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College Football Bowl and betting season is now upon us. Here is part one of my predictions on the Bowl games. Too long of a list to do it all in one effort.

Bowl games can be tricky, with long layoffs and coaching changes. This year is certainly no different.

Note: Check out the rest of my prediction too–College Bowl Predictions: The Rest and the Best

Navy vs. Utah (-8 1/2)

Utah- 27  Navy- 17

FAU (-2 1/2) vs. Memphis

FAU wins, 49-35 because fellow DeathRattler Wade Peery says so here: College Football Bowl Bananza: Memphis vs. FAU

Cincinnati (-11) vs. Southern Miss.

I like Cincy in this one…big.  They have a coach who has somehow avoided skipping to another job and Southern Miss. has some controversy brewing. Beyond that, UC is better.

UC-42  Southern Miss- 24

Nevada vs. New Mexico (-3)

Have not wathed either team too much. I’ll take Nevada in an upset.

Nevada- 31 New Mexico- 28

UCLA vs. BYU (-6)

I like BYU big. Coaching changes don’t help things.

BYU- 34  UCLA- 20

East Carolina vs. Boise State (-10)

I really want to pick ECU to win but they just don’t have the horses. If they bring their A game this could be close.

Boise State- 30  ECU-27

Central Michigan vs. Purdue  (-8 1/2)

Don’t be shocked if Central Michigan wins. This is a tough game for Purdue but a must win for the Big 10, who have their fair share of underdog battles.

Purdue- 35  Central Michigan- 31

Texas (-2) vs. Arizona State  

Texas has pulled together a solid season despite inconsistent play. ASU has overachieved and feels screwed out of BCS play. This is going to be a good one. But I’m still taking Texas.

Texas- 41  ASU- 38

Michigan State vs. Boston College (-3 1/2)

This is a great game. Both of these teams went 2-3 in their final five games, with each losing and winning to comparable teams.  Boston College had beat Clemson and Miami before falling hard to Virginia Tech. MSU beat Purdue and then Penn State to close out their season. These teams match strenght on strength. MSU can run very well (Javon Ringer and company), but BC defends the run even better. BC passes very good (Matt Ryan and Company) and MSU defends the pass pretty good too.

This will be an ultra-physical match-up. I don’t like Ryan’s O-Line overall and Mark Dantonio is going to pull of a big win for the program. If you look at the injury report, BC is hobbled. I think the MSU physical nature will wear BC down in a tight one.

Another scenario could be that BC scores too many points for the MSU offense to keep up with. The BC D is very good overall. But again, they seemed hobbled and shaky all over against VTech.

MSU- 36  BC-31

TCU (-4) vs. Houston 

TCU is 2 touchdowns better most of the time, better than that some of the time and worse than that rarely.

TCU- 38 Houston- 24

Maryland vs. Oregon State (-5)

I like this game for sure. This should be a close game but I’m giving OSU the edge because Maryland has found ways to lose games this year.  

OSU- 28  Maryland-24 

UCONN vs. Wake Forest (-3)

This is a good pairing but I’m going with Wake. A few weeks ago I bet that UCONN would beat the spread against WVU. I was a week early in the Mountaineer prediction, so I’m pissed at UCONN.

Wake Forest-20 UCONN- 16

UCF (-3) vs. Mississippi State 

I’m surprised, frankly, that UCF is the favorite. Miss. State is a 7-5 squad for a BCS conference (SEC-no less). UCF has been playing great lately behind the legs of Kevin Smith. Miss. State is not very good against the run (even though they did well against McFadden and Slaton). UCF wants to move into a BCS conference, so expect them to come to play and prove they belong.  I like UCF in what I consider an upset, considering they have never acheived this highly before.

The great thing to watch is to see if Kevin Smith can break Barry Sander’s single-season rushing yards record. He needs 181 yards to eclipse the 2,628 yards that Sanders gained. By my score I think he will but I’m already starting to doubt myself. This is UCF, after all.

UCF-  45   Miss. State-44

Penn State (-5 1/2) vs. Texas A&M

I call a draw. Seriously, I keep going back and forth. Basically, I don’t want to bet on either team. But, I’ll take the favorite by 1 because I have to. The TAMU upset of Texas makes it really hard though.

Penn State- 30 TAMU-27

Part 2, which covers up to the BCS Bowl games, is next on tap.