College Football: Baby's Losers of the Bowls, Stage One, Dec. 20-30

Okay, everyone had a week off to rest up for the postseason Bowl games. We throw out the regular-season records of the experts (see below) and "start from scratch." 

The Bowl Losers will be presented in two stages for clarity. There are 34 bowl games, so we divide them into sections of 17 apiece.

Dec. 20-30 gives us the first 17. After the Christmas holiday, the second section of 17 will be released for the games to be played from New Year's Eve until the BCS title game. We will then project those bowl game losers.

Dec. 20

1) The New Mexico Bowl: Fresno State vs. Colorado State

The Rams have bounced back this season, but look for the Bulldogs to be too strong.

Baby's Loser: Colorado State

2) The Bank Bowl: Navy vs. Wake Forest

The Middies beat the Demon Deacons in Winston–Salem three months ago. No payback.

Baby's Loser: Wake Forest

3) The St. Petersburg Bowl: South Florida vs. Memphis

Tommy West is mildly surprised to be here, but the Bulls are way too strong.

Baby's Loser: Memphis

4) The Las Vegas Bowl: Brigham Young vs. Arizona

Nice try by the 10–2 Cougars, but look for them to fall to the Cats' quickness.

Baby's Loser: Brigham Young

Dec. 21

5) The New Orleans Bowl: Troy vs. Southern Mississippi

The Eagles are only a shadow of what they once were. Trojans are coming on.

Baby's Loser: Southern Miss.

Dec. 23

6) The Poinsettia Bowl: Boise State vs. Texas Christian

One of the best bowls features a rugged Horned Frog defense trying to lasso the Broncos.

Baby's Loser: TCU

Christmas Eve

7) The Hawaii Bowl: Notre Dame vs. Hawaii

This is the biggest event in the islands since statehood. Look for the Irish to rock their world.

Baby's Loser: Hawaii

Dec. 26

8) The Motor City Bowl: Central Michigan vs. Florida Atlantic

The Owls of Coach Howard Schnellenberger seem out of their element here.

Baby's Loser: Florida Atlantic

Dec. 27

9) The Emerald Bowl: Miami vs. California

The Hurricanes look to revitalize their program, but the Bears will put a "paws" on that improvement.

Baby's Loser: Miami

10) The Muffler Bowl: West Virginia vs. UNC

The worst trip of the bowls finds Pat White in a situation where he can show off his talent.

Baby's Loser: UNC

11) The Champ Sports Bowl: Florida State vs. Wisconsin

The Badgers came on at the end of the year, but this bowl has a Seminole feel to it.

Baby's Loser: Wisconsin

Dec. 28

12) The Independence Bowl: Northern Illinois vs. Louisiana Tech

This bowl is not the same this year with no SEC and Big 12 teams.

Baby's Loser: Louisiana Tech

Dec. 29

13) The Alamo Bowl: Northwestern vs. Missouri

The Wildcats could pull the biggest upset of the bowls if they can stop Chase Daniel.

Baby's Loser: Northwestern

14) The Papa John Bowl: N.C. State vs. Rutgers

Two hot teams meet in Birmingham with the kind of game the Wolfpack generally does well in.

Baby's Loser: N.C. State

Dec. 30

15) The Holiday Bowl: Oregon vs. Oklahoma State

One of the best bowls will feature the hard-charging Ducks outscoring the Cowboys.

Baby's Loser: Oklahoma State

16) The Humanitarian Bowl: Maryland vs. Nevada

The Blue Carpet has rarely seen such boredom. Look for the Wolfpack defense to win the game.

Baby's Loser: Maryland

17) The Texas Bowl: Rice vs. Western Michigan

The Broncos from Kalamazoo face the Owls in their hometown. Sounds like bad news.

Baby's Loser: Western Michigan

Race for the Title: "12" Rolls to Regular Season Championship!

Congratulations to everyone who participated in the regular season "Baby's Losers" weekly projection contest.

"12" went 5-3 the final week to finish 99-29 for the year at 77 percent and Timothy was right there with 5-3, 96-32 for 75 percent. Baby Tate went 6-2 to finish 95-33 and 74 percent.

During the final week, Kent, Issac, Brad, Michael, Daniel, Red Raider, and Go Bears all went 7–1. Nick and Cliff went 6–2; Trey, Robert, and Ryan went 5–3. Josh came in at .500, going 4–4.