TODAY’S GAMES
* Famous Idaho Potato Bowl (at Boise): Tulane (6-5, -1 1/2) vs. Nevada (6-2), 3:30 p.m. (ESPN) – Tulane won four of its last five games down the stretch. The lone loss was a double overtime loss at Tulsa (30-24). Tulane rebounded from that loss to defeat Memphis 35-21. Nevada opened 5-0, but lost two of its last three games. They fell to San Jose State 30-20 in the Mountain West championship game last Friday in Las Vegas. Nevada 27-20
* RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl: Central Florida (6-3) vs. BYU (10-1, -6), 7 p.m. (ESPN) – This is a fun one. Should be a real shootout with Dillon Gabriel for UCF and Zach Wilson at quarterback for BYU. BYU bounced back from its loss to Coastal Carolina by defeating San Diego State 28-14. UCF won four of its last five games, rebounding from a tough loss to Cincinnati (36-33) by defeating South Florida 58-46 in its finale. BYU has won its last three bowl games. BYU 49-38
WEDNESDAY’S GAMES
* R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl: Louisiana Tech (5-4) vs. Georgia Southern (7-5, -5 1/2), 3 p.m. (ESPN) – Tech is allowing over 34 points per game. Georgia Southern 37-28
* Montgomery Bowl: Memphis (7-3, -8) vs. Florida Atlantic (5-3), 7 p.m. (ESPN) – Florida Atlantic’s defense allowing just 16.5 ppg. Memphis is averaging 31.6 ppg. Memphis 35-23
THURSDAY’S GAME
* New Mexico Bowl (at Frisco, Texas): Hawaii (4-4) vs. Houston (3-4, -11 1/2), 3:30 p.m. (ESPN) – Houston has only played once since mid-November with games against Tulsa and SMU canceled. Hawaii lost two of its last three games with the loss coming to San Jose State. Good QB match-up with Clayton Tune (18 total TDs) for Houston and Chevan Cordeiro (18 total TDs) for Hawaii. Houston 36-30
FRIDAY’S GAME
* Camellia Bowl (at Montgomery, Ala.): Marshall (7-2) vs. Buffalo (5-1, -3 ½), 2:30 p.m. (ESPN) – Buffalo was a hot knife through butter until it was cooled off by Ball State in the MAC title game (38-28 loss). Likewise, Marshall was 7-0 until it dropped games to Rice (20-0) and UAB in the C-USA title game (22-13), both at home. Great match-up with Buffalo averaging almost 48 ppg and Marshall giving up just under 13 ppg. Something has to give. Buffalo 33-23
SATURDAY’S GAMES
* Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl (at Tampa, Fla.): TBA vs. UAB (6-3, -7), noon (ABC) – South Carolina has had to pull out due to Covid-19 issues (or they just watched the UAB film and realized their 2-8 team has no chance). You hope the C-USA champions UAB can get an opponent, although that seems tough on five days notice. Maybe this will be postponed till next week.
* SERVPRO First Responder Bowl (at Dallas): Louisiana (9-1, -14) vs. Texas-San Antonio (7-4), 3:30 p.m. (ABC) – Two of the hottest Group of Five teams square off. ULL won its last six games. UTSA won four of its last five games. Louisiana 31-23
* Lending Tree Bowl (at Mobile, Ala.): Western Kentucky (5-6) vs. Georgia State (5-4, -3 ½), 3:30 p.m. (ESPN) – WKU won its last three games, while GSU won its last two games. Georgia State 27-20
* FBC Mortgage Cure Bowl (at Orlando, Fla.): Liberty (9-1) vs. Coastal Carolina (11-0, -7), 7:30 p.m. (ESPN) – Wow, what a fun game here. We missed out on it on Dec. 5, when Liberty had to cancel due to Covid-19 issues. Coastal played BYU instead and maintained its undefeated record. Liberty’s lone loss was to N.C. State, although the Flames took wins over ACC foes Syracuse and Virginia Tech. Great quarterback match-up with Grayson McCall from Coastal and Malik Willis for Liberty. This is Coastal’s first-ever bowl game. Liberty beat Georgia Southern in last year's Cure Bowl and were the third FBS team to win a bowl in their first season at the top level. The teams’ stats are almost identical. They both score roughly 38 ppg and give up 19. This will be a lot of fun. Coastal Carolina 38-27
TUESDAY’S GAMES
* Cheez-It Bowl (at Orlando, Fla.): Oklahoma State (7-3, -2) vs. Miami (Fla.) (8-2), 5:30 p.m. (ESPN) – This is the first bowl game matching ranked teams with No. 21 OSU vs. No. 18 Miami. The Canes wrapped their season with a rough 62-26 home loss to North Carolina. Oklahoma State barreled over Baylor 42-3 in its finale. I’ve been a big believer in Miami QB D’Eriq King. This one could go to the wire. Miami 33-30
* Valero Alamo Bowl (at San Antonio, Texas): Texas (6-3, -11 1/2) vs. Colorado (4-1), 9 p.m. (ESPN) – It looks like embattled Texas coach Tom Herman will survive the many and various foibles his Longhorns had this year. UT wrapped the regular season with a feel good 69-31 pasting of hapless Kansas. After a 4-0 start, Colorado dropped its season finale to Utah at home (38-21). These teams used to meet in the Big 12. Texas 38-23
esecpn trolling nd. On the bottom update bar they had an item "history may be on nd's side: nd 5-2 all time vs bama" cause victories in previous seasons mean anything in the current one. Were the parents of any players on either team alive when nd last beat bama?