College Bowl Game Picks 2011: First Impressions Of All 35 Matchups

A disclaimer: I love bowl games. Love them. I want more of them. If college football passed a ruling saying 5-7 teams were eligible for bowls, I would watch 5-7 Syracuse play 5-7 UTEP. I am very much for an expanded college football playoff, be it four teams or 16, but said playoff will not get my support if bowls are eliminated. In an oligarchy like college football, I love the socialist twinges of bowls. Only the ruling class can win the titles, but anybody can get to 6-6.

I am not bragging about this, mind you. Half-empty bowl stadiums should be seen only as half-depressing, and I am pretty sure that if I ever met a member of a bowl committee (especially for, say, the Sugar or Orange Bowls), I would want to swear off of college football entirely. I hate that 6-7 UCLA was granted a bowl waiver in this case (simply because they stole a spot from a Western Kentucky team that is a much better story), and I hate that we don't use the BCS standings to select the ten teams that will go to BCS bowls (instead of giving the committee a larger pool with which they can screw over teams like Boise State and Kansas State). I am not showing strength of character in loving bowls. But I love them anyway. I can't help it.

I love that UL-Lafayette had something to play for and celebrate.

I love that Western Michigan is (indirectly) representing Little Caesar's Pizza! Pizza!

I love, love, that Northern Illinois and Arkansas State are playing each other (even if ASU coach Hugh Freeze may be gone, and even if I have to wait until the day before the national championship to watch it).

I love Stanford-Oklahoma State. I love Baylor-Washington. I love Penn State-Houston. I love Florida State-Notre Dame.

I love that there are still over 100 hours of football to watch in the 2011 season. I love that, according to my picks below, I think almost every game will be tight and competitive, even though there's no way in hell that's actually the case.

With that in mind, here are some early bowl picks, both from the F/+ ratings and my own brain. The numbers will remain the same moving forward, but I reserve the right to change my own mind at least 15 or 16 times.