College Football Bowl Picks 2014: Predictions on Most Overlooked Games Remaining
With 39 different bowl games, it's only natural that some intriguing matchups will fall through the cracks as everybody talks about the new College Football Playoff.
Most of the attention in the college football world is focused on the Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl, which serve as national semifinals. And after that, there's the other four bowls that comprise "New Year's Six."
It makes sense that the best teams would receive the most hype.
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That also means that a handful of potentially great games are getting overlooked. Below are two such bowls.
| Dec. 29 | AutoZone Liberty Bowl | Texas A&M | West Virginia | See Below |
| Dec. 29 | Russell Athletic Bowl | Oklahoma | Clemson | OU |
| Dec. 29 | AdvoCare V100 Texas Bowl | Arkansas | Texas | ARK |
| Dec. 30 | Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl | Notre Dame | LSU | LSU |
| Dec. 30 | Belk Bowl | Georgia | Louisville | LOU |
| Dec. 30 | Foster Farms Bowl | Maryland | Stanford | STAN |
| Dec. 31 | Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl | Ole Miss | TCU | TCU |
| Dec. 31 | VIZIO Fiesta Bowl | Boise State | Arizona | ZONA |
| Dec. 31 | Capital One Orange Bowl | Mississippi State | Georgia Tech | GT |
| Jan. 1 | Outback Bowl | Auburn | Wisconsin | See Below |
| Jan. 1 | Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic | Michigan State | Baylor | MICH ST |
| Jan. 1 | Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl | Missouri | Minnesota | MINN |
| Jan. 1 | Rose Bowl Game Presented By Northwestern Mutual | Oregon | Florida State | ORE |
| Jan. 1 | Allstate Sugar Bowl | Alabama | Ohio State | BAMA |
| Jan. 2 | Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl | Houston | Pittsburgh | HOU |
| Jan. 2 | TaxSlayer Bowl | Iowa | Tennessee | TENN |
| Jan. 2 | Valero Alamo Bowl | Kansas State | UCLA | UCLA |
| Jan. 2 | TicketCity Cactus Bowl | Washington | Oklahoma State | OKLAST |
| Jan. 3 | Birmingham Bowl | East Carolina | Florida | FLA |
| Jan. 4 | GoDaddy Bowl | Toledo | Arkansas State | TOLEDO |
Most Overlooked Bowls
AutoZone Liberty Bowl: Texas A&M vs. West Virginia
Do you love offense? Of course you do.
West Virginia and Texas A&M are ninth and 12th, respectively, in passing offense and also 64th and 63rd, respectively, in passing yards allowed. With any luck, this bowl turns into one of those games where one quarterback has five touchdowns, but the other one has six.
As if that's not enough reason to tune into this game, Mountaineers head coach Dana Holgorsen and Aggies offensive coordinator Jake Spavital, who's a former member of Holgorsen's staff, have had a nice Twitter battle over the last few weeks.
WVU play-by-play man Tony Caridi sparked the friendly battle:
This game will feature two quarterbacks who took over midseason, with Kyle Allen replacing the suspended Kenny Hill, and Skyler Howard stepping in for the injured and subsequently retired Clint Trickett. While Allen arguably has the slight edge in terms of talent and 2014 production, the A&M defense will likely negate that advantage.
Say what you want about Aggies defensive coordinator Mark Snyder, but it's generally not going to help the unit when the DC is gone a month before a bowl game. Texas A&M's defense was already bad enough, giving up 449 yards a game. Take Snyder out of the mix, and little is likely to change.
The Mountaineers have a far more balanced offense as well. Kevin White is perhaps the second-best wide receiver in the country behind Amari Cooper. The trio of Rushel Shell, Wendell Smallwood and Dreamius Smith also combined to rush for 1,856 yards and 14 touchdowns.
It's hard seeing how the A&M defense slows WVU down enough to let Allen have a chance. At least both teams should score points by the bucketload.
Prediction: West Virginia 45, Texas A&M 34
Outback Bowl: Auburn vs. Wisconsin
And now from two teams that love to pass to two teams that love to run. Auburn and Wisconsin combined to average 572.5 yards a game during the season. The two teams were 11th and third, respectively, in the country in rushing.
With more and more teams adopting some sort of spread, pass-happy offensive style, the Tigers and Badgers are becoming a bit of a novelty. That's why it will be so much fun to watch them going head-to-head against one another.
If anything, watch this game because it will be Melvin Gordon's last in college football. The 2014 Heisman Trophy runner-up was one of the most dynamic players in the country, rushing for 200-plus yards on five different occasions.
Wisconsin interim head coach Barry Alvarez has seen his fair share of talented RBs at the school, but he didn't hesitate to put Gordon at the top of the list, per Jesse Temple of Fox Sports Wisconsin:
While Gordon is a great collegiate player, the Big Ten title game illustrated that one man cannot win a game by himself. Ohio State held Gordon to 76 yards in a 59-0 shutout.
It's hard to ignore that massive defeat when looking at Wisconsin's chances, considering the loss to the Buckeyes was one of the team's few truly tough games. In another difficult matchup, the Badgers squandered a 17-point second-half lead to LSU.
Auburn also illustrated in the loss to Alabama that it possesses a dynamic passing game. Nick Marshall threw for 456 yards and three touchdowns against the Tide.
Back on Dec. 15, Bleacher Report's college football staff ranked the top dual-threat QBs in the country and listed Marshall fourth behind Marcus Mariota, J.T. Barrett and Brett Hundley. Overall, the Tigers star received an 86 out of 100. The B/R staff highlighted how Marshall's grown into a more balanced quarterback:
"Nick Marshall has made striking improvements as a passer. Last season he was timid throwing intermediate and vertical routes, doing most of his damage on screens. This season he has missed fewer open receivers and shown confidence stretching the field. He is still less consistent than the players above him, but he's getting there.
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Auburn's not particularly great against the run, but the Tigers should limit Gordon enough so that he doesn't have a monster game. As long as the Badgers running back finishes right around the century mark, the Tigers should be able to overwhelm the Badgers defense with their offensive firepower.
Prediction: Auburn 34, Wisconsin 24
Note: All stats courtesy of NCAA.com unless otherwise noted.
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