BCS Bowl Game Lines Preview

The Bowl Games are set to get underway on December 19th with Northern Illinois (+12) taking on TCU. There are 32 games in all over a three week span. The climax is the five BCS Bowls including the national championship game. Here is a quick preview.

Rose Bowl Preview/Lines - Michigan (+1) USC

This Rose Bowl is a traditional Big 10 and PAC 10 match-up, and this is the best game to play short of the national championship game. Michigan (11-1) got edged out by Florida to play in the title game. Of course, the Wolverines only have themselves to blame after losing 42-39 at Ohio State in the last game of the season.

USC (10-2) also blew a national title chance by losing to UCLA in their finale, 13-9. It is a little surprising that the spread is so close despite this game being played in Southern California. However, Michigan fans always travel in big numbers, so the home crowd should be fairly evenly split.

Fiesta Bowl Preview/Lines - Boise State (+7.5) Oklahoma

Out of all the BCS games, this Fiesta Bowl generates the least national interest, but it should still be a good one. Oklahoma (11-2) won the Big 12 championship after Texas faltered, and now they get the return of their franchise running back, Adrian Peterson. Peterson will play after breaking his collarbone back on October 14th.

Boise State (12-0) is from the WAC conference and they are just the second team from a non-BCS conference to make a BCS Bowl. The other squad was Utah in 2004, and they trounced Pittsburgh in the Fiesta Bowl. You can be sure that the athletic directors from other small conference schools will be rooting for Boise State.

Orange Bowl Preview/Lines - Wake Forest (+10) Louisville

This is a pairing of the ACC and Big East in the Orange Bowl. The fact that this spread has jumped to double digits does not show a lot of respect for a Wake Forest (11-2) team that has had a miraculous run. It is the Demon Deacons first conference championship since way back in 1970.

Louisville (11-1) made this BCS Bowl thanks to West Virginia beating Rutgers in the last week of the season. This has been a very resilient team that lost running back Michael Bush for the year and quarterback Brian Brohm for a couple of weeks. Even with those injuries, this is the 3rd highest scoring team in the country.

Sugar Bowl Preview/Lines - Notre Dame (+8.5) LSU

This is a great match-up between Brady Quinn and the Notre Dame (10-2) passing attack versus the LSU pass defense. The point spread does seem high in this Sugar Bowl classic, but you have to remember that it will be played in New Orleans, just a short drive from LSU’s Baton Rouge campus.

LSU (10-2) made it into this BCS game without even making it to the SEC championship game. Like Notre Dame, their offense runs primarily through its passing attack. JaMarcus Russell is not the household name that Brady Quinn is, but he will have success against a mediocre Fighting Irish secondary.

National Championship Preview/Lines - Florida (+7.5) Ohio State

The “Granddaddy of Them All” used to be the Rose Bowl, but now all eyes are on the national championship game. There was some minor controversy surrounding this contest after Florida (12-1) was selected to play over Michigan. That has died down though, and everyone is excited to see this Big 10 and SEC battle.

Ohio State (12-0) was the number one team in the country when the polls started back in August, and it is the same three months later. Heisman Trophy winner, Troy Smith will try to engineer OSU to a perfect season, but he and the rest of the Buckeyes are not used to the overall team speed that Florida possesses.

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