2011 Bowl Schedule: 5 Games That Could Produce the Biggest Blowouts

The 2011 Bowl Season is just about to kick into high gear with Christmas just around the corner, and that means we're finally going to be treated to some decent football after a few weeks of boredom.

We've already seen some intriguing and entertaining bowls early on—particularly a surprisingly good Poinsettia Bowl between TCU and Louisiana Tech (TCU won, 31-24)—and an always impressive Boise State romping of their latest BCS-AQ opponents in the MAACO Bowl (defeating Arizona State, 56-24).

And while this bowl season has as many goodies as a filled stocking when it comes to great matchups, there are a couple games that have all the makings of a good, old-fashioned trip to the woodshed.

Here are a few picks of the remaining bowl games that could produce the biggest blowouts of the 2011-12 college football bowl season.

Sheraton Hawaii Bowl, December 24: Nevada vs. Southern Mississippi

At first glance, this game appears to be a couple of non-AQ programs fighting for a bowl victory that no one outside of the respective programs will remember in a few weeks.

But if you scratch the surface, you'll find two pretty potent offenses.

Conference USA Champion Southern Mississippi ranks 13th in the FBS in terms of total offense, and Nevada—the second-place team from the WAC this season—is even better coming in with the fifth-best offense in the nation.

If you like lots of offensive yardage, you might want to make it a point to catch this game.

But why does it look to have the makings of a blowout? Compare the defenses, and the real difference between these two teams becomes painfully obvious.

The Golden Eagles give up a respectable 345.3 yards on defense per game this season, which is good enough to rank Southern Miss 32nd in the nation in total defense. Nevada gives up 372.0 yards, placing the Wolf Pack 52nd. That difference doesn't sound like a whole lot, but those extra 26.7 yards translated into nearly an additional touchdown's worth of points given up by Nevada.

Even if the stats aren't a lopsided as one might expect.

We should gently remind everyone that the competition this year in the WAC wasn't exactly up to its usually pre-“Boise State left us” level, while Conference USA looked to be one of the toughest non-AQ conferences around.

Southern Mississippi is also flying high after knocking off then-No. 6 Houston in the conference championship game, and the Eagles are definitely looking to finish 2011 on a high note.

Nevada will be over-matched in this game, and the fact that the Wolf Pack already give up more points and yards against lesser opponents will only exacerbate the differences between these two teams.

Valero Alamo Bowl, December 29: Washington vs. Baylor

There probably isn't a team in the country that would say “no, thank you” to the prospect of having a Heisman-winning quarterback taking the snaps.

That being said, Robert Griffin, III will have to find a way to avoid the post-Heisman bowl slump that has plagued so many of his predecessors.

This season, the Baylor bears drew a relatively soft opponent in the Alamo Bowl in Washington.

No offense to the Huskies, but the Pac-12 was clearly a two (or three, if we're counting USC), team conference this year, and Washington clearly wasn't one of those two teams.

That's not to say the Huskies are without talent.

Having already matched last season's win total, the Huskies are hoping to show some growth as a program by improving to 8-5 this year, which is sure to attract the attention of some western recruits.

But Washington will have to figure out a way to stop RG3 in order to improve on last season. So far, even teams like Oklahoma haven't been able to figure out the Heisman winner.

There's been a lot of debate about Griffin and Baylor and how good the team really is. We can probably all agree that the Bears wouldn't be anywhere near as good as they are without Griffin, but the fact still remains that the argument is moot: Griffin is the starting quarterback at Baylor, and the Huskies will just have to cope as best they can.

There's also the possibility that this will be the last game for Griffin in a Baylor uniform. There's been plenty of discussion about whether or not Griffin will stay at Baylor or leave for the NFL, but he's not leaving before December 29, 2011.

If Griffin still hasn't made up his mind, a killer performance in a bowl game could really make the decision difficult. Either way, don't expect this grounded, humble and intelligent young man to fall prey to the Heisman bowl curse.

Griffin will have a huge game, and Washington will just have to live with the realization that it didn't magically get better without Jack Locker.

Insight Bowl, December 31: Iowa vs. Oklahoma

This was supposed to be a rebuilding year for Iowa.

Well, now that we think about it, it really was. Even though the Hawkeyes finished an impressive 7-5 (4-4) this season, that was only good enough for fourth place in the Big Ten's Legends Division.

Don't expect Iowa to be satisfied with 7-5 for long: but for 2011 that was pretty good, considering.

Unfortunately for the Hawkeyes, they drew the short stick of the mid-level Big Ten bowl positions and will face Oklahoma.

The No. 14 Sooners are a cranky team at 9-3 (6-3). We were all talking about Oklahoma national championship prospects four months ago, but after losses to Texas Tech, Baylor and Oklahoma State, the Sooners will have to take out their frustrations on Iowa in the Insight Bowl.

Don't be fooled by those three losses: Oklahoma is still a darn good football team with a lot of talent. Just because Iowa turned out to be marginally better than expected this season doesn't mean they have any shot against the Sooners.

Hyundai Sun Bowl, December 31: Utah vs. Georgia Tech

So it turns out that this whole BCS-AQ gig isn't as easy as everyone thought.

Utah began 2011 with high hopes and dreams of what they never had the opportunity to achieve before: an automatic BCS berth that comes along with capturing an AQ conference championship.

But the Utes had problems, even in the Pac-12's JV division. With losses to USC, Arizona State, Cal, Washington and Colorado, Utah didn't impress many people this season, and the Utes' 7-5 (4-5) record probably disappointed even the most pessimistic of Utah fans.

The good news is that Utah still benefits from the much more lucrative and favorable bowl contracts a conference like the Pac-12 boasts, and will play in the Sun Bowl on New Year's Eve. But there's still more bad news.

The opponent for the Utes is 8-4 (5-3) Georgia Tech.

While the Yellow Jackets fell back down to Earth in the second-half of the season, you'd be keen to remember that the Rambling Wreck found ways to beat such teams as then-No. 6 Clemson and then-No. 25 North Carolina. While a 2-2 record against ranked opponents isn't the greatest mark we'll see from teams this bowl season, it's far better than Utah's 0-1.

While Utah has been effective against the run this season (Tech's strong suit), it will be interesting to see how motivated the defenders will be against a fired-up Georgia Tech team that didn't expect to be here a few months ago.

Discover Orange Bowl, January 4: West Virginia vs. Clemson

We all know the jokes about the Big East. We all know that in reality, we'd much rather have seen Boise State, Arkansas or Kansas State play in this game than West Virginia.

But it is what it is, and the BCS was forced to pick the Mountaineers, so we'll just have to make do.

The Orange Bowl has been hosting the ACC champion for years, and the impressive Clemson Tigers were the class of the conference this season, earning a trip to Miami.

West Virginia, on the other hand, skates into the BCS by virtue of being the highest (and only) ranked team amongst the three Big East co-champions.

If you were going to compare these two teams statistically, you might be surprised to find the Mountaineers stacking up pretty well against Clemson, and in many categories (such as total defense), beating the pants off of the Tigers.

But statistics only tell part of the story.

West Virginia, for all of the efficiency, couldn't manage to beat Louisville and was absolutely destroyed by lowly Syracuse, 49-23. In fact, the Mountaineers played just two ranked teams (LSU and Cincinnati), and posted a 1-1 record. Clemson faced five ranked opponents, posting an impressive 4-1 mark.

While we may not all agree on how great Clemson is this season (as the loss to NC State certainly causes a few giggles), can we at least all get on board with the fact that West Virginia doesn't deserve to play with the likes of the other BCS participants?

While the motivation factor for the Mountaineers will certainly be high, keep in mind that Clemson is one of the Cinderella teams of 2011, and the Tigers will be just as, if not more hungry to leave their mark on the BCS.

Beyond the intagible factors, West Virginia will now have to deal with the loss of starting safety Terence Garvin, as head coach Dana Holgorsen has announced he will miss the game while recovering from knee surgery.

One of the great strengths of Clemson's offensive attack this season has been the passing game. While the loss of a single player usually won't completely hobble a team, Garvin was an important piece to the puzzle of shutting down Clemson's aerial attack.

While West Virginia will be figuring out how to cover the hole left by Garvin, Clemson's defense seems to be having the opposite issue. Safety Rashard Hall, a leading tackler for the Tigers, is contemplating knee surgery in the offseason, but is nonetheless ready to play in the Orange Bowl.

In fact, some have observed that the injury hasn't stopped Hall from making big contributions down the stretch, bulky knee brace and all.

In the end, this game could come down to the identities of the two teams. By head coach Dabo Swinney's own words “After 13 games, you are who you are.”

Who the Tigers are is a first-time BCS bowl participant, looking to rebuild some of the past glory of the program. Perhaps the biggest selling point on the Tigers this year is that they were able to do the improbable and very difficult: defeat a very good Virginia Tech team twice in the same season. If you think that's not so impressive, talk to some Michigan State fans right about now.

For WVU, their identity is a little less clear.

At times, the Mountaineers have looked like West Virginia of old, putting up big numbers and lighting up the scoreboard while falling completely flat the very next week. It's also a little concerning that Holgorsen seems to be hedging his bets a little. “You can't take two weeks off and go out there and expect to get your timing right and all that" (via MSN Sports).

While that may be true, West Virginia's timing has been off at times throughout the season. Stating the obvious won't help the Mountaineers against Clemson—a team that's not making excuses before the game even starts.