New Year’s Eve Bowl Pick ‘Em Update and Schedule

Well, the Anchor of Gold Bowl Pick ‘Em standings get an update, and jeturn is now in the lead, pulling 16 points ahead of RSFarley. Meanwhile, Import is making a big move after going 4-0 on yesterday’s games; ditto VandyFan1, who is up into sixth place. As for the rest of you, well, far too many of you picked Tennessee to beat Purdue. (I, on the other hand, went big-brain genius and not only picked Purdue, but put 19 points on it. I also had my second-highest number of confidence points on Wisconsin to beat Arizona State.)

Anyway! On to today’s schedule!

Gator Bowl: Wake Forest (10-3) vs. Rutgers (5-7) (10:00 AM CT/ESPN, TIAA Bank Field, Jacksonville, Florida)

Note that ESPN is actually still counting the Gator Bowl in the pick ‘em contest, and those of you who picked Texas A&M while knowing that Texas A&M was down to a walk-on quarterback (or you might not have known that, I don’t know) may have a pick registered for Rutgers now. Anyway, this is a pretty Anchor of Gold bowl game.

Sun Bowl: Washington State (7-5) vs. Central Michigan (8-4) (11:00 AM CT/CBS, Sun Bowl, El Paso, Texas)

This one’s a mashup of the Sun Bowl (between Washington State and Miami) and the Barstool Bowl (between Central Michigan and Boise State), the latter of which got cancelled, which you really do hate to see. Losing a bowl game that you sponsored and are streaming on a website that you own absolutely could not have happened to a nicer person than Dave Portnoy. Anyway, thanks to the Sun Bowl picking up Central Michigan on the fly to replace Miami, Central Michigan head coach Jim McElwain is playing in a bigger bowl game than Florida, which is kind of funny.

Cotton Bowl: Alabama (12-1) vs. Cincinnati (13-0) (2:30 PM CT/ESPN, AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas)

You know, one of the biggest tragedies of college football was moving the Cotton Bowl out of the Cotton Bowl stadium and into AT&T Stadium, a massive, bland, indoor shrine to Jerry Jones. Why this was done, I’ll never know. It would be like if they moved the Rose Bowl to So-Fi Stadium (I’m sorry for giving them ideas.) This is the first Playoff semifinal, and I am not prepared for the Narrative if Alabama wins this one in a blowout, which they probably will.

Orange Bowl: Michigan (12-1) vs. Georgia (12-1) (6:30 PM CT/ESPN, Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens, Florida)

I am also not prepared for the Narrative should Georgia win big, though I am absolutely here for the Narrative if Michigan wins. (As for the Orange Bowl, well, the Orange Bowl stadium was torn down, can’t really do much about that, and at least Hard Rock Stadium — the stadium formerly known as Joe Robbie Stadium — is an outdoor stadium. I am a firm believer that football was not meant to be an indoor sport.)