BSC Bowl Preview

Bowl season is upon us, and the BCS games are closing in quickly. Here, I'll break down the games for you and then give you a prediction.

Fiesta Bowl: West Virginia vs. Oklahoma
In the most interesting match-up on paper, the Mountaineers will battle the Sooners in Glendale, Arizona. The main storyline for this game is West Virginia's spread offense against Oklahoma's incredible run defense. The key player in this game will definitely be West Virginia quarterback Pat White. If he is on, then there is almost nothing that you can do to stop him. Oklahoma is also very well balenced on the offensive side.West Virginia will have to watch for the explosiveness of Allen Patrick and Chris Brown heading up the running back position (I'm assuming that DeMarco Murray is still injured). In the end, I am going to have to give this one to West Virginia due to their explosive offense. And who knows, Steve Slaton might actually show up to play too.

West Virginia 31-20

Sugar Bowl: Georgia vs. Hawaii
New Years Day is going to be highlighted with the Bulldogs taking on the Warriors in New Orleans. Expect this to be an offensive battle. On paper Georgia is a better team, mainly in their strength of schedule (SEC vs. WAC). Georgia is a team that can beat you with the pass and the run. Runningbacks Knowshon Moreno and Thomas Brown highlight this speedy SEC team, however quarterback Matthew Stafford is no slouch. He has had his share of mistakes this season, but he is nonetheless a great player. I constantly hear about how great SEC defenses are. But the truth of the matter is that Georgia's pass defense isn't up to par, and Hawaii can capitalize. Hawaii is a team that loves to put outstanding quaterback Colt Brennan in the pocket and let him throw some bombs. This is Colt's 3rd straight season with over 4000 yards. However, I am going to have to give this to the dominant SEC team due to their strength of schedule, their running attack, and their speed.

Georgia 27-14

Rose Bowl: Illinois vs. Southern California
This classic Big Ten vs. Pac Ten matchup in Pasadena doesn't excite me as much as some of the other games do. Although I would consider Illinois the fastest team in the Big Ten, that isn't really saying much. The Big Ten is weak this year, and the Pac Ten is very strong. With USC having the upperhand on their caliber of players, strength of schedule, and program prestige, it would seem as if USC would have this on in the bag. Also USC has historically done very well in the Rose Bowl. However, I am going to go out on a limb and say that Illinois wins this in a close game. I say this because Illinois knocked off 2 top-5 teams this year, and that's no easy task. USC has a great defense, but I think that they might have some trouble with the spread offense of Illinois. Being a Michigan fan, I know about having troubles with the spread.

Illinois 28-24

Orange Bowl: Virginia Tech vs. Kansas
I'm not going to give much of a preview on this one due to the fact that this game is frankly very uninteresting. I would expect that the speed of Virginia Tech offensively and defensively would dominate Kansas, who is coming off of a loss.

Virginia Tech 38-10

National Championship: Ohio State vs. LSU
LSU will dominate this game. LSU is used to huge games like this, they are faster on both sides of the ball, they are going to have a home game basically (it's held in New Orleans), and they are a more explosive team then Ohio State. The biggest factor in this game is LSU's great defense. I would expect them to run away with this game, and not even make it a contest.

LSU 41-17