2011 Bowl Predictions: Previewing All the Remaining Bowl Games Before Christmas

The college football bowl season kicked off this weekend with three games, two of which came down to the final minute. Let’s hope the rest of the games can match that level of excitement.

There are four bowls between now and Christmas and three of them feature teams ranked in the final BCS Standings.

Here’s a preview for all of those games.

Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl St. Petersburg

Florida International and Marshall face off in this bowl game and there are two big stars you need to be aware of: FIU receiver T.Y. Hilton and Marshall defensive end Vinny Curry.

Hilton is just 50 yards away from a 1,000 yard receiving season and is also a major threat in the return game, returning a punt for a touchdown against Florida Atlantic.

Curry is second in the country in tackles for a loss and has 11 sacks on the season. He also has blocked three kicks.

But at the end of the day, FIU is just a better team. Their defense is allowing less than 20 points per game while Marshall’s offense is only scoring an average of 22. This should be a low scoring game with the Golden Panthers coming out on top.

San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl

This bowl has one of the oddest names but also has an underrated matchup between TCU and Louisiana Tech. The Horned Frogs were close to automatically qualifying for a BCS Bowl this season but an overtime loss to SMU kept it out of reach.

Three of Tech’s four losses came by six or less points, all of which were against ranked teams and they have won their last seven games.

Still, this game greatly favors TCU. The Bulldogs were blown out at home by Hawaii, and Casey Pachall is much better than Bryant Moniz. If the Horned Frogs come to play, they should walk away with a pretty easy win.

MAACO Bowl Las Vegas

Boise State was passed over by the BCS in favor of Virginia Tech and Michigan, so it was delegated to play Arizona State in Las Vegas.

The Sun Devils had high expectations coming into the season but injuries ultimately ended the team’s hope of competing in the Pac-12. They’ve been in free fall since beating Utah, losing five of their last six games and have only won one road game all year.

If the Broncos play decently in Kellen Moore’s final collegiate game, they’ll get a big win.

Sheraton Hawaii Bowl

Southern Miss won the Conference USA championship game and gets to spend Christmas in Hawaii playing Nevada. The Wolfpack haven’t been particularly impressive this season and their only win away from home came against New Mexico State.

The Golden Eagles are a balanced team with no glaring weakness. They’re scoring 37 points per game while allowing just 21.

This game could turn into a shootout, but it would be really tough to pick the 7-5 team over the 11-2 team.