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Friday, August 27, 2004

2004 COLLEGE FOOTBALL PREVIEW 

This year, I'm going to do something different for my college football preview.

Instead of doing a preview on every conference and its teams, I will give you my 2004-2005 bowl game projections. When December rolls around, you could look back to this post and see which bowl projections I got right.

Anyways, here it goes (bowls listed from the New Orleans Bowl to the Orange Bowl)

NEW ORLEANS BOWL (Sun Belt #1 vs Conference USA)
North Texas vs Houston

TANGERINE BOWL (ACC #4/5 vs Big 12 #7)
Virginia Tech vs Texas A&M

GMAC BOWL (Conference USA #2 vs at-large/MAC)
TCU vs Boise State

LAS VEGAS BOWL (Pac-10 #5 vs Mountain West #2)
Oregon vs San Diego State

FORT WORTH BOWL (Conference USA #4 vs at-large/Big 12 #8)
Southern Mississippi vs Fresno State

HAWAII BOWL (Conference USA #3 vs WAC)
Memphis vs Hawaii

MOTOR CITY BOWL (MAC vs Big Ten #7)
Toledo vs Michigan State

MPC COMPUTERS BOWL (HumBowl) (WAC vs ACC #6)
UTEP vs North Carolina State

INDEPENDENCE BOWL (Big 12 #5 or #6 vs SEC)
Oklahoma State vs South Carolina

INSIGHT.COM BOWL (Pac-10 #4 vs Big East #2 or #3)
Oregon State vs Connecticut

HOUSTON BOWL (Big 12 #5 or #6 vs SEC)
Nebraska vs Arkansas

ALAMO BOWL (Big 12 #4 vs Big Ten #4)
Kansas State vs Purdue

SILICON VALLEY BOWL (Pac-10 #7 vs WAC #3)
Arizona State vs Tulsa

HOLIDAY BOWL (Pac-10 #2 vs Big 12 #3)
California vs Texas

EMERALD BOWL (Pac-10 #6 vs Mountain West #3)
Washington vs New Mexico

CONTINENTAL TIRE BOWL (ACC #5 vs Big East #3 or #4)
Georgia Tech vs Pittsburgh

PEACH BOWL (ACC vs SEC)
Maryland vs Alabama

LIBERTY BOWL (Conference USA #1 vs Mountain West #1)
Louisville vs Utah

SUN BOWL (Pac-10 #3 vs Big Ten #5)
Washington State vs Iowa

MUSIC CITY BOWL (SEC #6 or #7 vs Big Ten #6)
Mississippi State vs Penn State

CAPITAL ONE BOWL (SEC vs Big Ten #2)
Tennessee vs Minnesota

GATOR BOWL (ACC #2 vs Big East #2)
Clemson vs West Virginia

OUTBACK BOWL (SEC vs Big Ten #3)
Auburn vs Ohio State

COTTON BOWL (SEC vs Big 12 #2)
Florida vs Missouri

ROSE BOWL (BCS vs BCS)
Michigan vs LSU

FIESTA BOWL (BCS vs BCS)
Miami vs Oklahoma

SUGAR BOWL (BCS vs BCS)
Boston College vs Florida State

ORANGE BOWL (BCS #1 vs BCS #2)
USC vs Georgia

--- --- --- --- ---

To sum it all up:

USC -- Pac-10 Champions
Georgia -- SEC Champions
Oklahoma -- Big 12 Champions
Miami -- ACC Champions
Michigan -- Big 10 Champions
Boston College -- Big East Champions
Florida State and LSU -- BCS at-large teams

Texas-El Paso, otherwise known as UTEP, will go bowling this year, to Boise for the MPC Computers Bowl (it is the Humanitarian Bowl). Mike Price will show the college football world how good of a coach he really is this year in El Paso. Remember, he turned around a mediocre Washington State program. I think he can turn around the Miners' fortunes as well.

The Houston Bowl could be the most underrated matchup of the bowl season. Arkansas head coach Houston Nutt was very close to accepting the Nebraska job this past January. He decided to stay in Fayetteville, accepting a new long-term contract. Not a lot of people are expecting the Razorbacks to do much in 2004. But they have Matt Jones at quarterback. He's good for a few wins alone. And watch out for freshman running back Peyton Hillis. The guy is 6'2", 240 and is a beast. SEC defenders, look out.

West Virginia is the most overrated team in the country, book it. And the Big East has no business having a BCS automatic berth.

Mississippi State will go to a bowl game this year. New head coach Sylvester Croom will have the Bulldogs believing they can win. Add to the fact that Ole Miss lost Eli Manning, and I think MSU can definitely overtake the Rebels in the SEC West.

Texas will fire Mack Brown after he loses yet another Holiday Bowl game, this year to Cal. Oh, and the Longhorns will lose once again to Oklahoma.

Finally, I see USC winning the national championship. This time, there will be no question about it. Sure, they lost Mike Williams. But they are quite simply the most talented team in America. Georgia is right up there with the Trojans, but the boys from Southern Cal are just too strong.

The 2004 season kicks off with Virginia Tech vs USC tomorrow night from FedEx Field on ESPN. College football is back. Good freaking deal.

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