Coach Singletary had his weekly press conference yesterday and reading over the transcript you can see why players respond to him. From Dan Brown's Hot Read blog:

Q: What did you think was going on? Did you have an idea of what was going on in your mind?

“Sometimes when you get in a situation, you’re just not playing well, you just aren’t playing in sync and as a coach, you can be on the sideline but you can’t feel it and I think you have to be in that huddle to see it and feel it and once you are on that sideline, no one can convey it better than the quarterback, no one can. So I said what I had to say and got the heck out of the way and let him[Hill] take it and let him direct them, the only way the quarterback can do it and let it take place.”

I think this quote outlines what a former player can bring to the head coach position. Singletary knows what it's like on the field and he knows as a coach he doesn't have the same feel for the game anymore. He knows who the leader on the field is, the quarterback. I can't say if Nolan feels the same, but I know that the Nolan-Smith rift was very damaging to the overall success of the team. Singletary hasn't treated his QBs with kid gloves, either. He benched JTO after less than a half and came close to benching Shaun Hill last game. Singletary's feel for the game is much better than Nolan's was and his instincts are paying dividends.

Q: Do you respect him more because he said, ‘Keep me in here,’ than if he had just listened to you and said, ‘Okay, I had a bad day…’

“Body language tells you a lot and I don’t really, it’s not so much, it really doesn’t matter what a guy says, I mean, everything is in a guy’s eyes. Everything is in his posture when he comes off the sidelines and when you look at a player, whether it’s a corner that just got beat for a touchdown, he comes off and he’s grabbing his ham[string], well is his ham[string] hurt or is his heart hurt? Is his confidence hurt? So when I looked at him and he said what he said, everything was there that said, ‘I really can get this done. You can trust me to go back out there and get this done.’ And that is what the body language said and I said, ‘You know what, okay, fine, you got it,’ and I told Coach Martz he’s going back in and let’s go with it.”

Singletary assessed his QBs body language and made the decision to stick with him the same way he made decisions when he was playing linebacker for the Bears. Singletary is read and react coaching and it's working. The last sentence from the quote above says a lot, too.

"...I told Coach Martz he’s going back in and let’s go with it."

There is no mistaking who is calling the shots on this team. Mike Singletary has a Hall of Fame background in defense, but he's not ignorant of the offense. He knows this is his team and he's going to run it as such. Martz may be his offensive coordinator, but Singletary will make the final call. Players respond to him. Fans respond to him. Even reporters respond to him. If Singletary wins on Sunday, he'll be the first 49ers head coach with a winning record since Mariucci in 2002. I mentioned it yesterday, but it would also move Singletqary to 3-1 after December 1st. Even Nolan, who had a reputation of winning some meaningless games late in the season, never won more than 2 games after December 1st.

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49ers:Christmas came early for the 49ers. For three quarters, Shaun Hill was feeling the Christmas Spirit and giving the ball away. Hill was almost rewarded for his generosity with a benching, but he promised the coach he still had more to give. He rallied the team and found his stride. He turned a forgetful homecoming for Isaac Bruce into a magnificent multiple milestone memory. Hill connected with Isaac Bruce for a touchdown to bring the 49ers within six points of the Rams with 4:06 left in the game. It was Bruce's 1000th career catch, the fifth player in NFL history to reach the 1000 catch mark. The defense seemed energized, even though they had been on the field almost twice as long as their counterparts. After two Steven Jackson runs, the Rams faced a 3rd and five. Bulger tried to find Holt on a quick out, but Nate Clements made a great play to knock the ball down. The 49ers needed to go 67 yards in 2:27 to pull out the victory. On first down, Hill is sacked by Pisa Tinoisamoa, two minute warning. The 49ers need 76 yards to win. After a Ram neutral zone infraction penalty, Hill hits Bruce for eight yards moving Bruce into second all time in receiving yards. Yes, second all time. Although he's 8,000 yards behind Jerry Rice. Hill finds Bryant Johnson for a first down and then The Play. Shaun Hill heaved the pass from the St. Louis 48 yard line and I didn't know what to expect. His earlier deep passes were ugly and poorly thrown and often intercepted. This pass was as ugly as any Shaun Hill deep ball, but well placed and Josh Morgan made a great leaping catch in front of teammate Jason Hill. Touchdown, Niners??? Wow.

You can say what you want about December victories for teams not going anywhere. After all, Nolan had a habit of performing well(for him) when the games didn't matter anymore. This game meant a whole lot. For one thing, this was a game that the 49ers were expected to win, on the road. Walt Harris summed it up:

If we would have lost, it would have been a big step back.

An ugly win? Yes. Did Mike Nolan have similar December wins? Yes. Is there a difference? Yes. Nolan was 2-3 in each December as head coach and his best December was, ironically, in 2005, his first season when the team gave up only 21.5 points a game. Singletary's teams is giving up only 14.5 points a game in December and under 10 points if you go back one game into November. On the season, the 2008 Singletarys are giving up 10 points a game less than the 2008 Nolans. That's not counting the Seattle game against either coach the week Nolan was out and Singletary was in. Maybe it's as simple as how Singletary speaks that makes me feel this is different. When Singletary speaks, his words make sense and what he says is beliveable. The fact is, if the Niners beat a Washington team at home who has nothing to play for, Singletary will be 3-1 in December and Nolan never did that.

Sharks: Sure, the 6-0 drubbing from the Champion Red Wings last week wasn't pretty. You don't want to lose like that to a team you may have to meet in the playoffs. You don't want to lose any mental edges and a 6-0 thrashing is unnerving. However, it was on the road, the second night if a back to back after losing the night before in overtime. The Sharks have some injuries and they weren't going to keep up "Best Start In History" pace the whole season, so a blip or two is to be expected. They came home and beat the Atlantic leading New York Rangers on Saturday and get a restful Christmas week at home.

Warriors: I can't watch this team right now. It's too depressing. Great, they beat the Bobcats. Jamal Crawford scored 50 points. Yay. Crawford and Turiaf tied with a team high 5 assists a piece. The Warriors only had 18 assists as a team, with Crawford and Turiaf accounting for 10 of them. That's abysmal. The Warriors need a distributor and have a bunch of bad contracts so they will have to overpay someone to get a "real" point guard and give up Wright or Randolph or both on top of it. It's funny how life works, especially for Warriors fans.

Raiders: Wish I could write about how the Raiders looked, but the game was blacked out.

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Virginia Tech v. Cincinnati (-2)

Most people hate the BCS because it does not give us, the fans, a fair way of determining who should play for the National Championship. I hate it because it gives us “big” bowl games with Virginia Tech facing Cincinnati. Who is going to watch this game outside of Blacksburg, VA and Cincinnati, OH!? To make matters worse, the line is 2 so it isn’t even worth betting on. I will breakdown the game for you in one sentence:

Betting against Frank Beamer rarely makes sense.

Pick: Virginia Tech +2

(That was painful)

Penn St. v. USC (-10)

How in the world is this line just 10 points!?! USC has proven year after year after year that they always show up for the big game and they usually run up the score when they feel they have been cheated by the BCS “system”. Furthermore, Pete Carroll knows that the Rose Bowl is one of the biggest recruiting events for him. All the recruits from cold weather states either watch the game on TV or go to Pasadena to watch USC kill their inferior Big Ten appointment. What 18 year old recruit would choose a cold weather school over 4 years in LA playing for a team that is always in the top 10? The only thing that could change their mind is a USC loss to Penn St. Pete Carroll is not about to let that happen and you can bet (get it) that he will not take his foot off the accelerator when the Trojans are up 21.

Pick: USC -25 (I mean … -10)

This is the lock of the bowl season.

Utah v. Alabama (-10.5)

The pick to win this game is easy … Alabama. However, the line makes this game interesting. Alabama should push Utah around with relative ease and their speed should be overwhelming but is it enough to beat an undefeated team by 11? Asking John Parker Wilson to beat a team by essentially two touchdowns makes me really nervous. When you couple that with Utah’s motivation to prove they can beat an SEC team, I have to go with the underdog.

Pick: Utah +10.5

Ohio St. v. Texas (-10)

Boise St. has killed almost every team they have played this year and NOBODY wants to play them on the big stage. This year is no different. Texas misses out on the National Championship game and now they have to try and get up for a game where they have nothing to gain. You have to love Boise St. in this …

Wait a second, Texas is playing Ohio St.!! Last time I checked, Terrell Pryor cannot complete a pass against a good, not great, Penn St. team and Texas is full of talented players on defense that are lead by one of the best coordinators in the game. Did I forget to mention that Texas is really bitter about how the Big 12 screwed them out of the National Championship and McCoy got shafted in the Heisman voting?

This game is a blowout!

Pick: Texas -10

(The only reason that this game is not the lock of the bowl season is the remote chance McCoy gets hurt and Texas wins 7-0. I would argue that Boise St. deserves to be in this game more than Texas deserves to be in the National Championship game and that is saying something)

Oklahoma v. Florida (-3)

The National Championship game is going to require a little more detail because it is (A) the game most of us care about and (B) it allows me to prove how much I know about both teams.

Oklahoma: If there has been one constant for OU all year it has been the stellar play of the offense. They can seemingly score at will and Bradford has been nothing short of amazing. While I believe McCoy was more deserving, Bradford has had a special year and is very much worthy of the Heisman. Similar to Texas and Vince Young in the 2006 National Championship game, OU’s chance to win this game rides almost solely on Bradford’s ability to dominate the game the way Young did three years ago.

Bradford must shoulder most of the responsibility because Oklahoma does not have a good defense and Bob Stoops is far from a big game coach. Texas and Oklahoma State scored at will on the Sooners and their offenses are very much inferior to Floridas. There is no reason to believe OU will be able to stop Tim Tebow and the Florida offense. Furthermore, Bob Stoops is not a big game coach. I know you have heard this from countless other people but you need to hear it again. Pete Carroll always has USC ready to play in the big games and Bob Stoops is the exact opposite. There are too many examples to name so you need not look any farther than last year’s Fiesta bowl where the Sooners looked disinterested at best. The defense and Stoops are HUGE question marks for the Sooners.

Florida: The strengths of the Gators are speed and Tim Tebow. The Gators are stacked with 5 star recruits that are faster and quicker than any other team in the NCAA. Besides their brain fart against Ole Miss, the Gators have won every game by just being faster to the ball than their opponents. It is hard to believe that the story will be any different on Jan. 8th. Of course, speed is not enough to win a National Championship. You need a leader and the Gators have one of the best leaders in college football history in Tim Tebow. His unselfish play is the reason the Gators are in this game. He could have put up the numbers he did last year but he knew that would not lead to more wins. He changed his game and the results speak for themselves.

The only weakness that can be seen in the Gators game is that they can be pushed around. Alabama was poised for the upset until the real John Parker Wilson emerged and the Crimson Tide offense slowed to one yard in the fourth quarter. Florida will not have that same luxury on Jan. 8th because the Sooners do have an above average offensive line and a supremely talented quarterback. Florida will have to mix-up their defensive play calls in-order to keep the Sooners from turning this game into a shootout which does not benefit the Gators.

Conclusion: Florida has too much speed on both sides of the ball for the Sooners. Bradford has not faced a team with the talent and quickness of the Gators and the lack of a true big play receiver is going to hurt them in the end. Furthermore, Tebow and Percy Harvin will run all over the OU defense just like Texas and Oklahoma State did. After the Georgia-Florida game I said I would take Florida minus 5 over any team in the country and I have no reason to think any differently.

Pick: Florida -3
.

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Orange Bowl Jan. 1 @ 5:00pm
Cincinnati Bearcats
v.
Virginia Tech Hokies +2

Cincinnati had a fullback named Baehr and some fan yelled something about the team being Baehr-cats. That’s where it came from. I’m not sure how to react, on one hand it’s better than wildcats, but on the other hand it’s a pretty dumb way to get a nickname. Also, the mascot doesn’t have a name, he/she/it is just, The Bearcat. As far as the mascot throwdown is concerned a half bear half cat could do some damage. It’s no Manbearpig, but nothing really is.

Virginia Tech Hokies. Another “what the hell is that?” mascot. A Hokie is taken from the Old Hokie Spirit Yell. The Hokies are also known as the Fighting Gobblers, which stems from back in the day when it was a military college and the cadets ate so fast they were called gobblers. The actual mascot is Hokie Bird, who is just a giant turkey. You can win all the mascot championships you want, but a turkey versus a half bear half cat? No contest.

The Pick: Cincinnati Bearcats -2

Rose Bowl Jan. 1 @ 5:00pm

Penn State Nittany Lions
v.
USC Trojans -10

Penn State Nittany Lions. The mascot is a combination of nearby Mount Nittany and local Mountain Lions that once roamed where the campus is located. The legend goes that a student made up the Nittany Lion on the spot after being ashamed that Penn State had no mascot when he visited Princeton in the early 20^th century. The reasoning behind the mascot was that lions are dignified, courageous, magnificent and allegorically (ooh, big college word) represented the College Spirit of Penn State. Noble reasoning, to be sure. The mascot looks old school, with scarf, but not much else. The mascot's name isn't even creative, just The Nittany Lion? I’m less than impressed.

USC Trojans. USC’s nickname is the Trojans, the mascot is Traveler, a horse. That’s a little confusing because a guy who looks like a Trojan rides Traveler. Florida State lists both its horse and rider as mascot, while USC does not. It’s a shame because an armed warrior would really help USC’s case in the mascot throwdown. Although, I’ve never seen a mountain lion take down a horse, it could be possible. I have been bitten by a horse before and it hurts. I don’t think it’s a horse’s number one method for attack, but it’s still useful and quite surprising when you’re ten years old.

The Pick: USC Trojans -10

Sugar Bowl Jan. 2 @ 8:15pm
Alabama Crimson Tide
v.
Utah Utes +10

Alabama Crimson Tide. The Crimson Tide may be the nickname, but the mascot is Big Al the elephant. A writer in the 30’s described the Alabama football team coming out from halftime as sounding like elephants and that stuck. Big Al didn’t make his debut until 1979, when having a cartoony mascot became en vogue. He’s big, is name’s not totally dumb and he’s an elephant. I don’t know too many things that stop an elephant.

Utah Utes. The Utes are named after the indigenous Native American people. Born in 1996, Swoop is the Red-tailed Hawk mascot of Utah which represents the soaring spirit of the state and school. I like the red-tailed hawk as a mascot. It’s different, it’s a bird of prey, the school had good reasoning behind the name, but hawk v. elephant is a no brainer.

The Pick: Alabama -10

Fiesta Bowl Jan. 5 @ 8:15pm
Ohio State Buckeyes
v.
Texas Longhorns -9.5

Ohio State Buckeyes. The Buckeye is the state tree of Ohio and its fruits are poisonous to cattle and humans. Let me emphasize that, its fruits are poisonous to CATTLE. Of all the matchups the Ohio State could draw for the matchup throwdown, this may be the best one. Brutus the Buckeye is the mascot with a nicely alliterative name. He’s unarmed and is just a big nut head with human body, but it doesn’t matter, he’s, cue BBD, POISON!

Texas Longhorns. Texas has two mascots, Bevo and Hook ‘Em. Bevo is a Texas longhorn steer, the fourteenth in a long line of previous Bevos. A proud lineage that includes charging a SMU cheerleader (male), scattering the Baylor band, running loose on campus for a couple days and throwing down with a parked car. Hook ‘Em on the other end of the scale is pretty tame and probably only created because Bevo can only be “safely” deployed at football games. Bevo has a lot to offer and I would almost have to take him, but Buckeyes are his kryptonite. Although, he would have to eat the buckeye first, thereby destroying the buckeye. I have to believe Bevo would just stop the Buckeye and if he ate it afterwards, oh well.

The Pick: Texas Longhorns -9.5

BCS Championship Game Jan. 8 @ 8:15pm

Oklahoma Sooners
v.
Florida Gators -3

Oklahoma Sooners. A Sooner, if you didn’t know, was a person who entered the Oklahoma territory before the land was opened for non-native settlement. It’s nice that it’s historically relevant tot the university, but also kind of weird- they have nicknamed themselves after cheaters, or line cutters, essentially. The Sooners mascot is the Sooner Schooner which is an old timey wagon pulled by two white ponies. This is a hard one to gauge for a mascot throwdown. A wagon? Pulled by two ponies? How does that quantify in a mascot throwdown? I guess it’s pretty formidable. If you can’t have an elephant you might as well have a big ass wagon pulled by horses. I’d jump out of the way.

Florida Gators. Florida and gators go hand in hand. Albert E. and Alberta Gator are the human costumed mascots. Apparently, they attend all FU sporting events together and are rarely seen apart, poor guy. Seriously, give the guy a second alone! The gator is a good mascot and also good for a mascot throwdown. On a neutral site though, I’ve got to go with the wagon. It’s close because the gator could spook the ponies causing havoc, but if they didn’t see the gator he’d get flattened.

The Pick: Oklahoma Sooners +3

If you missed the other bowl breakdown, here it is.

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Mike Singletary isn’t one to mince words. He speaks his mind and, because of that, we can read between the lines when he talks about his employment in the near future. Mike Nolan had the opposite approach, spewing numerous empty statements consisting of political vagaries. Because Singletary is a straight shooter, we can take what he says and read between the lines with more assurance. The NFL has the Rooney Rule, which requires teams to interview at least one minority candidate for their head coaching position. This rule also forbids teams from promoting interim head coaches during the season, even if the interim coach is a minority. After the season, the 49ers will have a window of possibly two weeks to exclusively negotiate with Singletary. I think Singletary will be the head coach of the 49ers for the next few years barring a couple highly unlikely scenarios.
First, let’s look at what Singletary said this week. The media had all but assumed that Singletary would have locked up the head coaching position with a win last week in Miami. Although the team didn’t come away with a win, the team played well without Frank Gore, and the most talked about subject at Singletary’s press conference was the interim coach’s future. After 3+ years of Nolan-ese, the media was skeptical of Singletary because he was thought to be too much like his predecessor. Instead, Singletary offers a refreshing honesty compared to the robotic calculations provided by Nolan.

"OK, I’m going to say this one more time. And I’m sure I’ll say it again. I am not trying to impress the Yorks. When I’m coaching, I’m not thinking about the Yorks. I’m not thinking that the Yorks are looking at me and hoping, ‘Well, I hope they saw that!’ I don’t really care about that."

This speaks to Singletary’s confidence. He knows the players are behind him. He knows there will be an opportunity next year for him, and if the 49ers don’t step up, someone else will. When asked if he would go through an interview process among multiple candidates after the season with San Francisco Singletary was hesitant to answer the question but he eventually accepted the reality that an interview process may be required to obtain the job.

“Q: If there is an interview process—with multiple candidates—would you participate?
SINGLETARY: Uh, I don’t know. I don’t know. That’s a very good question. I don’t know. I can’t give you an answer to that question right now.
Q: Why wouldn’t you go through an interview process?
SINGLETARY: Umm, OK. Yes. I will go through an interview process.
Q: You’re a competitive guy…
SINGLETARY: I am a competitive guy, OK? The competition, when you talk about competitive, I’m competitive in anything I do. But I’ll just say this: If there’s an interview, I’d probably go through the interview process.”

Singletary is posturing now. His stock is high and he’s doing what he can to increase his value come contract time. I listened to him on KNBR Tuesday morning and Singletary again answered questions about his future. When speaking about the spirit of the team, Singletary said the players are “excited to be part of something special, and they feel it on the horizon.” Singletary goes on to say he “doesn’t get involved with thinking about that” when talking about permanent job status. He says he has an agent and he lets him take care of it.

“I told my agent…I hired you to do your job, and you go ahead and do what you need to do. He has had some conversations…[and] at the appropriate time he can buzz me in on everything that’s happening when I need to know.”

That tells me, Singletary has gone over his requirements with his agent and his agent has talked to ownership about Singletary’s necessities and a deal will be done within that two week window.

There are a couple of outs that could change this direction, but both would require big investments from ownership. One is to check on the price and availability of Bill Cowher. It’s delicate because you don’t want to spurn Singletary or his agent by putting feelers out just to see about Cowher. The team could wind up with neither. The other out would be to bring in Scott Pioli from New England as team president. That would be a major shake up. He’d be expensive and want control over a lot of particulars including GM and head coach. The best option for the 49ers seems to be Singletary because he’ll be relatively cheap as a first time head coach, the players and coaches respond to him and the fans like him. Singletary has positioned himself to be the next 49ers head coach the old fashioned way, on the field, with results. I haven’t seen, read or heard anything from 49ers brass to indicate that Mike Singletary won’t be patrolling the sidelines at Candlestick next season as head coach.

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49ers - The Niners looked good, except for Mark Roman. He didn't locate the ball and let David Martin, TE David Martin, get deep on him and score a long TD. On the Dolphins second TD, a missed coverage, by Roman, lead to a rookie third TE to get his first NFL TD.

Vernon Davis played pretty well, even though he dropped a wide open third down conversion. Also, Davis was right to want to be in on the final play. Barry Sims(alone) v. Joey Porter? Seriously? The team ran a lot more of the offense through Davis this game, which I liked. He had a screen pass that picked up a first down. He had a carry, which was cool, becuase the Niners ran it out of a formation they use all the time, where Davis motions to fullback. I didn't see any deep plays to Davis, though.

Isaac Bruce looks better every week, surprisingly. He's 59 yards from being second all time in receiving yards. Tim Brown has 14, 934 Bruce has 14,875 and #1 Jerry Rice has....22,895!!!! Insane.

I really think a healthy Frank Gore makes a huge difference in this game, despite Foster's better than expected showing.


Warriors - Too many chefs in the kitchen for the Warriors. It started with Baron opting out and it's been a series of unfortunate events ever since. Can we trade Jamal Crawford and Corey Maggette to the Clippers for Baron back? The team is just not the same and I don't know how it can be fixed right now without Isaiah Thomas in the league. God bless Andris Biedrins, the only guy on the Warriors earning his money these days. Check out Kawakami's latest blog piece about the possible trade scenarios available beginning today.

Sharks - I'm trying to get into the Sharks more. I've been tracking them more and more over the last couple years. I'm making even more of an effort this year because they are just plain good. They're like the Pariots of 2007 in a way. If you weren't into the NFL, you'd want to watch that team play to get an idea of what makes a good team. The Sharks are that way in the NHL this year. After they were down 3-1 to the Blues Saturday night in the 2nd period, they knew they could comeback, the fans at The Tank knew they could come back, I even knew they could come back, and they did comeback. Plus, West Coast hockey's biggest rivalry, of course it's Norcal v. Socal, Anaheim v. San Jose. The Sharks 2-0 shut out last week tells you who's in control right now.

Raiders - JaMarcus Russell must feel like he signed a deal with the Devil. Maybe he did. I hope, fo his sake, that Al brings in someone to mold him to his potential. He looked bad yesterday. The Raiders didn't even make it into Pats territory midway through the second quater. Sammy Morris averaged 8.7 seven yards a carry and LaMont Jordan averaged 8.1 yards and Kevin Faluk averaged 7.5!!

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Bowl season is upon on us and it is time to join your office pool. The only problem is you don’t watch college football (up until last week I would have said lots of you do … just on Sundays). Never fear, I helped my friend Harrell make $60 in the NCAA tournament pool in 8^th grade and I can help you win your pool this year. Unfortunately for you, I will only be giving you my non-BCS bowl picks today so you will have to check in next Thursday for the BCS picks.

(However, all smart gamblers know that the money is made in the smaller obscure games that are not as scrutinized by Vegas)

Navy v. Wake Forest (-3) – December 20

Whenever the line is 3 or lower, Vegas has no idea who is going to win so they just make the more popular team with the public - the favorite. In this case, that team is Wake Forest because most people think the armed forces teams are still terrible. As a result, this game is easy to pick …

Pick: Navy +3

Colorado St. v. Fresno St. (-3) – December 20

This Fresno St. team is not your older brothers Fresno St. team. What does that mean? They are not nearly as good as they have been in the past. Teams (I mean schools) have lowered their academic standards so all the great athletes Fresno St. used to have that could not spell smrt (smart) are able to play at more national schools. More accurately, Dennis Erickson is back at a warm weather school so all the junior college drop outs are going to Arizona St. instead of Fresno St.

Pick: Colorado St. +3

Memphis v. South Florida (-12.5) – December 20

Whenever a team is 400x more athletic than their opponent and they are dedicating a game to a player that died on their team this year, you always take that team no matter how many points they are giving up.

Pick: South Florida -12.5

BYU v. Arizona (-3)

Again, Vegas has no idea what to do with this game so they make Arizona a 3 point favorite because mormons don’t gamble. Furthermore, there is one rule you should always remember – never bet on a team in a bowl game coached by a Stoops. (Hint: you will hear this statement again next week)

Pick: BYU +3

Southern Mississippi v. Troy (-4)

When most people think of Troy, they think of a city in a history book that had a smokin’ hot lady named Helen and a wooden horse. When college football fans think of Troy, they think of them running up the score on teams that have no idea how to stop the spread offense.

Pick: Troy -4

Boise St. v. TCU (-2.5)

I would pick Boise St. to beat every team in the country expect for USC, Florida, Texas, OU and Alabama. So when they are getting 2.5 points against TCU, I say it's the lock of the non-BCS bowls.

Pick: Boise St. +2.5

Notre Dame v. Hawaii (-1.5)

Hawaii doesn’t lose in Hawaii and this game is basically a pick’em.

Pick: Hawaii -1.5

Florida Atlantic v. Central Michigan (-7)

Close your eyes. Seriously, close your eyes. If I told you a team from Florida was playing a cold weather team in a dome and the team from Florida is 7 points underdogs, what would you say? Me, too.

Pick: Florida Atlantic +7

West Virginia v. UNC (Pick)

This game is the hardest to pick out of all the non-BCS bowls. On the one hand, you have a West Virginia team that has basically underachieved for the entire season but they are coming off a decent win against South Florida. On the other hand, you have one of the most inconsistent teams in the country that smoked Rutgers and lost to NC State at home. Unlike OU, West Virginia always seems to play well in bowl games.

Pick: West Virginia

Wisconsin v. Florida St. (-5)

Wisconsin should have lost to Cal Poly at home! Again, Wisconsin should have lost to Cal Poly at home!

Pick: Florida St. -5

Miami v. Cal (-7)

Bad News: Cal never beats good teams from other conferences away from home. Good News: they are playing a bad Miami team 10 minutes from campus.

Pick: Cal -7

N. Illinois v. Louisiana Tech (-2)

If in doubt, take the team from the south (and it rhythms)

Pick: Louisiana Tech -2

NC State v. Rutgers (-7)

Beating Louisville by 700 points doesn’t mean you are good. It just means you are mad that they cost you a chance to embarrass yourselves on in a BCS bowl last year. Also, NC State beat UNC at UNC while Rutgers lost by 32 to UNC at home. This pick is easy.

Pick: NC State +7

Northwestern v. Mizzou (-13)

It has to be tough to be a Mizzou fan right about now. Can you imagine having to travel to Kansas City for two straight weekends to watch your team get beat? I would be angry even if my team had won! Northwestern rarely plays well away from home and they are catching a very motivated Mizzou team.

Pick: Mizzou +13

Maryland v. Nevada (-1)

Nevada? Favored? No.

Pick: Maryland +1

W. Michigan v. Rice (-3)

Rice has the greatest scoring duo in the history of college football and the over/under is 72 points which means neither team plays much defense. I will take the top scoring duo in a shootout.

Pick: Rice -3

Oregon v. Oklahoma St. (-3.5)

Oregon played one good game all season and it was two weeks ago. They have been out classed in almost every other tough game. Oklahoma St. lost to Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Texas. They only lose to good teams and they blow everybody else out. Oregon is not a good team.

Pick: Oklahoma St. -3.5

Air Force v. Houston (-2.5)

Do you have the guts to bet against Air Force in the Armed Forces Bowl? Either do I.

Pick: Air Force +2.5

Pittsburgh v. Oregon St. (-3)

I have felt like Oregon St. has been skating on thin ice all year and the ice finally broke in the Civil War game. I don’t think they recover against a very good Pittsburgh team that is still trying to recover from their opening weekend loss to Bowling Green

Pick: Pittsburgh +3

Vanderbilt v. Boston College (-4)

Vanderbilt in a bowl game!? See Indiana v. Oklahoma St. for an indication of what happens to teams when their goal is just to make the post season.

Pick: Boston College -4

Minnesota v. Kansas (-10.5)

Vanderbilt = Minnesota = Indiana in 2007

Pick: Kansas -10.5

LSU v. Georgia Tech (-4)

Georgia Tech is well coached and they are playing this game at home. Not even Les Miles can convince his team that this is a big game.

Pick: Georgia Tech -4

South Carolina v. Iowa (-3.5)

Never, ever take a Big Ten school that is favored over an SEC school. It just doesn’t make sense.

Pick: South Carolina +3.5

Nebraska v. Clemson (-3)

Very similar to the Niners, the Clemson Tigers just needed to fire their terrible head coach to start playing well. Nebraska is still a work in progress but they are making progress. Normally, I would take Nebraska in this game but I think Clemson is just too athletic.

Pick: Clemson -3

Michigan State v. Georgia (-7.5)

The Citrus bowl is always worth watching because the SEC does not dominate the game as much as people think. (See Michigan against Florida last year). I think Michigan St. shocks Georgia.

Pick: Michigan St. +7.5

Ole Miss v. Texas Tech (-5.5)

Are Michael Crabtree and Graham Harrell sitting this one out!? How can a former number one team who only lost to Oklahoma be favored by only 5.5!? Lock number 2 of the non-BCS bowls.

Pick: Texas Tech -5.5

Buffalo v. UCONN (-4)

Buffalo avenges the loss by the basketball team and beats UCONN.

Pick: Buffalo +4

Tulsa v. Ball St. (-2.5)

How do you spell overrated? B-A-L-L-S-T-A-T-E

Pick: Tulsa

There are your picks for the non-BCS bowl games. Remember, my commission is 10%

Thanks, RT

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