I usually love bowl season.   Even if it's the ugliest of games and a lop-sided mismatch, getting to spend four hours with two teams you're not familiar with and C-team announcers give you the chance to learn so much while cracking a lot of entertaining jokes with friends during the holidays.  I remember the night I discovered the Pistol formation, Christmas Eve 2005, Nevada using it in an overtime Hawaii Bowl against Central Florida, and just two years later was being utilized in the BCS title game by LSU.

This year, I'm not as excited.  For one, this is a somewhat less-than-inspiring slate of games from top to bottom.  Secondly, it's getting kind of hard to believe that things are going to get better in regards to this entire playoff thing.  There are too many contrasting philosophies on how to fix it, too much money tied up in the current screwed up system and greedy conference commissioners completely and totally owning the powerless NCAA.  It will most likely take an executive order from the president of the United States to actually fix this thing, finally letting us settle things on the field the way every other sport does.  It'll finally be time for people who say "But it makes it more interesting; don't you like arguing?" (Die) and "But if there's a playoff, people won't care as much about their big-time rivalry games!" (even though 99% of rivalry games don't have anything to do with the national title hunt, yet teams still want to win them) to disappear into the collapsing newspapers or darker corners of the internet and let us celebrate our wonderful collegiate football season in peace.

The best and worst of the 2008-2009 bowl season, Part One:

Best Bowl Game That Always Looks Like It'll Be Entertaining Even If It Ends Up Being A Rout Like The Last Two Years: Holiday Bowl - Oklahoma State vs. Oregon

Oregon finally patched things together after an early season coaching carousel to put up roughly a thousand yards of offense in the Civil War, knocking their rival Beavers out of the Rose Bowl.  Oklahoma State's three losses are to three of the best teams in the country, giving both the Sooners and Longhorns some of the stiffest challenges they've faced all year (Texas Tech, not so much).  Jeremiah Masoli and Jeremiah Johnson take on Zac Robinson and Kendall Hunter in beautiful San Diego, California, with the wild card being, of course, what fashion statement Phil Knight is going to try and make on a national platform.

Best Sign the SEC and Big Ten Are Having Down Years: Outback Bowl - Iowa vs. South Carolina

Really?  This is a New Year's Day game?  To Iowa's credit, they might be the most snake bitten 8-4 team in the country, losing by one to Pitt, five to Northwestern, three to Michigan State and three to Illinois.  Shonn Greene, the guy who would be a household name and Heisman candidate running back if he were playing anywhere else, has rumbled to over a hundred yards in every game this season, including 117 in the big upset win over Penn State.  You last saw South Carolina being comfortably handled by Clemson and obliterated by Tim Tebow, making it a sad state of affairs they are the fourth/fifth best team in the SEC.  Iowa is a slight favorite, and with the Cotton Bowl moving to January 2^nd and the Gator Bowl not kicking off until 1:00, you better find something interesting about this game, as it will be your only source of pigskin for a couple of hours on New Year's Day.     

Best Pre-Christmas Game In A Long, Long While: Poinsettia Bowl - Boise State vs. TCU

As great as this game should be, it really sucks for the Broncos to be sent here after going undefeated.  Not that TCU is not a worthy, more-than-capable foe, but to ninety percent of college football fans -and most pundits - a win over the Horned Frogs doesn't mean anything in the national picture because they're not a BCS team.  This is just a way of completely and totally neutering any claim Boise may have to a national championship.  If they knocked off Texas in the Fiesta Bowl, people would have to pay attention, but beat TCU two weeks before the other big games are played?  Oh, you can just forget about them.  I hate college football.

Best Chance To See A Couple of Fifty Spots Put Up Before Florida/Oklahoma: Alamo Bowl - Missouri vs. Northwestern

The Tigers are one of the worst "good" teams in recent memory, getting absolutely trounced in both of their big games.  The Wildcats are one of the least ballyhooed nine win teams in a while (probably for good reason).  What do they have in common?  Two really good quarterbacks (Chase Daniel and C.J. Bacher) and some really scary threats elsewhere in the offense (Jeremy Maclin and Tyrell Sutton) combined with some not great defenses (you've seen Mizzou in action, but Northwestern gave up 37 to Michigan State and 45 to Ohio State) means the scoreboard will be getting a workout. 

Best Chance To See The Football Equivalent of Someone Slamming Their Car Door Really Hard After A Bad Day At Work: Fiesta Bowl - Texas vs. Ohio State

Ohio State has quietly put together another 10-2 season (losing to the only two good teams they played, but hey, who's keeping track?), but now must face the wrath of Colt McCoy and a jilted Longhorn squad who think they might still have an outside chance at an AP championship (they don't, but keep on believing).  The Big Ten has lost their last four BCS games by an average of 22 points, and I don't see any reason to believe that margin is going to be a lot smaller in this game.  However, the ‘Horns did struggle with the OK State backfield duo, so maybe the Pryor/Wells combination gives them difficulties.  Here's hoping Tressel puts a quality anti-McCoy game plan together just to keep things interesting.

Best Chance To Probably Nap Away That New Year's Hangover: Rose Bowl - Southern Cal vs. Penn State

Penn State fans will tell you their team is more than capable of taking on the Trojans because they have balance and have been great all year and "But just that one overthrow against Iowa!..." and blah blah blah, but considering the collegiate version of Vince Young isn't on the Nittany Lions, I don't see any reason to think this year will be any different than the following:

• Iowa in 2002 Orange Bowl
• Michigan in 2003 Rose Bowl
• Oklahoma in 2004 Orange Bowl
• Michigan in 2006 Rose Bowl
• Illinois in 2007 Rose Bowl

If you want to tack other games onto this, consider every other big non-conference game Southern Cal has played in the last half decade under Pete Carroll: with very few exceptions, they're all complete and total routs.  "But Oregon State and blah blah blah!".  The Beavers have under .500 records the last few Septembers and still ended up flirting with ten wins each year; for whatever reason, they're slow starters.  Also, don't you think it was a slightly different circumstance playing at home, at night, on a nationally televised Thursday game than flying across the country still desperately trying to fill in all of the gaping holes left from the offseason's departures?  No difference at all?  Does anyone think the final score of Penn State/Oregon State played tomorrow would be even close to what it was in the second weekend of the season?  If we follow this logic that teams are static from one game to another for the entire season, Pitt is surely a better team than Penn State, since they beat Iowa and the Nittany Lions did not.

I would love for this to be a special game that goes down to the wire, but for Penn State fans to act completely indignant over where the line is set at or how the media isn't giving them a chance is just ridiculous.  If anything, it is karmic payback for touting your undefeated season with a month's worth of games still to play.  Beat the Trojans, then we'll talk.    

Weirdest Line Of The Bowl Season: Cotton Bowl - Texas Tech (-6) vs. Ole Miss

Maybe it's not that weird, but just really respectful of the quality season the Rebels had in their first year under Houston Nutt.  If Jevan Snead can string some drives together and keep Graham Harrell off the field, maybe they stay within striking distance, but people are only remembering the Red Raiders unit that struggled against Oklahoma and Baylor, not the one that curb-stomped Oklahoma State and Texas.  Unless the Mad Nutter has one more trick up his sleeve, I think this could become one of many statement games that show just how much better the Big XII was compared to the rest of college football this year.

The Sopranos Disappointing Ending Award: Meineke Car Care Bowl - West Virginia vs. North Carolina

For Pat White, a quarterback who has victories in the Sugar, Gator and Fiesta Bowls on his resume, this must be an incredibly anti-climatic way to go out.  North Carolina was an early favorite in this game, which is just ridiculous when you consider what White does to opponents unfamiliar with his speed in bowl games.  Stop by ESPN at 1:00 on December 27^th to pay your respects to one of the more entertaining and consistently great four year starting quarterbacks to come through college football in some time.

Best Chance For Les Miles to Prove All Those Haters Wrong: Peach Bowl - Georgia Tech vs. LSU

Other than Houston Nutt, no one has even come close to putting on a rookie head coaching show like Paul Johnson, who ended his season with nationally televised drive-bys of both Miami (Fl) and Georgia.  Unless you're a Georgia fan or hate the Yellow Jackets for some other reason, there are few things more entertaining than them just punishing people with an offense many considered unsustainable in the age of spread passing attacks.  LSU, meanwhile, fell off a cliff after their mythical title win last year, a comeback win over Troy away from 6-6.  I know a lot of people (me) said that Les Miles couldn't actually coach and would fall apart as soon as Saban's players started moving on, but this is happening a little earlier than even his biggest critics imagined, spurred on by some of the worst quarterback play in the country.  Perhaps he can put the month of practice to good use and shape Jordan Jefferson (who was competent against Arkansas) into his field general of the future, but he'll also need to shape things up on the other side of the ball, where the Bayou Bengals have given up 31 points five times or more this season.  (They also gave up 21 to Auburn and 24 to Mississippi State, which is really like giving up more than 40 when you think about it.)  I don't see how this is anything more than a really, really entertaining game to properly close out 2008.

Best Game To Get Away To Forget 2008 (and 2007, While We're At It): Hawai'i Bowl - Notre Dame vs. Hawai'i

Not too much to say here, as we'll cover so much more regarding the Rainbow Warriors in the next two weeks, but this will certainly be an interesting tilt to watch as you wait for Santa to show up.  Hawai'i finished the season strong, winning four of their final six and nearly knocking off Big East champion Cincinnati in the season finale, while Notre Dame drug itself across the finish line, dropping four of the final games, with only a late stop against Navy securing a win in November.  The Warriors open as a slight favorite, and when you consider the fifteen year span since the Irish last won a bowl and the home field advantage of their WAC hosts, that seems about right.