Hell is a place where there is no college Football

It is Wednesday.  The worst day of the week after college football season has come to its end.  Usually there is a game on Tuesday to whet my appetite, and then Wednesday another, and if I am lucky Thursday and Friday.  But none this week or the next.  We are ten days away from the start of the bowl season.  And to add to my depression one of my favorite baseball personalities, C.C. Sabathia, has now joined the Yankee's evil empire.  Oh this tormented life I lead!  But there are the bowls to analyze and discuss.  I will start with the smaller bowls and work my way to the BCS bowls.

New Mexico Bowl-  Colorado State (6-6) v.  Fresno State (7-5)

The New Mexico Bowl generally places two teams from the WAC and the Mountain West.  The bowl usually tries to place New Mexico but they were not bowl eligible this year.  

Colorado State- CSU has a very balanced offensive attack.  The Rams quarterback, Billy Harris, is fourth in the Mountain West in quarterback rating, second in passing yards, and Colorado State was second in the conference in passing yards per game.  Receiver, Gartrell Johnson, was second in the conference in receiving yards.  Remember that Colorado State is in the same conference as Utah, BYU, Air Force, and TCU.  Colorado State played a relatively tough schedule beating who they were supposed to. They lost to BYU, TCU, Air Force, Colorado, Cal, and a real close game to Utah.  They beat a very good Houston team that finished 3rd in the western division of Conference USA.  

Fresno State- Fresno State lost some tough games this year.  Pat Hill's anytime, anywhere philosophy is inspiring as long as you win the games your supposed to win.  They beat Rutgers, before the Scarlet Knights got back on track, and lost to Wisconsin, before the Badgers fell apart.  They played everyone close except for the beat down they took from Boise State at the end of the year.  Two losses really hurt them in their quest for a big time bowl, Nevada and Louisiana Tech.  Fresno State finished in the middle of the improving WAC.  Quarterback, tom Brandstater, is fifth in the conference in passer rating and fourth in passing yards.  The team was third in points and rushing yards per game.  Fresno State's running back, Anthony Harding, ws fifth in the conference in rushing yards.  

Analysis- Fresno State has far better athletes and is a better coached team.  They are both balanced offenses and Colorado can get hot but has trouble finishing games.  Pat Hill and Fresno State needs this win to keep their program on the winning track. Colorado State will make it interesting but I think Fresno State pulls it out.  FRESNO STATE.

ST. Petersburg Bowl- Memphis (6-6) v. South Florida (7-5)

St Petersburg bowl is relatively new as bowls go.  It matches up a team from the Big East against a team from Conference USA.  Similar to the New Mexico Bowl, the bowls first choice is the home town team University of South Florida.

Memphis- Memphis is one of six bowl eligible teams from Conference USA this year.  They benefited, ever so slightly, from a weak schedule.  In their conference none of the skill players from their team were in the top 5 in any category except running back Curtis Steele who finished third in rushing in a conference high-lighted by high-powered passing attacks.  Memphis did average 206 yards per game rushing.  Memphis got hot late but then suffered a crushing loss to UCF.  Memphis quarterback Arkelon Hall is a great athlete and with Curtis Steele can be explosive.  

USF- South Florida finished 6th in the Big East. They spent the second season in a row grossly underachieving. The Bulls started fast winning their first five games, including a big win over Kansas. Then they ran into Louisville, Cincinnati, and Rutgers when those teams were starting to heat up.  Matt Grothe finished fourth in the conference in passer rating and second in passing yards.  South Florida was fourth in the conference in points and rushing yards per game.  They also finished third in the Big East in pass yards per game.  USF did beat UCONN and played well against WVU at the end of the year.   

Analysis- Matt Grothe needs to play well in this bowl game.  If USF can put it together this will not even be a game.  But the good news for Memphis is that USF is very inconsistent.  Memphis is full of athletes and could win this game.  Both teams can be explosive but USF has more on both sides of the ball. It is a home game for the Bulls.   USF

Las Vegas Bowl-  BYU (10-2) v. Arizona (7-5)

The Las Vegas bowl got a good one this year.  This bowl pits the MWC against the PAC-10 and it got lucky this year.  Both these teams were a couple of tough losses from a big name bowl.

BYU- BYU is a dominant offensive force with a pretty good defense to back it up.  There offense is ranked first in the MWC in both scoring and passing yards per game.  Max Hall had the highest passer rating and the most yards passing in the conference. Austin Collier, BYU's receiver, lead the conference in receiving yards.  Harvey Unga, BYU's running back, is fourth in the conference in yards.  BYU only lost to TCU, who put on their best defensive showing of the year, and Utah, who is legitimately a good team.  In fact in all their wins Colorado State is the only team that was within a touchdown of the Cougars.  In any other conference BYU's Max Hall would've been a Heisman candidate.  This is a good team.

Arizona- Arizona failed miserably in their preseason goal to challenge for the PAC-10 title.   They had the talent but inconsistent play at the quarterback position hurt them.  They played USC very close but a lose early to New Mexico hurt the teams psyche.  A mid-season loss to Stanford added more damage to a failing season.  They did have a very impressive win over Cal but it just wasn't enough.  Quarterback Willie Tuitama finished 2nd in the PAC-10 in passer rating and passing yards.  He would have been first but was just too inconsistent. The running back Nic Grigsby was 5th in the conference in rushing yards.  As a team, Arizona, was third in the conference in points per game and passing yards per game.  Despite a proficient offense it was more often than not the defense of Arizona that won them games.  The Wildcats are better than their record lets on.

Analysis- This will be a battle of two very good offenses.  BYU has tons of fire power but Arizona is tireless on defense.  It may come down to which defense plays better.  Both teams have a number of weapons, but BYU may have more.  BYU

Well that was long and I hope you got through it ok.  There is more to come tomorrow.  Live like no one is watching and don't sign with the Yankees.