New Year's Day Bowls preview

Happy New Year everyone!

Hope 2014 is off to a good start for all. Enjoy this day with family, relax, and have fun.
Meanwhile, today features five bowl games involving BCS-conference teams, as well as a UNLV vs North Texas matchup that figures to be interesting, with two quarterbacks (Caleb Herring for UNLV and Derek Thompson for North Texas) who have each thrown for over 2500 yards this season.

Let's start off with the Gator and Heart of Dallas Bowls:
In the Gator Bowl, both top quarterbacks will not play due to injury. (Taylor Martinez with a foot injury, Aaron Murray due to a torn ACL) and two young quarterbacks will fill their roles. Nebraska has two 'backup' quarterbacks in Ron Kellogg III and Tommy Armstrong. I assume Bo Pelini will use both during the games. Georgia is without the best passer in college football history in a long time as far as production, and it would be a proper send off for him to win even though Aaron Murray won't play. Georgia is starting true freshman quarterback Hutson Mason, in his second career start. But the x-factor is Ameer Abdullah, since he's one of the more underrated running backs in the country. I know Todd Gurley is a great running back but I want to see what Abdullah can do.

In the Heart of Dallas Bowl, I'm really excited to see what each defense can do. North Texas has the better total defense, in points and yards. Both offenses are relatively balanced, and the matchup I'm looking forward to in this game is Derek Thompson throwing the football against UNLV's defense. Thompson has had his struggles with 13 interceptions this year, but UNLV's defense is not that great, allowing 31.5 points per game, which is North Texas' offensive output per game this season.

Now on to the Capital One and Outback Bowls:
Happy Trails JaDaveon Clowney. This guy is a beast, who burst onto the scene last year in the Outback Bowl against Michigan, with a monster hit on then Michigan RB Vincent Smith and expectations shot through the roof for him. I thought that was unfair to Clowney, but he's playing in his last game and I expect him to play hard. Wisconsin and South Carolina both have good offense and defense, and I think the x-factor is big-play ability. With Damiere Byrd of South Carolina out with a knee injury, the team that can generate more big plays will be the winner.

Iowa made a surprise return from mediocrity within one year after a 4-8 year in 2012 led to an 8-4 year in 2013. Ferentz did a great job this season considering all the questions surrounding the program and quieted many of his critics, in my opinion. LSU is without senior quarterback Zach Mettenberger, and in his place will be true freshman Anthony Jennings making his first career start. Thus the key to this game, for me, is LSU's offense against Iowa's defense. I'd expect the Hawkeyes to bring blitzes from all corners, so in the middle, and both sides, to try to contain Jennings. Anthony Jennings does have an arm too, so it's important to have discipline on defense. (Easier said than done). We know Iowa can score points, as evidenced by their three-touchdown domination of Nebraska in the heroes game. Whoever can stand ground on defense will win the game.

Now on to the BCS games:
Rose Bowl: Michigan State is back in the Granddaddy of them all. Stanford returns to defend its Rose Bowl title. Two excellent defenses. National relevance at stake. Stanford vs Michigan State, in the 100th Rose Bowl Game presented by Vizio.
Michigan State will be without Max Bullough, as most everybody knows, due to being suspended for a violation of team rules. (Violation not disclosed). I think the difference in this game is the quarterbacks. Both teams can run the ball, and will pass off play-action. The team whose quarterback makes key plays will be the Rose Bowl champion.

Fiesta Bowl:
Welcome to the party, Central Florida and Baylor!
Two teams make their first-ever, and only BCS appearances. Central Florida is the AAC winner led by junior quarterback Blake Bortles, and Baylor is the Big-12 champion led by a dangerous offensive attack led by junior quarterback Bryce Petty.
Central Florida upset then no.8-ranked Louisville in Louisville to vault its way into a BCS berth, but not without obstacles. 7 of UCF's 11 wins came by seven points or fewer, so we know Central Florida can win a close game. But Baylor has dominated in every one of its 11 wins, winning by at least 20 points in each. The key to this game is the defenses. Both offenses can score, so the team that can limit the big plays better will win the game.