Capital One: Really want to play Michigan State.  Not going to for personal reasons.

Gator:  Possible play on Clemson.  

Rose: Only looking at the under here.

Orange:  Cincy, especially after I heard that the team was staying at the same hotel as Diddy’s NYE party.  That dude knows how to prep a team for victory.

Holiday Bowl:  The only thing separating what these two teams have accomplished this season is that one was in the top ten for a few weeks, played a few more meaningful games in primetime, and thus, received much more exposure than the other.  Oregon +3 (-110) for 1x

Texas Bowl:  In an NFL Network game that no one can watch, both teams come into the bowl game at 9-3.  Sagarin sees both of them as equal — the Sagarin Rating, ELO Chess, and Predictor numbers do not favor one team by any significant amount.  Similarly, the FEI ranks both these teams in the 50-70 range — WMU with the slight advantage.  If both of these teams have been relatively equal on the field, why is one of them receiving a lot more action than the other?  That was a rhetorical question.  Western Michigan +3 (-109) for 1x

AJC:  Tech Players to Commemorate Win Over Georgia with Ring

ESPN:  Jones in Dodgers-Mets talks

More on this as it develops — and if it does, this could be the mail-it-in story of the decade, as well as proof that God is a Braves or Phillies fan.

(not playing it)

“TEAM A is faster than TEAM B.”

Problems with this statement:  (1) it usually refers to the perceived speed of skill players and the defense, (2) it is usually not accompanied by any empirical evidence (i.e. 40-yard dash times), (3) it assumes that increasing overall team speed is leads to an increased probability that a team will achieve victory.

Wisconsin +6 over Florida State (-103) for 1x.

There were many memorable images:  the hook-and-ladder, the mutated statue-of-liberty play, Ian Johnson proposing to his cheerleader girlfriend immediately after scoring the game-winning two-point conversion.  Not quite as memorable:  Boise State losing to ECU in the Hawaii Bowl last season, losing to Boston College in the 2005 MPC Computers Bowl, losing to Louisville in the 2004 Liberty Bowl.  None of these games have anything to do with tonight’s game against TCU, although some claim that Boise “knows how to bring it” in bowl games and are wagering accordingly, remembering only the good and none of the bad.

Among the people who play ESPN’s Streak for Cash, 75% have picked Boise State to win outright.  Among the two Bowl Pools I am a part of, most of the selections mirror this sentiment — that Boise State will win the game.  I don’t know who will win this game, but the odds makers set the line, and have not moved it in Boise’s favor (it is actually moving in the other direction) despite Boise receiving a majority of the action. 

Texas Christian -3 (-110) for 2x