We're entering the home stretch for the college football season. Monday will see the first Power Five teams play bowl games. It starts at 11 a.m. when Mississippi State mercifully concludes its losing season with a 6-6 MAC team. Maryland will also get the Big Ten started in the Quick Lane Bowl on Monday as well.
The action gradually increases in intensity before the New Year's Six games start on Friday with the Orange Bowl. This guide will get you through Thursday, starting with today's games.
Monday
Miami (OH) vs. Mississippi State [St. Petersburg Bowl] (ESPN, 11 a.m.). Today might be the worst day for bowl games in the entire history of college football. No team playing today is better than 6-6.
A 6-6 MAC team will play a 5-7 SEC team in Tropicana Field because there are too many damn bowl games and not enough bowl-eligible, let alone watchable, teams for them.
This game should be nearing its conclusion when this guide goes live. Mississippi State is a two-touchdown favorite, but it'd be awfully embarrassing for an SEC team to lose to a Sun Belt (South Alabama) and MAC team in the same season.
Maryland vs. Boston College [Quick Lane Bowl] (ESPN, 2:30 p.m.).
Maryland is the first Big Ten team on the board in the bowl season when it travels to Detroit, which is the Big Ten's punishment for the lowest-tier bowl-eligible team. The Terrapins and Eagles used to share a division in the ACC before Maryland's transition to the Big Ten in 2014.
Incidentally, D.J. Durkin and Steve Addazio used to share a spot on the same coaching staff in 2010. Both were assistants on Urban Meyer's last Florida Gators squad.
NC State vs. Vanderbilt [Independence Bowl] (ESPN2, 5 p.m.). Two 6-6 teams play in Shreveport, Louisiana. This is the SEC's version of Detroit, though Vanderbilt's faithful are unlikely to care. They're bowling for the first time in Derek Mason's tenure in Vanderbilt.
Vegas likes NC State by six in this contest. Both last met in the 2012 Music City Bowl, which Vanderbilt won by 14 points.
Tuesday
Army vs. North Texas [Heart of Dallas Bowl] (ESPN, 12 p.m.). Army is 7-5 and bowling for the first time since 2010. It's only the second bowl game for Army in 20 years.
Army fans will be happy to be here as a result but there'll be some pressure to beat North Texas. The Mean Green are 5-7 this year and are playing this game because there are too many damn bowl games and not enough bowl-eligible teams for them.
Army is an 11-point favorite.
Temple vs. Wake Forest [Military Bowl] (ESPN, 3:30 p.m.). Temple appears to be the first ranked team to play a bowl game so far. The CFP No. 24 American Athletic Conference Champion Owls will play a Wake Forest team who are eager for a win, or really anything to help put the "Wakeyleaks" scandal behind it.
Minnesota vs. Washington State [Holiday Bowl] (ESPN, 7 p.m.). The Big Ten has a long history with the Holiday Bowl. It's fortunate the bowl game is back in the league's schedule.
We last saw Mike Leach on the sideline getting routed in the Apple Cup. Minnesota should feel his wrath. (James Snook-USA TODAY Sports)
Expect the broadcast team to bring up Minnesota's curious "boycott" that jeopardized Minnesota's participation in this game. The football team was never going to force the university president or other administrators to derail standardized operating procedures for allegations of student misconduct, but Minnesota's players seemed to have gained some expressive utility in the exercise.
Washington State is an 11-point favorite and should have little difficulty dispatching a Minnesota team hobbled by the suspension of 10 players and lost practice time.
Boise State vs. Baylor [Cactus Bowl] (ESPN, 10:15 p.m.). Both had eyes for so much more this season. Boise State started 7-0 and Baylor started 6-0. Boise State lost to Wyoming and cost itself a shot at the Mountain West Conference Championship Game as a result. Baylor, on the other hand, lost six-straight.
Boise State is favored by eight and should more than cover. It'll be the final door to shut on Baylor's status as college football's nouveau riche under Art Briles.
Baylor will break in Matt Rhule, former Temple coach, next year.
Wednesday
Pittsburgh vs. Northwestern [Pinstripe Bowl] (ESPN, 2 p.m.). The Pinstripe Bowl has carved out a nice place in the roster of Big Ten bowl games. The field dimensions aren't perfect, but they're better than the Wrigley Field experiment in 2010.
The games have delivered as well. Since the Big Ten's association with the bowl game started in 2014, the contest gave us two thrilling overtime contests. Penn State beat Boston College by a point in 2014 while Duke beat Indiana by a field goal last year.
Pittsburgh is favored by six this game. Panthers' fans would be elated with a win. It wasn't too long ago that its bowl tradition was taking an interim coach to Birmingham every year.
College football fans should expect big things from Mark Richt next year even if Brad Kaaya might be leaving for the NFL. (Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports)
West Virginia vs. Miami [Russell Athletic Bowl] (ESPN, 5:30 p.m.). Former Big East teams clash in Orlando. Mark Richt will be short-handed this contest. He suspended seven players for "failing to meet the standards of expectations set by the program." That alone should put Miami behind the eight-ball in this game.
West Virginia is a 10-win team this year but its schedule doesn't reveal a quality win. Its non-conference included a bad Missouri team, Youngstown State, and a decent BYU team in Landover, Maryland. Its two losses came against the Big XII's best—Oklahoma and Oklahoma State.
We could afford a similar qualifier to Miami, though. The 8-4 Hurricanes routed an 8-4 Pittsburgh team that handed Clemson its only loss this season. However, Miami had that four-game slide against the best ACC teams it played (Florida State, North Carolina, at Virginia Tech). It even lost to Notre Dame for good measure, a loss that hasn't aged well since the season ended.
The Mountaineers are three-point favorites.
Indiana vs. Utah [Foster Farms Bowl] (FOX, 8:30 p.m.). Indiana is taking an interim coach into a bowl game in which it is somehow just a seven-point underdog. We'll get our first glimpse of Tom Allen. Ohio State will see him at the beginning of the 2017 season.
Texas A&M vs. Kansas State [Texas Bowl] (ESPN, 9 p.m.). It's the second conference reunion of the day. Former Big XII teams will clash in the Texas Bowl. It's essentially a home game for Texas A&M, though. Houston is about an hour and a half from College Station.
Thursday
South Florida vs. South Carolina [Birmingham Bowl] (ESPN, 2 p.m.). Will Muschamp's squad rallied from a 2-4 start to finish 6-6 and guarantee a bowl berth. It'll get the 11-2 South Florida Bulls who will be without former head coach, Willie Taggart. Taggart is the new coach at Oregon.
South Florida is an 11-point favorite, but expect a South Carolina win in Birmingham.
Justin Fuente brought the Hokies to the cusp of their first ACC championship since 2010. That's not a bad debut. (Logan Bowles-USA TODAY Sports)
Arkansas vs. Virginia Tech [Belk Bowl] (ESPN, 5:30 p.m.). This might be college football internet's favorite bowl game. It's far more popular on social media than the game's ratings every year would suggest.
Bert will look to remain undefeated in bowl games as Arkansas' coach. He's 2-0 so far with a 24-point win over Texas and a 22-point win over Kansas State in last season's Liberty Bowl.
The ACC runner-up Hokies could spoil that as seven-point favorites in this game. There's reason for optimism for Justin Fuente's program, notwithstanding the disappointing loss to Clemson in the ACC Championship Game.
Oklahoma State vs. Colorado [Alamo Bowl] (ESPN, 9 p.m.). Former Big XII foes will meet for the first time since 2009. Oklahoma State won that game over a three-win Colorado program by three points in Stillwater.
Both the Cowboys and Buffaloes lost conference championship games, of sorts. Colorado won its first Pac-12 North championship, completing an impressive turnaround since it entered the Pac-12 as by far its most weak and feeble member. However, Washington smashed it en route to the playoff. The beatdown was so bad it cost Colorado the fallback option of the Rose Bowl.
The Big XII has no conference championship this year, but Bedlam effectively was it. The winner went to Sugar Bowl. That happened to be Oklahoma. Oklahoma State will settle for a season-ending contest in San Antonio.
Colorado is a three-point favorite and could secure its first 11-win season since 1994. Only Bill McCartney had done that as Colorado coach.
