Sparky Duck's Bowl Game Contest

Sure, its Football, but it is also all about luck. Plus the winner will receive a $25 Visa Gift Card And the person that does the worst will also get a special prize from good ole Sparky Duck!

So, the rules. In comments, pick the winner of each of the 10 bowl games, and then the 2 tiebreaker questions. Pretty easy. As a special bonus, anyone that mentions the contest in there blog and gets on person to sign up will receive a bonus point. So, it means you can screw up one game! Deadline is 12/27 at 9 AM EST

The Games

1.December 27, Meineke Car Care Bowl
West Virginia
North Carolina

2.December 29, Papa Johns Bowl
Rutgers
NC State

3.December 30-Holiday Bowl
Oregon
Oklahoma St

4.December 31-Insight Bowl
Kansas
Minnesota

5.January 1-OutBack Bowl
Iowa
South Carolina

6.January 1 Capital 1 Bowl
Georgia
Michigan State

7.January 1-Rose Bowl
USC
Penn State

8.January 2-Sugar Bowl
Alabama
Utah

9.January 5-Tositos Fiesta Bowl
Ohio St
Texas

10.BCS Championship Bowl
Oklahoma
Florida

Tie Breaker 1

International Bowl Jan 3
UConn
Buffalo


Tie Breaker 2

How Many Yards will Sam Bradford (Oklahoma) throw for against Florida?

What we Don't need is Florida/Oklahoma

I love bowl season. It is the chance for some of the little guys to play the big guys. And I have been all over the FBA Bowl Site to see what T-Shirts/Sweatshirts I really really need.

I am excited for every game but Oklahoma Florida in the BCS Championship game. When oh when are they going to have a tournament. It is good enough for my boys from Delaware, why not the Bigger Guys? Oh yea $$$$$!!

The reason I hate Oklahoma Florida is because I hate both teams. I hate Bob Stoops with a white hot passion and I think Florida plays every big game at home and are a gimmick team. Yet, they are the 2 teams representing the College Football Championship. Yet, Utah and Boise St went undefeated. Yep, alot of sense.

Duck Soup Bowl 07 #2-Vehicle Day

I realized the other reason that I do not get to talk about all 32 bowl games every year, even though in my heart of hearts I mean too. These Holidays just wear the hell out of me! Oh well, on to the football.

Three more games on tap for today, with the Meineke Car Care Bowl, the Liberty Bowl and the Alamo Bowl.
Down in Charlotte, it will be Connecticut vs Wake Forest in the Meineke Car Care Bowl. One of the worst names for a bowl game by the way. Its an interesting meeting between 2 schools that have a much better tradition in basketball than football. Wake Forest still has an excellent defense and an offense that just enough to win a game, while Connecticut is a surprise of the Big East. Connecticut also features Tvyon Branch, who had two 95 yard kickoff returns for touchdowns this season, though they also had a very controversial win over Temple, that probably kept the Owls from being bowl eligible this year.

Off to Memphis next as the Knights of UCF face the Bulldogs of Mississippi State. Mississippi State is another team with an excellent defense and an offense that makes you wonder how they score any actual points all year. Miss State has another small part of history, as coach Sylvester Croom is the first African American head coach at an Southeastern Conference school. On the flip side, Central Florida has one of the best players in the country that you have never heard of in Kevin Smith. Smith is the leading rusher this season in all of NCAA, as well as the leading Scorer in the country. He is also an amazing game away (about 190 yards) of breaking Barry Sanders single season rushing record, though honestly I do not think it will happen against the Bulldogs strong front line. Ok, Ok, Michael has heard of him, I am not sure about the rest of you.

In an interesting twist, both of the first two games today are sponsored by car care/repair shop establishments, in Meineke and AutoZone. If I was a freak, I would say that was a sign directed at me and my crispy car.

Finally, its tha Alamo Bowl, usually one of the best matchups of the entire bowl season, down in San Antonio. Tex and the Cat Wrangler are off to this game today, and while they certainly will be pulling for Penn State as they play Texas A&M, they would have gone to this game is it was Indiana vs Baylor, just because there are not too many big time sporting events that wander there way to San Antonio, unless you like the NBA (yick). Penn State is Penn State, which means there offense is explosive or sputtering, based on the week. Anthony Morelli, the Penn State QB, kinda of really sucks, but his best wide receiver, Derrick Williams, is a pleasure to watch every time he touches the ball. On the Aggie side of the ball, Texas A&M got there coach fired this season, so I would say for sure it was a down year in College Station. Though former Coach Francione did not help himself in the keeping your job department, by sending out private newsletters to boosters, that allegedly contained inside information that would help out the newsletter reader if they were the betting kind of guy.

Oh and to finish up the driving theme of today, this years Alamo Bowl is sponsored in part by Valero.

I did so poorly on my last predictions, I am not going to bother this time, so lets bring on the cheerleaders!

Duck Soup Bowl 07 #1

So, your faithful football fan Sparky Duck is back again this year with another preview of the upcoming bowl games for 2007. Now, I hate the entire BCS system, its imperfect and its all about a money grab for some of the big conferences, but that does not mean I am going to take it out on the football games. But, there is no way I am going to be able to cover all of the damn games, too many games, too little time.

The bowl season kicked off with the San Diego Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl in well San Diego, with Utah defeating Navy. I totally blinked out and missed it. Last Night was the New Orleans Bowl, with an amazing win for Florida Atlantic University, there first win ever in a Bowl game. Football is obviously king in Florida, unless of course you are a Miami Dolphin fan.

There were/are three games today, the Papa Johns Bowl, The New Mexico Bowl and the Pioneer Las Vegas Bowl. I do not mind that I missed the Papa Johns game, though it was Jeff Bower, the coach of So. Mississippi, which makes it a tad interesting. The New Mexico bowl pit, surprise New Mexico, against Nevada. High scoring game that only the Mountain Time zone would care about. And finally, its the Las Vegas Bowl, sponsored by Pioneer, with UCLA facing BYU. Another interim coach here for UCLA after Karl Dorrell was fired at the end of the year. And again, another game that you really need to be a football fan to watch. I may check it out, maybe.

Of course, who doesn't want another glimpse of some UCLA Cheerleaders?




Predictions

Nevada over New Mexico 44-28
BYU thumps UCLA 35-10

On Campus Preview 12/1

Ok, I again missed last week's edition, but there really was not alot to talk about last week, except for the fact that the last undefeated team in Division 1-A football (I refuse to call it the bowl subdivision) is Hawaii courtesy of there win over Boise State. And the reason there are the only ones left is because Kansas lost to Missouri last Saturday. The Jayhawks could not really stop Tony Temple or Chase Daniel and probably also felt a bit of the pressure. And now the BCS could be a complete mess.

This weekend is Conference championship weekend, with title games in the MAC, Conference USA, SEC, Big 12 and ACC conferences respectively. Plus the game between Florida Atlantic and Troy is also a championship game, even though it was already on the schedule for this weekend, because the winner will get the Sun Belt title and probably a trip to the New Orleans Bowl.

Looking ahead, Tennessee will almost certainly lose to LSU, no matter how many rumors that are swirling about the Tigers coach Les Miles. Erik Ainge is just not a big time QB and that will show later on this afternoon. The ACC championship pits BC vs Virginia Tech, an excellent game that really does not mean too much to anyone outside of the Boston and Virginia areas. I guess BC will win, though the it will be close. Whoever wins will mean millions to the school, but little else in the grand scheme of the BCS. Central Florida and Tulsa probably have already kicked off by now, with the winner getting to go to the AXA Liberty Bowl in Memphis. Again, not a game too many people care about, beyond Michael at Valstool Box. I will pick UCF for his sake. Goddess knows who is playing in the MAC championship game, but sheesh, it started 11am in Detroit, now there is a great place to be in the morning isnt it?

There are 3 inportant games this weekend and 1 with great tradition. Missouri plays Oklahoma in the Big 12 championship game, Tex and the Cat Wrangler will actually be there since the game is being played in San Antonio. I am hoping the are pulling for Missouri, but since Buckeye is a Ohio State grad and this game would help The Ohio State University get into the BCS championship game with out playing a snap, I am not so sure. Its the big game of the day, and I am hoping for an exciting game, that will be as painful a loss for Oklahoma as possible, because there coach, Bob Stoops, can not suffer and fail enough for my taste. Plus, I have always liked Missouri, its the whole sad sack makes good story.

Also, West Virgina takes on Pittsburgh tonight in the back yard brawl. Again, alot of Ohio fans will be pulling for the Panthers, since this BCS system is so screwed up that they need a WVU or Missouri loss to advance. Ask an Ohioan the last time they hoped anything in Pittsburgh did well and you can see why this year is football chaos.

For big bucks, and to still remain the last undefeated team in the country, Hawaii takes on Washington in Oahu. A Warrior win will almost certainly mean they will get a trip to the Fiesta bowl and will send another WAC team back to the BCS set of bowl games. Plus, it is a huge game for Colt Brennan, who most certainly will not win the Heisman Trophy, but could surely get himself a trip to NYC in a few weeks as a Heisman finalist.

Finally, for the tradition, there is the Army/Navy game. This is one of the fiercest rivalries and even though Army can never really compete with Navy week after week, this game is always up in the air when it comes to a one time yearly battle. Its also a tradition in the Duck household, since Mrs Duck comes from an Army family, and I myself have always been a Navy fan. I have had alot to Quack about the last few years and I fully expect a Navy win, wrapping up another bowl bid someplace.

Yea yea, Oregon plays Oregon State, Arizona takes on Arizona State and USC tangles with UCLA this weekend as well, but most people east of the rockies could care less.

In the smart division, Division 1-AA, the playoffs continue with the QUARTERFINALS of the championship race. They do it right in 1-AA.

Alright, Im an Idiot

I had talked for weeks and weeks about how Florida was overrated, a gimmick team who scored touchdowns on end arounds and flea flickers and trick plays. I said the Ohio State would dominate them, and that I could not wait for this game to be played so Florida could lose by 50.

So, with 3 minutes left its 41-14 Florida!!!

I was wrong, I underestimated the power of the coaching mind that is Urban Meyer. I over estimated Jim Tressel. The Buckeye defense never showed up and the BCS championship series never got as exciting as the Fiesta Bowl with Boise State.

Oh well, my team was not even in the BCS series, and lost to BYU in the Las Vegas Bowl, so, the season has been over for me for a while.

How long until March Madness??

Buckeye Pride

Gee who do you think im rooting for?





and notice the nice little dig at Michigan in the lower left hand corner

Wolverine fans, Philadelphia Eagle Fans feel your pain

So, I was sitting down, well actually culling through some of my emails and a light bulb went off. The Michigan Wolverines, and there faithful of the University of Michigan, and Philadelphia Eagle fans have a lot in common actually.

What? Sparky? have you lost your mind? there are so many more Eagles fans that have sufffered as opposed to Wolverine fans...

Well, Imaginary voice in my head, which I really need to get checked out by the way, I beg to differ. The Big House holds over 100,000 people. Now, many of those people are season ticket holders and students, so, lets just say there are about a half a million Wolverine fans. The Linc only holds about 60,000 or so, and I am being generous, so I would say the Wolverines are pretty close in number arent they?

Well, Sparky, yes I agree they have the numbers, but, please, its college football, Michigan fills there schedule with the University of the School of the blind, not like the Eagles, they have the Texans as a cupcake!

Ok, yes I agree, invisible chorus, that yes, the Eagles play many more teams that are tougher, but, look at the schedule, Michigan has one or two games that make or break there season, as opposed to the Eagles, they can lose 8 and still have a chance at the Super Bowl, look at the Giants of this year.

Puhleassse, Sparky, explain this nonsense

Ok, no need to get huffy! Look at it this way, your an Eagle fan, you play a whole schedule, go 10-0 and you have to play Dallas to get into the playoffs. And the playoffs are much smaller, there are no second chances. Now lets say, the Cowboys beat you 5 years in a row, keeping you from the Super Bowl, and then you have to play a consolation game against the Denver Broncos. And every year, the Denver Broncos beat you in front of a national audience, like clockwork, like the sun coming up every morning. Wouldnt you think your suffering some?

Ok, so Michigan can't beat Ohio State, we know that already, but, look, they won a Championship in 1998, thats something, The Eagles havent sniffed a title since the 60's.

Yes, but, in 1998 they shared the title. So it was like a tie, which is like kissing your sister. And how much does one really love kissing there sister?

oh touche

Plus, cmon, we need to have a little sympathy for them, all people in Michigan have to watch on Sundays is the Lions. And god, unless your are a fantasy geek or Matt Millen's mother, your not watching the Lions every week.

Ok, you sold us Sparky, we share the Philly love with our brothers and sister who are alumni and fans of the University of Michigan.

I knew I would win! So, all you fans out there, especially my favorite Pirate, and my favorite new author, lets just try and bask in the glory of old victories and forget about the recent history. It makes life so much better, well that and bourbon.



Colleen, Lady Jane, lets forget this



And bask in the glory of this

A little more Sugar Bowl Reading

Now, its not exactly news from one of the most important players, not even close, since I didnt know who in the world Chris Jackson was. But he does a fine job in his Sugar Bowl diary of telling us about the hype around the game, as well as how its helping or hurting New Orleans.

Update:Shows what I know, Chris Jackson just ran for 7 yards on a key fake field goal to keep a drive alive.

Duck Soup Bowl #4

And I can honestly say, I have been looking forward to this serving of Bowl Games tonight since it was announced almost a month ago.

The 2007 AllState Sugar Bowl

#11 Notre Dame 10-2 vs #4 LSU 10-2

Major Victories
LSU
49-0 over Kentucky
28-24 over Tennessee on a last second touchdown in Knoxville
28-14 over Alabama
31-26 over Arkansas in Fayetteville, Ark

Notre Dame
14-10 over Ga Tech, shutting down Calvin Johnson of Tech who is a Top 5 draft pick
41-17 over Penn State
a 40-37 Miracle comeback that killed Michigan States Season
20-17 over UCLA
28-14 sinking of Navy

Reasons to Watch
1.Charlie Weis has a month to figure out how to beat the Tigers. He comes from the Bill Belichik coaching tree, so anytime you give one of Belichik's and Parcells disciples time, it could be scary.

2.Brady Quinn and JaMarcus Russell are probably the two top QB's in next years draft if JaMarcus decides to come out.


3.Szemarzdja does not drop passes. He's good for one circus catch per game.

4.Trindon Holiday looks like he might be struggling to be 5'5, yet he is the fastest player I think I may have seen since Deion Sanders. He will return a kick off for a TD.


5.Wordnerd lives and dies with LSU football, so we want to be able to feel her pain if need be.

Prediction:
Well, all week I was thinking its just LSU's time, they are better, stronger, faster. The Tigers could get off the Bus and be up 14 points just from the fact that they are sooooo athletic. But, Charlie Weis had time, lots of time, and LSU is not Ohio State. But, my mind just tells me LSU is too good, though it will be closer then I first thought. LSU 24-ND16

The reason I was up until 1 am last night

And the only 2 minutes you really need to see from all of the bowl games this weekend.

An Open Letter to Bob Stoops

or, how low do you feel right about now?

Dear Coach Stoops,

Now only did your team come out flat as a pancake last night. So flat and lifeless in fact, Boise State had a 14 point lead over your Sooners before everyone had even settled into there nachos. Then, after a hard fought comeback, your team fell for a Hook and Ladder, an option pass by a wide receiver and an statue of Liberty play. So, all your whining and kevetching and intimidating of officials did absolutely nothing. Aint it great? A team that claimed that is was a Top 10 team fell for 3 plays in the last 2 minutes that a Pop Warner team would not fall for. Well done!!


Boise St 43, Oklahoma 42. Oh you dont know how sweet it is to write that.

Reheated Duck Soup Bowl #3

First some housekeeping:
Nice win by Rutgers in the Texas Bowl last night. They really proved that they should be a top 10 team by that performance. And the Heisman campaign for next year has already started. Ray Rice sent the first salvo, we shall see how Darren McFadden does in a day or two. By the way, that was the first win by Rutgers in a bowl game, which is remarkable because they have been playing football for over 100 years and there have been some pretty remarkable bowl games. Does anyone remember the Poulan Weedeater, Jersey, Cherry or Nutmeg Bowls? (ok I made the last one up). So, nice job SUNJ.

Now, I could say that I would have predicted all of todays winners, but I think I would be lying some. though looking at CBS Sportsline, I did go 2 for 3, not bad. And, while I knew Kentucky's QB Boyd was pretty good, how many people would have thought the Wildcats would have won?!?!?

So, set out, enjoy Purdue vs Maryland and Minnesota vs Texas Tech, they should be good games, though since they have already started, I am not going to give you this whole big blowhard rundown.

I will ask though, if you do read this post, wander over to Turnbaby at As The World Turns because her team pulled the biggest upset so far in bowl season and that deserves some kudos.

Wow

34-10 Rutgers with about 9 minutes to go and the Scarlet Knights are still throwing the football. Nothing like thumping a big 12 team I guess.

Duck Soup Bowl Serving #2

Okay, I know I have been a tad neglectful when it comes to posting about these bowl games, but honestly, except for the Hawaii Bowl none of the games have been that watchable, but that changes today.

A quick shout to the Independence Bowl, which is pitting Alabama vs Oklahoma St against each other in about 10 minutes, so I am not going to go into a whole long thing about it. Alabama deserves to lose for firing Mike Shula

Now onto the setup for tonight

Pacific Life Holiday Bowl
9-3 Cal vs 9-3 Texas A & M

Big Wins
Cal-a half big win over and underachieving Oregon, the rest of there wins are fraudulent at best

Texas A&M-a 25-19 win over Missouri & a huge road win over Texas 12-7 which may have saved there coaches job.

Reasons to Watch-
1.Marshawn Lynch & DeSean Jackson- Marshawn Lynch is a bruising back who ran for over 1200 yards and DeSean Jackson is one of the best kick and punt returners in the NCAA's
2.The Aggies defense held Texas to 7 points and knocked the snot out of Colt McCoy.
3.Um, again, its San Diego, beautiful weather, beautiful vistas, beautiful people.

Prediction:
Aggies by 3

& dont forget about...


The 2006 Texas Bowl

7-5 Kansas State vs 10-2 Rutgers

Big Wins
Kansas State-a 45-42 win over Texas, when Texas was still dreaming of a national championship.
Rutgers-Rutgers thumped a bowl bound Navy 34-0 and pulled off a huge upset with a 21 point comeback to beat Louisville.

Reasons to watch-
Ray Rice-A Heisman trophy vote getter and Maxwell Award finalist is just a sophmore. He is a running back worth watching before he goes to the pros after next year. McFadden of Arkansas or Rice are the best running backs of 2006.
-Rutgers is the State University of New Jersey. The only reason I mention this is while I didnt go to school here, as a NJ resident, you always felt sorry for there football program, which was pathetic to the nth degree, so the fact that they are in a bowl game 2 years in a row is just shocking.
-Baby Girl is a fan
-Reliant Stadium is supposed to be very very nice.

Prediction:
Rutgers by 17

Both games are 8pm tonight, one on ESPN and one on the NFL network (though good luck finding the NFL Network if you have cable tv)

Horn Frog Stomp

So, it looks like yesterdays preview was pretty far off, though I did predict a TCU win, it seems based on looking at the recap from last nights Poinsettia Bowl that I was way way off on the laudeing of Garrett Wolfe. Oh well, cant be Jimmy the Greek all the time can you? Oh and thanks to Anthony for looking into the Horned Frog Mystery, a much better explanation then I would have gotten from ESPN

Duck Soup Bowl, Serving #1

ok, as a sort of public service to all of you out there that think the Sugar bowl or Orange bowl is something you put out for your company, I am doing a few little blurbs on some different bowl games coming up. I am going to try my darndest to do one for each game, though we will see. So, here's the first sip.

December 19, 2006

San Diego Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl

TCU (10-2) vs Northern Illinois (7-5)

Remarkable wins:
TCU
-Texas Tech 12-3
Northern Illnois
-none

Reason to watch
1. Garret Wolfe The best running back you have never heard of. He holds 3 rushing and scoring records for Northern Illinois
2.Its San Diego, the weather has to be sunny and warm. Nice to see when most of us are socked in by the cold.
3.Someone can tell me what a Horned Frog is.

Prediction
TCU by 10