By the Numbers Bowl Edition Welcome to the bowl edition of By the Numbers. Here you will find some commentary on each of the (38!) bowl games as well as the computer’s picks. With more than a month off for some teams, a bowl game can be more like a first game of the year than the logical conclusion of the season, so the computer picks are not reliable. New bowls include nice weather games in Miami, Boca Raton, and the Bahamas ... plus the Quick Lane Bowl in Detroit. I thought that perhaps the Detroit folks got confused about what type of bowling was being rolled out, but it turns out that Quick Lane is a tire and auto repair place. Most of the commentary about the selection process has been positive. There has been some croaking about TCU dropping from #3 to #6 while winning 55-3, but a surprising number of commentators have clued into the concept of re-evaluating every week. It turns out that strength of schedule changes weekly; who knew? It, undoubtedly, helps everybody’s humor that the final four consists of champions from four different conferences. According to my ratings, the committee mostly got it right (other than TCU). You have to include Florida State because they are unbeaten; actually, in the version of the ratings that only uses schedule and wins/losses, FSU is #1. It's also nice that the committee placed good teams in the New Year's Day Six bowls. Some quick bowl facts: the SEC set a record with 12 bowl teams (if Kentucky had held onto a late lead against Louisville, the SEC would have had 13 out of 14!). The ACC tied them with 12, if you count Notre Dame. Speaking of which, how about the Irish and LSU in Nashville? And Southern Cal and Nebraska in San Diego? The background honors the Arkansas-Texas matchup in the Texas Bowl. Back in 1969, the Hogs and Horns weren't the 6-6 teams they are now, but were unbeaten and untied (as we used to say) and ranked 1-2. They played one of the first games rescheduled for TV, a Game of the Century (a TV ratings of 52.1!) attended with great fanfare by President Nixon. The Texas QB broke loose for a 42-yard TD run in the fourth quarter with Arkansas ahead 14-0. In one of the great coaching calls ever, Texas immediately went for 2. They got it, scored another TD and kicked the extra point for a 15-14 win. Name the Longhorn QB. (Hint: his son is now one of the best relief pitchers in baseball.) The game and surrounding political and social unrest are described well in a book with the wonderful CSN-inspired title Horns, Hogs, and Nixon Coming. The Florida-Idaho season opener was cancelled due to a storm after only one play, a long kickoff return by (honest!) Valdez Showers of the Gators. Just think, with the Gators finishing at 6-5, one more loss and the absence of that win could have kept Florida out of the bowls and might have cost Coach Muschamp his ... oh, right. There are always important coaching changes before the bowls. I'm mourning Clemson OC Chad Morris's move to SMU. Colorado State coach Jim McElwain took the Florida job and talked about it being one of the "great brands" in sports. Not to mention the fine scholar-athletes that play the games, right, coach? Actually, he did say that he could win with his dog Claribelle at quarterback. Which ought to make Treon Harris feel loved. For each game, I list the computer’s pick (no home field), TV information, and some unscientific and possibly useless comments. The final regular season ratings follow the picks. Enjoy the games! 12/20 New Orleans Bowl Nevada 32, Louisiana-Lafayette 27 11:00 ESPN New Orleans The Cajuns have won the last three N.O. Bowls. Nevada finished with a win in Vegas, so maybe the Big Easy is no big deal. Nevada (7-5): Cody Fajardo threw for 2374 yards, ran for 997, and accounted for 31 TDs. La-La (8-4): Won 7 of their last 8 games. QB Terrance Broadway is the headliner. Elijah McGuire foretells success with his rushing performance. 12/20 New Mexico Bowl Utah State 27, UTEP 17 2:20 ESPN Albuquerque Looks like a mismatch of men versus boys, as Utah State tries to shut down the Miners. Utah St. (9-4): The Aggies are an oddity, a defensive team in the Mountain West. Brothers Zach and Nick Vigil kept watch on the opposition with a combined 261 tackles! UTEP (7-5): The Miners were led by Aaron Jones’s 1233 rushing yards in a big turnaround year. 12/20 Las Vegas Bowl Utah 31, Colorado State 25 3:30 ABC Las Vegas Utah’s Coach Whittingham is 7-1 in bowls, the Rams’s coach is 0-0 at Colorado State. Nice bounce back seasons for both; CSU had been 3-9 three years in a row. Utah (8-4): The Utes fell off after early wins over USC and UCLA. Devontae Booker ran for 1350, Kaelin Clay returned 4 kicks for TDs, and Nate Orchard won the Hendricks Award for best DE. Colorado State (10-2): QB Garrett Grayson threw for 3779 yards and 32 TDs, with Rashard Higgins catching 89 passes for 1640 yards. 12/20 Idaho Potato Bowl Air Force 30, Western Michigan 24 5:30 ESPN Boise Even bigger turnarounds for these two teams, as Air Force went 2-10 and WM 1-11 last year. Air Force (9-3): Won 5 of last 6, including Colorado State. Kale Pearson ran for 1513 yards and threw for 646. Handed Boise State its only conference loss. W. Michigan (8-4): A more balanced attack, with Zach Terrell throwing for 3146 yards and Jarvion Franklin running for 1525. 12/20 Camellia Bowl South Alabama 28, Bowling Green 27 9:00 ESPN Montgomery One streak will be broken, as neither team enters the game with a win over a bowl team. This is the first bowl ever for South Alabama, and a large crowd will be chanting “USA! USA!” B. Green (7-6): Speaking of streaks: BG lost its last 3 games of the season, and has lost 4 bowl games in a row. QB James Knapke will try to clean up this mess. S. Alabama (6-6): The Jaguars feature QB Brandon Bridge, who is described in very similar terms to Logan Thomas. The defense only gives up 25.8 points per game, but the offense only scores 22.1. 12/22 Miami Beach Memphis 31, BYU 28 2:00 ESPN Miami A brand new bowl with an intriguing matchup of a team, Memphis, on the rise and a BYU team that had a roller coaster year. Memphis (9-3): QB Paxton Lynch threw for 2725 yards, but had 0 INTs in last 6 games – all of which, not coincidentally, the Tigers won. BYU (8-4): Looked like major bowl contenders early in the year with QB Taysom Hill. After his injury, had trouble converting to Christian Stewart. Won 4, lost 4, won last 4. 12/23 Boca Raton Bowl Marshall 42, Northern Illinois 35 6:00 ESPN Boca Raton A 12-win team and an 11-win team, and lots of points – welcome to Boca! Marshall (12-1): Only loss was 67-66. QB Rakeem Cato threw for 3622 yards and 37 TDs, and has TD passes in 45 straight games. The Herd averages 45.1 points per game. NIU (11-2): WR Da’Ron Brown may not have been named for the Crystals’ song, but can surely rap better than “Yeah, my heart stood still; yes, his name was Bill.” 12/23 Poinsettia Bowl Navy 27, San Diego State 24 9:30 ESPN San Diego Two home teams, as Navy is based here, and two good running teams. Navy (7-5): The nation’s #2 running attack with 345 yards per game. QB Keenan Reynolds led the way with 1182 and 21 TDs, including a record 251 against San Jose State. S. Diego St (7-5): Donnel Pumphrey ran for 1761 yards and 19 TDs. 12/24 Bahamas Bowl Western Kentucky 40, Central Michigan 35 12:00 ESPN Nassau A nice location for two non-resort schools. Sponsored by Popeyes, and may feature eye-popping numbers, but subtitle is “We Beat the Boca Raton Bowl.” WKU (7-5): Only team to beat Marshall. Averaged 44 points per game (#6), gave up 39 (#122). Brandon Daughty threw for 4344 yards and 44 TDs! CMU (7-5): Beat Northern Illinois. QB Cooper Rush threw for 2664 yards and Michigan transfer Thomas Rawls rumbled for 1103 yards on the ground. 12/24 Hawaii Bowl Rice 31, Fresno State 30 8:00 ESPN Honolulu The game is in Hawaii! What else can I say that’s nice about this one? Both teams bounced back from 0-3 starts to reach a bowl for the third straight year. And the game is in Hawaii. Rice (7-5): WR Jordan Taylor is big time, as is DE Brian Nordstrom, who racked up 18.5 tackles for a loss. A win would give the Owls 25 wins in the last 3 years, which would set a new record for the program. Fresno (6-7): Lost badly in Hawaii to SMU in 2012, so maybe they can prepare better this time. WR Josh Harper caught 86 balls for 1072 yards.