Saturday, Dec. 22 - New Mexico Bowl
Nevada vs. New Mexico
A pretty unspectacular match-up between two set of Wolfpacks that most of America has never seen. I’ll take the Nevada in this one. To stop Nevada, New Mexico will have to find a way to stop 1st-team All-WAC tailback Luke Lippincott, who helped lead the way in the conference’s top-ranked rush offense. New Mexico’s defense will have to do better than their 147-yard average on the ground if they intend to stop Lippincott and this prolific Nevada ground game. I don’t think they can do it so I’ll take Nevada.
Saturday, Dec. 22 - Pioneer Las Vegas Bowl
BYU vs. UCLA
This is the Cougars’ third consecutive trip to the Las Vegas and the Mountain West champions come into the game riding high. The same cannot be sad for UCLA who, after dropping their last regular season game to USC, have seen their head coach Karl Dorrell shown the door. Dorrell has not announced whether or not he intends to coach in the Bruins’ bowl game. Frankly, I don’t think it will matter. BYU is a far superior team and with zero off-the-field tumult or coaching changes, the Cougars will come into the game confident and well-prepared. Look for BYU freshman tailback Harvey Unga and sophomore quarterback Max Hall to have big games against a UCLA defense that finished in the middle of the pack in the Pac-10 in both rushing and pass defenses. Hall will have to keep a look out for UCLA defensive back Trey Brown, who finished tied for second in the Pac-10 with 5 picks. Whoever is coaching the Bruins would do well to keep sophomore Jan Jorgensen away from the quarterback at all times. Jorgensen lead the Mountain West in sacks and tackles for loss. I’ll take the Cougars big in this one, regardless of who’s on the other sideline.
Sunday, Dec. 23 - Sheraton Hawai’i Bowl
Boise State vs. East Carolina
From the beginning of the season, I was impressed with Skip Holtz’s Pirates. They went into an impossibly emotionally atmosphere in Blacksburg and narrowly lost to Virginia Tech, who would go on to win the ACC Championship and a trip to the Orange Bowl. That being said, they are still playing a darn good Boise State team. My only question with Boise State will be the level to which rumors that coach Chris Petersen is headed to UCLA will distract this team. That being said, I’d expect this Boise team, that has a lot of senior leadership, won’t be distracted by anything. Boise State is a pretty well-rounded team with a scoring offense that finished second in the WAC only to Hawaii and has the top-ranked scoring defense. Holtz and ECU must figure out a way to put up points on a Bronco defense that finished first against the run and the pass in the WAC. Look for Boise tailback Ian Johnson to have at least 100 yards on the ground and it could be a very big day for Bronco signal-caller Taylor Tharp who goes against an ECU defense that is giving up nearly 300 yards a game through the air.
