There's not too many bowl games scheduled this week as we lead up to Christmas day- five to be exact - but there's still definitely some football worth watching this week, specifically on Wednesday when Boise State and Utah collide in the Maaco Bowl.
Week two of the bowl season will start off on Tuesday night with the Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl (yes, that's real) in St. Petersburg, Florida. Southern Miss (8-4, 5-3) will face off against Louisville (6-6, 3-4). Looking past their records, this game might actually turn out to be something interesting. Louisville has the 15th ranked defense in all the land while Southern Miss has the 15th ranked offense. With the Cardinals uncertain with their quarterback status - with Justin Burke, Adam Froman and Will Stein all possibilities to play - I don't think that Louisville will score enough. I'll take the Golden Eagles.
The best bowl game of the week will be the second one - Wednesday's Maaco Bowl which pits Boise State against Utah. Both the Broncos and the Utes were hoping to play in a BCS bowl game this year, but late season losses cost both schools that opportunity. Utah looked particularly bad against TCU and compounded that with a loss against Notre Dame the following week. Boise State would likely be playing in the Rose Bowl if not for a kicking meltdown - so I'll take the Broncos to win this one.
We'll have a bowl game on Festivus this year - when Navy takes on San Diego State in the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl - or SDCCUPB for short. Last year, the Utes took out the Golden Bears of Western New England College California 37-27 in the SDCCUPB. Navy has an excellent running game - averaging the fifth most yards on the ground per game in the country at 289. I'll take the Midshipmen to take out the Aztecs, despite the home field advantage for San Diego State.
On Christmas Eve, we'll have Hawaii (10-3, 7-1) taking on Tulsa (9-3, 6-2) in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl. Tulsa allows nearly 30 points per game - and they'll face Hawaii's top-ranked passing offense. I'll take the Warriors to win and win easily.
We close out this week of bowl games on Sunday when Florida International (6-6, 6-2) takes on Toledo (8-4, 7-1) in the Little Caesars Bowl. (Side note - I haven't seen a Little Caesars in person in nearly a decade.) This will be FIU's first ever bowl appearance, so while it might not be the most prestigious bowl in the world, the Golden Panthers of Florida Atlantic have to be thrilled to be headed to Detroit for this game. I'll take the Golden Panthers to win - solely on the fact that I expect them to play a pretty good game since it's the school's first-ever bowl appearance.