Bowl Chronicles: Pac 10/Mountain Challenge Part 2, Poinsetta Bowl
It sure will be interesting to see if I can make a worse pick the remainder of the bowl season, than the one I made last night. Cripes, did that suck. Darn near sucked the Christmas spirit right out of me, for at least a night. The fact that I really like the Oregon State program, Mike Riley and the Rodgers brothers made watching them get waxed by a fired up BYU squad all the more depressing for me. Oh well, you win some, and you lose some. Cant do anything else by keep on, keeeping on.
Today is travel day, so this will be a short post, light on analysis and player breakdown. I promise I will make it up to with a 4,000 word treatiste on the Cotton Bowl or something down the line.
Poinsetta Bowl: California vs Utah. LInes, Cal -3.5, O/U 52
Tonight is the second Pac 10-Mountain West Challenge, this time in the Poinsetta Bowl, between the Cal Golden Bears and the Utah Utes. I am predicting a MWC sweep in this de facto challenge. Well, at least against the spread. I will be taking a stab with Utah +3.5 this evening.
Mainly, its out of habit. Utah has always been one of my favorite underdog programs in the country, especially against teams from the BCS leagues. Overall, in the last 11 years, Utah is 19-9 ATS against teams from BCS leagues. And, they’ve won nine bowl games in a row. So, we have one of the better underdog teams and one of the best bowl teams in the country going off the board tonight. I dont really need any more nudge that that to take a stab with Utah.
This is a pretty even game. I dont think Cal shows up with an obvious talent edge. Both teams are going with backup tailbacks who replaced injured stars earlier in the year. Both teams get up and down quarterbacking. But, one team stands out with the better defense and that is Utah. Hasnt it seemed like all the good teams on Cal’s slate this year basically named their own score? To me, it has. Utah, meanwhile, harassed the likes of Oregon’s Jeremy Masoli into a 3/18 day passing. I think the Utes secondary shuts down the Cal wideouts and their front seven creates enough havoc, forcing Cal QB Kevin Riley into the mistakes the eventually decides the game.
The Pick: Utah +3.5, 2 Units…..we saw last night what a good Mountain West defense can do against a high caliber Pac 10 offense. Tonight we have another really good MWC Defense, in fact better than BYU’s last night, but this time they’re going up against an inconsistent, mistake prone Pac 10 offense. Also, never mess with a streak. Utah has won so many bowl games in a row, that I assume they’ll be the better prepped and motivated team tonight. No reason to doubt them in December or January.
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