December 26th & 27th - 2 bowls

the Motor City Bowl Wednesday, December 26th, 7:30pm Detroit, Michigan
Central Michigan (8-5)_____MAC____67.05				Purdue (7-5)_____Big 10____126.73
Week	Opponent	oPts	Res, Score	Week	Opponent	oPts	Res, Score
6	@ Ball State	70.73	W, 58-38	8	Iowa	72.08	W, 31-6
14	Miami (Ohio)	-62.84	W, 35-10	3	Central Michigan	67.05	W, 45-22
10	@ Western Michigan	-65.04	W, 34-31	9	Northwestern	30.45	W, 35-17
2	Toledo	-104.62	W, 52-31	1	@ Toledo	-104.62	W, 52-24
13	@ Akron	-140.28	W, 35-32	5	Notre Dame	-135.92	W, 33-19
7	Army	-176.10	W, 47-23	4	@ Minnesota	-195.44	W, 45-31
9	@ Kent	-226.51	W, 41-32	2	Eastern Illinois	-	W, 52-6
5	Northern Illinois	-277.36	W, 35-10	6	Ohio State	403.68	L, 7-23
1	@ Kansas	322.17	L, 7-52	10	@ Penn State	238.54	L, 19-26
8	@ Clemson	293.25	L, 14-70	7	@ Michigan	235.72	L, 21-48
3	@ Purdue	126.73	L, 22-45	11	Michigan State	196.40	L, 31-48
12	Eastern Michigan	-130.06	L, 45-48	12	@ Indiana	133.65	L, 24-27
4	North Dakota State	-	L, 14-44

Basically the same W-L record for these two, and their wins are similarly weak. But Central Michigan has taken some bad losses, losing to Eastern Michigan and getting beaten down by DI-AA North Dakota State. All the teams the Boilermakers lost to were at the top of the Big 10, so they beat and lost to the teams they should have.

Purdue has evened out in the last part of the season, while Central Michigan slowly worked their way back from a rough start.

Intangibles: Eh. (It's not the most glamorous matchup...)

The Line: Central Michigan +8

The Story: Back in September when these two played, the Boilermakers doubled up the Chippewas 45-22, so you can bet the latter are looking for some revenge. Both teams use the spread - which one can defend against it better?

The Call: Purdue by 10

The Result: Purdue 51-48 = That was just a whole lotta offense, jeez. Another exciting game though - a slew of close ones and we're not even 1/4 of the way through the bowls.

the Holiday Bowl Thursday, December 27th, 8:00pm San Diego, California
Arizona State (10-2)_____Pac 10____241.74				Texas (9-3)_____Big 12____275.96
Week	Opponent	oPts	Res, Score	Week	Opponent	oPts	Res, Score
4	Oregon State	209.72	W, 44-32	3	@ Central Florida	266.42	W, 35-32
11	@ UCLA	117.96	W, 24-20	11	Texas Tech	195.22	W, 59-43
2	@ Colorado	93.37	W, 33-14	2	Texas Christian	152.78	W, 34-13
9	California	87.95	W, 31-20	10	@ Oklahoma State	112.55	W, 38-35
14	Arizona	69.56	W, 20-17	9	Nebraska	29.14	W, 28-25
6	@ Washington State	31.17	W, 23-20	1	Arkansas State	-63.38	W, 21-13
7	Washington	-9.10	W, 44-20	8	@ Baylor	-139.20	W, 31-10
5	@ Stanford	-46.40	W, 41-3	7	@ Iowa State	-155.31	W, 56-3
1	San Jose State	-53.89	W, 45-3	4	Rice	-221.20	W, 58-14
3	San Diego State	-84.17	W, 34-13	6	Oklahoma	409	L, 21-28
13	Southern California	321.57	L, 24-44	13	@ Texas A&M	130.38	L, 30-38
10	Oregon	251.78	L, 23-35	5	Kansas State	43.11	L, 21-41

This is a great matchup between top-tier teams from the Pac 10 & Big 12. Schedule strength is about even, with both teams beating some solid opponents.

They started out on the same track, then split when Texas lost in week 5, and basically came back together at the end of the season. The Horns are looking up though, while the Sun Devils are trying to get back to their pre-November status.

Intangibles: Arizona State was passed up for a BCS bowl bid - will that fire them up or make them fold?

The Line: Arizona State +2.5

The Story: I don't expect a blowout in this game - both are very capable, but both have some flaws which can really be exploited.

The Call: Texas by 7

The Result: Texas 52-34 = The score doesn't indicate a blowout, but the Sun Devils were overmatched all night.