MAC Pick'em Bowl Season: There Can Only Be One

by Brown and Gold on Dec 16, 2011 11:26 AM CST in MACsellany

Here we are, at the finish. Its been a long year, and a fun one. Now we must finish it up. If you want to re-read the tie-breaking order, just click here.

So we have 5 bowl games this year, tying the MAC high from 2004, 2008, and 2009. That means there are 25 points to be had. The prize up for grabs? A $50 gift card to Buffalo Wild Wings. The grand unveiling. Its not much, but hell, some good wings in a nice friendly atmosphere FOR FREE if you win.

If you need a quick refresher on the overall standings, they are below. Same thing as last time, no bonus, but discussion is encouraged.

PICKER	POINTS
Brown and Gold	168
OHBCats	163
ChippewaBlue	158
Matt Sussman	156
HuronBoy	149
geeves	147
WMUpilot	145

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 17th, 2011

New Mexico Bowl: Wyoming Cowboys (8-4) vs Temple Owls (8-4) - This game is a bit tricky. Wyoming is horrid on defense against the run, and Temple loves to run the ball. Easy pick right? Well here's the thing that I think many people overlook that could come into play: Exams. That's right, the first part of student-athlete. "How so?" you might ask. Temple has their finals the week of the game. Wyoming? They have finals the week before. Think about it, one whole week to focus solely on a game.

That said, the Cowboys rely on forcing turnovers, and Temple has only 11 giveaways this year. I'm going with the Owls to release 2 years of "bowl-ness" and pick up a win.

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl: Ohio Bobcats (9-4) vs Utah State Aggies (7-5) - Another tricky game. This Utah State team almost knocked off Auburn in Week 1, and knocked around the aforementioned Wyoming team to the tune of 63-19. They've had some close losses to some good teams. Both teams love to run, and both teams are good at stopping the run.

I'm going with Ohio for two reasons. One, I think Tyler Tettleton is a good QB and LaVon Brazill will burn the Aggie secondary. Two, I'm forcing OHBCats to either pick against his beloved Bobcats, or concede a game to me, already up by two games (due to me owning the first tiebreaker). Gamesmanship folks

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 27th, 2011

Little Caesars Pizza Bowl: Purdue Boilermakers (6-6) vs Western Michigan Broncos (7-5) - Do you really expect me to pick against Western in this game? Western went 5-0 at home, and with it being Christmas Break, Ford Field will be WMU's second home. 28% of the student population hails from the Metro Detroit area. Throw in some alumni numbers, and travelers like myself, and there should be a huge Bronco swing. Jordan White gets to throw some more padding on his already stellar numbers from the year as WMU torches the Purdue secondary en route to their first bowl win.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 28th, 2011

Military Bowl: Air Force Falcons (7-5) vs Toledo Rockets (8-4) - Toledo lost 3 of their 4 games by a combined total of 8 points and one horrible call. The other loss was to Boise State. Air Force beat 2 FCS teams and Navy in OT. As much as you can give Air Force the "military bump in the Military Bowl", Toledo is still by far and large the better team. Easiest pick.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 8th, 2012

Godaddy.com Bowl - Arkansas State Red Wolves (10-2) vs Northern Illinois Huskies (10-3) - The last bowl game before the "National Title Game". I guess I'm going to call it the "Mid-Major National Championship". Shut up, don't take this from me. This one is tough, because Arkansas State has won 9 straight and never looked that bad, but has played 8 Sun Belt and 1 FCS team for all 9 of those games. NIU on the other hand has looked both great and shaky this year. Both these teams could be without head coaches after this bowl game (or even before), as Ole Miss has plucked ASU's Hugh Freeze, and Illinois is looking at Dave Doreen from what I hear.

NIU wins because the bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. Translation: NIU wins because I know they can win and I have no clue what Arkansas State can do being thrown back into the non-Sun Belt mix.

Total Bowl Points by MAC Schools: 167

*I have bumped this for the last time*

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Comments

Does the winner have to eat at Buffalo Wild Wings with you?

Important: could sweeten or sour the prize.

Benevolent despot, Hustle Belt — SBN's MAC blog

by Matt Sussman on Dec 5, 2011 4:15 PM CST reply actions

Sadly no, it is not required

The winner need only shoot me an e-mail with their mailing information

by Brown and Gold on Dec 6, 2011 1:26 PM CST up reply actions

That doesn't make any sense

How exactly would my purposefully picking the wrong team in the Potato Bowl possible help me? If you’re already going gamesmanship/playing prevent, I’m already inside your head, haha.

by OHBCats on Dec 7, 2011 8:58 AM CST reply actions

Is it the wrong pick though?

by Brown and Gold on Dec 7, 2011 3:03 PM CST up reply actions

Thats a good question, and I’m going to wait as long as I can to decide, especially for the injury reports and pregame pressers

by OHBCats on Dec 7, 2011 5:23 PM CST up reply actions

I figure I'm just going to go with my gut instinct here

And lots and lots of praying

by Brown and Gold on Dec 7, 2011 6:49 PM CST up reply actions

LET'S GO GET OUR DAMN TROPHY

Temple over Wyoming. Look at all the advanced stats and Wyoming is seriously THE weakest bowl team this year. Good record, but pumped up by FCS teams and not a quality win in there.

Utah State over OHIO. Might as well keep my streak of hatin’ on the Bobcats alive, even though I had ’em in the MACCG in the preseason and picked them to win it later in the year. But the Ags are just too hot right now.

WMU over Purdue. It’s not a football season without Purdue losing to the MAC. Really want to see Jordan White end on a high note.

Toledo over Air Force Because the children have taken over. Matt Campbell is still masterminding the offense and honestly it doesn’t matter who coaches the bowl game. They’re prepped and AFA isn’t a very strong team.

Arkansas State over NIU ASU is no slouch. It’s gonna be a fun point-heavy affair in Mobile. And if history is any indication it’s going into the 40s both ways. That’s just how domain registrars like to roll.

Total MAC points: 141

Benevolent despot, Hustle Belt — SBN's MAC blog

by Matt Sussman on Dec 16, 2011 1:19 PM CST reply actions

Temple over Wyoming: This is maybe the toughest one to call. I think Temple comes in angry and ready to prove they belong in the Big East (no one tell them winning this won’t do that)

Ohio over Utah State: another tough one to call as Utah State nearly beat Auburn earlier and who knows how Ohio responds to losing the MAC title game. At the end of the day Ohio is just too good

Purdue over WMU: Purdue has looked like a really good MAC team all year (NIU level). Western has struggled against the really good MAC teams this year. Maybe a little bit of the Central fan in me not wanting Western to win but I think Purdue gets the job done in Detroit two days after Christmas

Toledo over Air Force: I’ve been stung picking against Air Force in years past in bowl pools and I have a sinking feeling it could happen again after I pledge to not pick against them this year, last year. But Toledo has been way too impressive for me to pick against them here.

Arkansas State over NIU: yes they lost their coach but I need to make up points and theyve been a really good team this year too. Plus NIU doesn’t have the straongest defensive as we’ve all seen.

Total MAC points:154

by ChippewaBlue on Dec 16, 2011 1:26 PM CST reply actions

In it to win it!!!

Temple over Wyoming – best bet of the bunch – Wyoming is weak, and Temple will run it

Utah State over Ohio – Utah State should have beat Auburn earlier this year, and has played well in most games. I don’t think Ohio can win it

Western Michigan over Purdue – The Broncos play a little defense with their passing attack and win in the “D”

Toledo over Air Force – The Rockets explode over Air Force – there’s some sort of cute headline in there somewhere. A quick solution to the coaching situation also helps big time.

NIU over Arkansas State – Let’s hope to see the high-scoring Huskies for this game.

Total MAC Points – 165

by HuronBoy on Dec 16, 2011 2:38 PM CST reply actions

GO BOBCATS, crush them Aggies (again)

I’ve got a work christmas party to get ready for, so this will have to be a little brief. It pains me to do this—I know how much you’ve all enjoyed reading my long picks each week—but theres an open bar to prepare for. So:

New Mexico Bowl: Temple over Wyoming – I don’t know for the life of me why I’m picking this game. I know, I know, Temple is the clear favorite on paper, but I just don’t trust them at all. NOT AT ALL. Oh well, Wyoming hasn’t looked that good, and Brown Pierce and Coyer should all be well rested and have had some time to heal up.

Little Caesar’s Bowl: Purdue over WMU – Hey, Purdue over WMU rhymes! Why am I going with Purdue? No real solid reasons…Purdue has a fairly solid pass defense, WMU doesn’t run the ball…WMU has done a good job stinking it up down the stretch…that and as Brown & Gold mentioned, I’ve got some points to make up.

Military Bowl: Air Force over Toledo – Toledo is minus 1-headcoach, and that coach was of a defensive background. Their new coach, former OC, is a first time head coach. I’m going to pick Air Force over Toledo in this game for 3 reasons: (1) Military Bowl, military team. (2) Coaches: Toledo’s new HC is a offensive guy and they haven’t had a lot of time to prepare to defend against an (3) triple option team. Air Force runs the triple option, potentially allowing them to keep Toledo’s offense off the field and gashing Toledo’s D for big yards. Plus, who knows what the weather will be like for this one. if it gets nasty, thats another plus to a disclipined Air Force attack.

GoDaddy.com Bowl: Northern Illinois over Arkansas State – Here the new head coach thing works the other way. I don’t actually know who is coaching Arkansas St in their bowl game (Malzhan is going to be coaching Auburn in their bowl game, according to ESPN). With that sort of instability, I’m going to go with a good NIU team (they were particularily good in the second half of the last game I witnessed, grumble grumble grumble) over a good but possible leaderless Arkansas St. team.

AND NOW, for the LONG Awaited finale
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl: This was a tough game for me to call. On the one hand, I don’t want to jinx OHIO, on the otherhand, I don’t want to pick against them. OHIO is undefeated all time on the Smurf Turf, and Noah Keller, Lavon Brazil, and all the other seniors want to go out with a win, and to wipe the sour taste of that last game out of their mouths. That being said, I’m not going to come out and name the team I think is going to win this game (bad luck and "jinx"ieness being what it is). So I’m predicting that Utah State will NOT win this game, that the Aggies will have the lower score at the end of regulation and/or OT, as the case may be.

Total MAC Points – 204 (I’m predicting a couple of track meets to break out)

by OHBCats on Dec 16, 2011 3:13 PM CST reply actions