Friday Bowl Game Previews

Friday, Jan. 2, brings forth three bowl games, starting with the Cotton Bowl between Mississippi and Texas Tech, followed by the Liberty Bowl, and wrapping up with the Sugar Bowl. The games are staggered, so college football fans will be able to watch all three games without missing a beat.

Cotton Bowl

Texas Tech was hoping for a better bowl game, although the Cotton Bowl in front of the home fans isn't a bad way to spend the day after New Year's.

Everybody is familiar with Texas Tech and the Red Raiders' offense, which put points up at a 43-point per game average. The Tech defense is nothing to get too excited about, as they allowed 28 points per game.

Mississippi is a bit under the radar, but the Rebels have a decent offense of their own and a better defense. You can't go wrong in the long run taking the better defensive team as an underdog in big games, especially when that team has a decent offense.

4* Mississippi +4

Liberty Bowl

East Carolina raced out the gates, but cooled off during the season, finishing 9-4. The Pirates probably had higher bowl aspirations after knocking off a pair of Top 20 teams to beging the season, but were quickly brought to earth with losses to NC State, Houston, and Virginia.

Kentucky is one of those .500 teams that is here because of victories over some pretty bad teams, as they finished just 2-6 in the SEC.

The Wildcats' defense isn't all that bad, especially when not trying to stop the likes of Florida or Georgia.

With two above-average defenses, I'll take a stab on the under.

2* Under 42

Sugar Bowl

While people are making comparisons to last year's debacle with Hawaii playing in a major bowl, this Utah team isn't bad by any stretch of the imagination. The Utes have a well-rounded team and did knock off Oregon State, who won its bowl game over Pitt and was the only reason the USC Trojans aren't playing Tuesday for the national title against Florida.

Still, it's hard to back a team that scored just 13 points against TCU and New Mexico. Utah hasn't seen defensive speed like the Crimson Tide has and have to believe that will give them problems.

Alabama is often thought of as a defensive team, but the Tide averaged more than 31 points a game and they'll need to score some to cover the 9-point spread, which I believe they will.

3* Alabama -9