We are less then 24 hours away from the first bowl game of the college bowl season. I’m not calling it the Capital One Bowl Week, because A. we are not sponsored through Capitol One and B. a week is 7 days, not 20 days. So we will be discussing it as the College Bowl Season. I plan on previewing every Big East team bowl game and what to expect. We will go more in depth for the Pitt-North Carolina game next week.

St. Petersburg Bowl – Rutgers vs UCF

This is the first bowl game that a Big East team plays in. It is also one of the first games to kick off the College Bowl Season, kickoff is at 8:00 PM on December 19, on ESPN.

Both teams are 8-4, with UCF representing C-USA. This game will pretty much be a road game for the Scarlet Knights with it being in St. Petersburg. Rutgers looks to extend their bowl win streak to 4 games, while UCF is just happy to be bowling.

Neither team has a high powered offense and neither team has allowed many points against them. Rutgers is led by freshman QB Tom Savage and sophomore RB Joe Martinek who will be running against the number 4 rush defense. UCF is led by senior QB Brett Hodges.

I don’t expect a high scoring affair, and quite frankly there is not much interest in this game.

Prediction: 24-10 Rutgers

Meineke Car Care Bowl – Pitt vs North Carolina

This is the game every Pitt fan cares about. We all know the game time, 4:30 PM, December 26, on ESPN. This game is all about redemption for Pitt, redemption after losing a shot at the Sugar Bowl or even the Gator Bowl. North Carolina is happy to be there thanks to Florida St. going to the Gator Bowl. We will discuss this game more in depth next week.

Konica Minolta Gator Bowl – WVU vs Florida St.

This may be one of the most interesting bowls this year. Bobby Bowden’s last game, a game he weaseled himself into, against the team he coached against for 10 years. This game is at 1:00 PM on CBS on January 1. Bowden weaseled his way into this game by saying he wants his last bowl game in Florida, and naturally the Gator Bowl is quick to snatch FSU up. I can’t blame them though. If you aren’t a BCS game, it’s all about the money and hoping you can make an interesting game. My problem is, what stops other coaches from doing this? What stops Joe Paterno from saying in his last year he wants to play in the Rose Bowl even if PSU doesn’t qualify in the BCS?

Logic says WVU should run away with this game behind star running back Noel Devine, but the heart says FSU pulls out an upset to send Bowden off in the sunset. WVU is 8-4, while FSU is 6-6. FSU was a weird team this year, they looked great at times, and other times completely awful. But then again that can be said about WVU as well.

FSU has a high powered offense, but who can forget the WVU defense who shut down Pitt and Cincinnati this year? I have to go with logic over heart.

Prediction: 24-21 WVU

Sugar Bowl – Florida vs Cincinnati

Cincinnati was 1 second away from a National Title game against Alabama, but now they have to take on Florida in the Sugar Bowl on January 1 at 8:30 on FOX.

This game will be very interesting, no Brian Kelly for Cincinnati, how will the seniors react and lead the team against Florida? For Florida, how will they bounce back from the ugly defeat against Alabama? How will Tim Tebow end his historic college career?

This game has all the storylines for an instant classic. Florida can put up the points with anyone, but they can play defense as well. Cincinnati, as Pitt fans well know, can put up the points in no time at all. Cincinnati doesn’t really play defense, lets be honest, they don’t. They are on the field for so long and they allow so many points. I look forward to seeing Tony Pike and Mardy Gilyard try to figure out the Florida defense. And lets not forget Florida lost their defensive coordinator to Louisville, how will this affect them in this game?

I look for a high scoring affair in this game, and it should be a lot of fun to watch. I just wish, and I’m sure every Pitt fan wishes, it was Pitt playing Florida and not Cincinnati.

Prediction: 45-31 Florida

International Bowl – Northern Illinois vs South Florida

This game takes place on January 2 at 12 on ESPN2, and honestly this may be one of the worst bowl games out there. I’m sure USF is not too pleased in going up to Canada, and who knows what is going on with Jim Levitt’s investigation right now.

Both teams are 7-5 and honestly I don’t know much more about Northern Illinois. South Florida is a weird team, they looked amazing at home, but on the road, they looked terrible.

Prediction: 24-7 USF

PapaJohns.com Bowl – UConn vs South Carolina

It’s a great story seeing UConn in a bowl game after the tragic death of Jasper Howard. They get to play South Carolina on January 2 at 2:00 on ESPN.

You know everyone is going to be pulling for UConn, except maybe people from South Carolina, but you have to love the story of seeing UConn here. But you can never discount a team coached by Steve Spurrier. Both teams finished the year 7-5, but UConn could have finished so much better. There were plenty of close losses for this team.

UConn has a much higher powered offense and defense then South Carolina and I see UConn’s up and down year to end on an up and they can truly remember Jasper Howard.

Prediction: 31-14 UConn

Overall Record for the Big East: 5-1.

So now I have a major gripe. Remember back when it actually meant something to play in a January bowl? When playing in a BCS bowl game or one of the other major bowls meant something? Where is the prestige in a January bowl now?

Simply put, there is no prestige in playing in a January bowl any more. There are simply too many January bowl games. There are 34 bowl games, too many to begin with but that’s a subject for another time. Of those 34 games, 14 are in January. That’s 41% of the games. 28 teams playing a game in January, some of those games are just: the 5 BCS games and a couple of the other major, classic, January 1 games. But seriously, the International Bowl, Liberty Bowl, PapaJohns.com Bowl, and the GMAC Bowl, that’s four games right there that have no purpose being in January. Simply put there are too many January bowl games that are meaningless and hold no tradition, why give them the prestige and honor of being in January?

I’d love to hear others opinions on this, leave us some comments to discuss.