New Year's Day Recap
There were some great games on New Year's Day. Exactly what we all wanted to see in the Bowl games that matter. Most of the games came down to the final minutes. Lets check out what happened the last couple days.
Another shout out to Vanderbilt for their win on Monday over NC State. Congrats on getting their 9th win and second bowl victory in a row.
Georgia Tech took down USC. This was pretty ugly all the way to the end. Lane Kiffin may be on the hot seat heading into next season. This was a huge win for the ACC though, and congrats to the Yellow Jackets for salvaging a rough season.
Clemson defeated LSU. I picked the Tigers in this one (Hey, I couldn't go wrong with that pick, right?). Seriously though, I thought LSU's so called SEC talent would be the difference in this game...... I was wrong. Clemson had a great game and made, perhaps, the biggest impact for the ACC in bowl games this season. That put the ACC at a 3-2 record in bowl games heading into the Orange Bowl; where Florida State had a chance to win their first BCS Bowl since their 1999-2000 Sugar Bowl victory for the National Championship.
South Carolina made some big plays down the stretch and beat the much improved Michigan Wolverines. This game was way closer than expected. I was really impressed with how the Wolverines played and represented the B1G Ten in this game. It was a great game to watch. It had a good taste of everything you want in a bowl game. From MONSTER hits (Clowney's massive hit after a controversial first down by Michigan), to last minute scores to win the game. And, if you are a fan of seeing Spurrier lose his mind for a couple minutes, then you loved watching this game. However, I have give credit where it is due; Spurrier had another incredible season with South Carolina. Congrats. 
Georgia survives Nebraska. Yes, I used the word 'survives'. Nebraska had so many chances in this game to slam the door shut, but Georgia hung around long enough. Once Georgia got settled in the 4th qtr, there was no looking back for Richt and the Bulldogs. Nebraska represented the B1G Ten pretty well against the SEC, but in the end it comes down to W's and L's. And right now, the B1G Ten is having a terrible bowl season. Congrats to Georgia and Mark Richt on a great season.
Wisconsin falls short to Stanford. I really thought Wisconsin would be able to pull this game out. They had their chances but just couldn't get it done. Another game where B1G Ten fans can say they represented well.........but come on, you are starting to sound like Big East fans. Who cares how close the game was? They lost and that's all you need to remember about the game. Stanford finally got a Rose Bowl win (The Cardinal's first Rose Bowl win in 40 years). This marked only the second time in school history that Stanford got to 12 wins in a season. The other happened with some guy named Luck playing.... Not sure how long ago he played at Stanford.
Florida State shuts down NIU in the Orange Bowl. Well, it was kind of expected, right? The Noles' defense proved to be superior in this game and shut down Jordan Lynch. Speaking of Lynch, Anyone else catch his comments leading up to this game? Something along the lines of "we will have them on their knees in the 4th qtr". Hmmmm..... Yeah, that worked out real well. In fact, I think he did have FSU on their knees in the 4th qtr......because FSU was laughing so hard..... Real talk though, NIU played it close for about 2 and half qtrs (which I wasn't surprised by). Florida State had the stronger and faster players. That was the difference in this game. The Seminoles' defense was focused from start to finish. The offense, however, looked sluggish; which shouldn't surprise anyone because that's how they have looked the entire second half of the season. Either way you look at it; Florida State got their first BCS win since their Sugar Bowl win over Virginia Tech for the BCS Title, and Fisher got his team to 12 victories which tied a school record. Congrats to the Noles.
Sugar Bowl Prediction
Florida takes on Louisville Wednesday night. Is this going to be the biggest snoozer of the BCS games? It sure looks that way; No disrespect to Florida by any means...... But Louisville doesn't stand a chance in this game. If you took this matchup and put it in the Music City Bowl, then yes I'd say it could be a good game because Florida wouldn't care about that bowl. This is the Sugar Bowl and Florida will be ready to play. I hope Louisville wears their 'try-hard' pants. The Gators' defense will be swarming. I'm sure the Gators will be ready to ram the ball right down the Cardinals' throats. There is no way to really put a positive spin on this one. Gators win, 41-17.
Check back for more Bowl Predictions leading up to the BCS Championship game next week.
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