they probably should, but Wake Forrest is very capable of winning this game. The Bulldogs have a good defense, but their offense can be very predictable and Wake Forrest has the ability to surprise them.
Cal vs. Texas. 81 percent of voters have Texas on top in this one, and this is a mistake waiting to happen. Cal’s losses to Stanford, Washington. Oregon and USC can be misleading and Texas would have had trouble pulling those out as well. Cal isn’t getting any respect, and will certainly be looking to pounce on Texas, especially since Texas is struggling this year. This will go down to the wire, and Cal is not even close to an 81 percent underdog.
Auburn vs. Virginia. 70 percent of voters are still believing what the Tigers did last year will help them this year and, you guessed it; that’s a mistake. Virginia has been a huge surprise this year and have that program on the right track. Auburn just lost their offensive and defensive coordinators and weren’t very good before they left. Malzahn may coach the bowl game, but he’s mentally not there and Chizik will be eyeballing every move. The Cavaliers will come into this game riding high and steal this one.
Houston vs. Penn St. 67 percent of voters see Houston putting the Nittany Lions away but Penn State isn’t hurting as bad as the drama in Happy Valley makes it appear. Houston is formidable but they aren’t used to playing teams as physical as the Nittany Lions. Penn State has a really good defense, and is underrated across the board because they’re not flashy. The players will be excited to be in this bowl and I look for them to rally around one another like they’ve done all year.
My two shocker teams are West Virginia and Iowa. The Hawkeyes play Oklahoma and are the biggest underdogs in all of the games. They beat Purdue, Pitt, Northwestern, Michigan and lost to Iowa State in overtime while scoring more on the Cyclones than Oklahoma state was able to. The pitiful display of what was supposed to be football by the Sooners against rival OSU has Iowa thinking they can win this thing, and they may be right. Iowa will be very physical in this game and they won’t go down without a fight.
WVU will be facing Clemson and 84 percent of America thinks they have no chance. Let me remind you that WVU put a scare into LSU for three quarters, and are capable of going blow for blow with the Tigers. The Mountaineers are every bit as good as Clemson and have a great shot at winning this game.
That’s my two cents on the bowl matchups that may not go the way that the majority sees it. This year will be one of the more exciting bowl seasons in recent memory, which is great for college football. The underdogs in many of the games this year will be making a statement and providing us with top-notch entertainment throughout the holiday season. Dig a little deeper, go back and review the picks you have made, and ask yourself if there’s any reason to doubt the majority.