Armed Forces Bowl - SMU vs. Army (+9.5) - (Preview by Ben Miraski) ESPN’s “30 for 30” series gets a lot of well-deserved praise for its sports documentaries, and I couldn’t wait to watch “Pony Excess”, the story of the rise and fall and rebirth of SMU football. It wasn’t that I was a giant SMU fan, but I did faintly remember the days when they were among the big boys of football. I was too young to understand what happened to them back when they disappeared for two years, so it just seemed odd when they were no longer even a bit of good anymore as I got into college football. The movie excelled at pulling together the boosters, the old players, the coaches, anyone who ever got a dime from the school (even if they said they didn’t) to talk about the glory days of Mustang football. Well, Mustang football is here again with June Jones at the helm. They played in the Conference USA title game for goodness sake. I mean, if you watched this movie, you would have never thought they would be competing in any conference at that level. Jones is a genius and will keep this team improving with his high-scoring offense. Look for SMU to take this one and Army to just be outmatched (albeit by players who presumably are much cleaner than Eric Dickerson and Craig James). Lay the points.

MRI Pick	Expert Picks	Winner
50.63%	Army: None	16-14
	SMU: A. Miraski, McCabe, Popelka, Dodd, Darst, Harris, Congrove, Forde, Van Pelt, McShay, B. Miraski

Pinstripe Bowl - Kansas State vs. Syracuse (PK) - (Preview by Alex Miraski) Where this game is being played is more interesting than the teams playing in it. Both teams hardly made a ripple nationally all season, and a game at Yankee Stadium does sound like a pretty novel idea, except for the fact Notre Dame and Army already played there last month. Kansas State has largely been a one man team this season, with running back Daniel Thomas accounting for the majority of the offense. It is a slight surprise to me that Syracuse performed as well as they did this year. Going 7-5 in the Big East is not much of an accomplishment, however. Scoring has been an issue for the Orange as they failed to score more than 13 points in their final three games. So as long as the snow from last weekend’s blizzard has been completely removed, Thomas should be able to post his normal statistics and the Wildcats win this one.

MRI Pick	Expert Picks	Winner
59.75%	Kansas State: A. Miraski, McCabe, Popelka, Dodd, Darst, Harris, Congrove, Forde, Van Pelt, McShay, B. Miraski	36-34
	Syracuse: None

Music City Bowl - North Carolina vs. Tennessee (+1) - (Preview by Ben Miraski) No two teams annoyed me more with my picks than North Carolina and Tennessee. Both defied the odds when they weren’t supposed to. Both collapsed when they should have provided great games for their opponents. Both finished much further out of the running than anyone thought at the beginning of the year — North Carolina because of NCAA issues and Tennessee because they don’t know how to shower correctly and spend time on that instead of game film. So I can’t pretend that their will be any revelation that suddenly now let me know how this should turn out. I only have a lowly computer to help with that and even it is struggling (although on quite a run lately). So here is what it says: North Carolina should win 65 percent of the time. Heck, when the line is one point, that seems good enough for me. Lay the point and take the Heels.

MRI Pick	Expert Picks	Winner
65.03%	North Carolina: McCabe, Darst, Harris, Congrove, Van Pelt, McShay, B. Miraski	30-27 (OT)
	Tennessee: A. Miraski, Popelka, Dodd, Forde

Holiday Bowl - Nebraska vs. Washington (+13.5) - (Preview by Alex Miraski) This game wins the award for worst bowl matchup of the season. A rematch of a Nebraska blowout from earlier in the season, one has to wonder how the officials for this bowl decided this would be a good idea. Nebraska achieved a lot in its final season in the Big XII, except they collapsed in the championship game, losing out on playing in the BCS. Washington is just happy to be in the postseason, and needed to win their final three games just to get this point. Huskies quarterback Jake Locker needs to hope he has a better game against the Nebraska defense than he did the first time, or he will be overshadowed again by Taylor Martinez. The Holiday Bowl is notorious for some entertaining high scoring games, and that will turn out to be the case for one team. Lay the points as Nebraska closes out their Big XII history in style.

(Preview by Jeff Popelka) Separated by a just a pair of letters, the Huskies and the Huskers are a long way apart on the football field. Nebraska is again on the ascension, and they seem to be on the cusp of contending for a national title.

For their part, Washington had a frustrating season that required wins in their last three games just to become bowl eligible. They underperformed generally, and they specifically underperformed at quarterback. Jake Locker saved his worst season for his last, and his struggles were mirrored in the record that Washington posted.

One of the games in which the Huskies looked poor came against these same Huskers. On September 18, Nebraska traveled to Seattle and demolished the the Huskies 56-21. That game saw Locker throw for 71 yards and a pair of picks, and it wasn’t even as close as the score would lead you to believe.

On a neutral field against a team that needed a last minute touchdown in their final game against lowly Washington State simply to become bowl eligible, expect Nebraska to dominate. Three points in the Big 12 title game were all that kept Nebraska from the BCS, and 13 points are all that stand between you and a big win. Take the Huskers and lay the 13.

MRI Pick	Expert Picks	Winner
91.39%	Nebraska: A. Miraski, McCabe, Popelka, Dodd, Darst, Harris, Congrove, Forde, Van Pelt, McShay, B. Miraski	19-7
	Washington: None

WEDNESDAY’S GAMES AND RESULTS
Millitary Bowl - East Carolina at Maryland (-7) - (Preview by Ben Miraski and the microchips) Maryland is one of those teams that the MRI loves to hate. We have already ranted about how Ralph Friedgen didn’t deserve to win the coach of the year (in the same rant where we talked about how Russell Wilson should have been the ACC player of the year, which he proved again on Tuesday night). And despite the award win and the decent season, the new athletic director at Maryland decided it was time to show Friedgen, a Maryland alum, the door. Friedgen for his part at least refused to resign. Here is the weird thing. The AD wants Maryland to be competing for national titles. Does he know where he is? This is Maryland. They are lucky to be competing for ACC titles year after year. Friedgen was doing that, albeit in an overachieving way given the players the Terps had and the stats they were putting up. So this will be Ralph’s last game on the sidelines and if you don’t think his players love him and will be going all out to get him a win, you are nuts. The computer loves Maryland, especially since it is basically playing at home. With an almost 78 percent chance of winning, take the Terps to crush the East Carolina offense and cover the seven.

MRI Pick	Expert Picks	Winner
77.78%	Maryland: Dodd, Darst, Harris, Congrove, Forde, Van Pelt, McShay, B. Miraski	51-20
	East Carolina: A. Miraski, McCabe, Popelka

Texas Bowl - Illinois vs. Baylor (+1) - (Preview by Alex Miraski) This game screams track meet. Towards the end of the season, the Illinois defense couldn’t keep anyone out of the end zone, while running back Mikel LeShoure did his best to single-handedly score more points than the defense allowed. Baylor is playing in a bowl game for the first time since 1994, and got there on the back of Robert Griffin III. The Bears defense wasn’t much better than the Illini, getting steamrolled in the final three games of the year. Conventional wisdom says the first team to 40 wins, but with my prognostication this year, the likely outcome will be 14-10. Take Baylor and the points due to the fact the game is being played in state and Griffin is the best player on the field for either team.

MRI Pick	Expert Picks	Winner
59.75%	Illinois: Popelka, Darst, Congrove, Forde,	38-14
	Baylor: A.Miraski, McCabe, Dodd, Harris, Van Pelt, McShay, B. Miraski

Alamo Bowl - Oklahoma State vs. Arizona (+4) - (Preview by Alex Miraski) Oklahoma State had a chance to play for the Big XII title, but couldn’t outduel Oklahoma to end the season. This is definitely a consolation prize for the Cowboys. However, they get to face an Arizona team that wore down and ended the season with four consecutive losses, including a heartbreaker against Arizona State, which featured two blocked extra point tries. The Wildcats defense got beaten time and again in those games, and now having to face wide receiver Justin Blackmon and the rest of the Cowboys offense in a dome is a daunting prospect. If Oklahoma State comes to play and still isn’t asking what might have been, this game will be over by halftime. Arizona just does not have the offensive firepower to match the Cowboys score for score. Lay the points.

(Preview by Jeff Popelka)As the college football bowl season winds slowly towards the one game that really matters, we are finally hitting a patch of games that may actually be interesting for the neutral.

Speaking of which, this years Alamo Bowl is a game that features a couple of explosive offenses and it should see both teams move the ball up and down the field. It also seems very likely that this game may well be decided by turnovers and big plays. OSU is one of the most reliable big play teams in the nation, as Justin Blackmon alone has 11 touchdowns of more than 20 yards this season. The Cowboys offense rolled up 537.6 yards per game this season, and a loss in a thrilling 47-41 game against Oklahoma was all that stood between them and the Big 12 title game.

The Fighting T. Boone Pickens’ looked nearly unstoppable on offense this season, finishing second in the nation in passing, third in points and twenty-ninth in rushing. QB Brandon Weeden had his pro baseball career ended by arm injuries, but the 27 year old (he’s not 40, but he might still be a man) has no trouble throwing the football, as he averaged 350 yards per game. His primary target is Blackmon, who is almost certainly the best wideout in all of college football.

For their part, Arizona got off to a 7-1 start, which included a win over then #9 Iowa and a narrow two point loss against Oregon State. However, following that run they had an epic collapse, losing big to Stanford and Oregon and narrowly losing to both USC and Arizona State. That run dropped Arizona from their peak at #9 to well out of the top 25.

However, Arizona does still have a potent offense led by the Pac-10’s leading passer Nick Foles ( 68 percent completion rate and 292 ypg), and even with their struggles at the end of the season, the defense finished inside the top 35 in points allowed. Foles has an extremely reliable target in Juron Criner, who had 73 catches and 10 touchdowns this season. In addition, the top three rushers all averaged more than 4.5 yards per carry, so the versatility of the Arizona offense may help take pressure off of their defense.

Given that this game will likely hinge on turnovers, this could be a good spot to take Arizona plus 6. If it turns out poorly, you can always console yourself by watching the inevitable Mike Stoops meltdown, with facial expressions that rival even Eli Manning.

MRI Pick	Expert Picks	Winner
65.03%	Oklahoma State: A. Miraski, McCabe, Dodd, Darst, Harris, Congrove, Forde, Van Pelt, B. Miraski	36-10
	Arizona: Popelka, McShay