[Skidcom]

Hoping to keep this good streak going, here are Saturday's plays.

Little Caesar's Bowl - Perennial mid-major power Marshall turned in its most mediocre season in recent years, compiling a barely bowl eligible 6/6 mark. Worse, they were blown out not only at Va Tech (no disgrace) but also at UTEP, a team no one confuses with quality. In all, their road record was 2/4, not promising. The teams have one common opponent, Bowling Green, the Herd winning by 7 at home and the Bobcats by the same number away. Off that you'd have to give a slight edge to Ohio. In Marshall's favour is a narrow home win over SMU. Ohio had a much better season, posting an 9/4 record, and played at Central Michigan in the MAC championship game, losing by 10. Their most impressive efforts were in losing games vs. UConn at home by 7 and at Tenn by 11. In fact their road record was an impressive 5/2. Like the 3 like a teaser better

Meineke Car Care Bowl - This is actually a home game for Pitt, so their fans won't have to travel far to jam Heinz Field. Their opponent is an also ran in its conference. Both the Big East and the ACC are lacklustre groups. In fact, underachieving Pitt managed to blow their last two conference tilts and lose the Big East title. Choking in the fourth quarter seems to have become a hallmark of Wannstedt teams. They have two common opponents, both falling at N C State, Pitt by 7 and N Car by 1. The second is UConn, the Panthers winning at home by 3 and N Car at the Huskies by 2. Home field will be an edge for Pitt, but it says here that the Tar Heels are the better team, It's absurd to believe Pitt's lofty # 17 ranking is deserved. Take N Car +2. Teaser likely the play too

Emerald Bowl - Again, this is a battle between teams from two mediocre conferences, the ACC and Pac 10. The Trojans and their fans will have a short hop up the coast, which makes this virtually a home game. S C beat their one common opponent, at Notre Dame (who hasn't?), by 7, whilst B C lost narrowly. SC has a better road record and played an arguably tougher schedule. At their best the Eagles would give the men of Troy a tussle, but one never knows which version of B C will show up. Two of their 8 wins were against Kent State and Northeastern, hardly household names, and they were life and death to barely beat the dregs of the ACC, UVa and Maryland. Laying 7 is never a comfortable situation, but S C should cover.

Cheers and good luck

[BigTuna]

Flip the info on the NC v Pitt game. It is being played in NC. Home game atmosphere for NC

[BigdaddyQH]

Since when is a team that is going to it's first bowl game in 5 years considered to be a "perennial mid-major power?" I do not understand that at all.

Secondly, as Big Tuna correctly pointed out, the Pitt-UNC game is being played in Charlotte. To my knowledge, there is no college bowl game played in Heinz Field. So if you are basing your pick on that, you should really load up on UNC and the ML, because it is UNC that will have the homefield advantage.

Next, even though USC is playing in California, that does not mean that they will have a home field advantage. Everyone in the Bay Area hates USC, and those who will be showing up for the game will be pulling for Boston College. USC may get an even break in the fan attendance, but no more. Look what happened in the Utah-Cal game. There were more fans pulling for Utah, because Southern Cal fans hate Cal and Stanford. The weather is also going to be a factor here. 60% chance of rain. The biggest factor is whether USC actually wants to play or not. If they do, they easily win. If they do not, Boston Colege wins. It is that simple.

[RITZ]

totally agree bigdaddy- if usc decides to play it is no contest. everyone's play should be based on their opinion on that. if you think pete carroll is not going to let them just show up they will win and cover.