New Year's Bowl Games

There are six games today, but for my money only two of them are really interesting.

Those games are the Sugar Bowl and the Rose Bowl.

First up is the Rose Bowl featuring the Pac-10 vs. Big 10. You have the Kings of College Football, the USC Trojans vs. the New Kids on the Block, the Fighting Illini.

USC is having a "down" year and obviously feel they should or could have been in a bigger bowl, if not for some injuries to key players. Illinois, on the other hand, has come from the depths of the Big 10 behind Florida cast-off Ron Zook.

This truly is a great battle between teams of different pedigrees. The Old vs. The New if you will. I am really interested to see how the Illini play in this game. I think they are in a good spot in this game actually. No one is giving them a chance, everyone thinks they have played over their heads, etc.

USC is giving 14 points to the Illini. To me, you take Illinois and the points.

The other game is the Sugar Bowl with Hawaii taking on Georgia.

Once again you have two teams of different standing facing off. Georgia, from the SEC, believes they could be playing in the National Title game. At the same time, Hawaii has been fighting for R E S P E C T all season long.

The interesting thing to me in this one is the motivation for each team. I really think Georgia is a much better team, but I don't know if they think they have much to play for at this point. I could be wrong, and maybe they come out to prove they should be playing in a different bowl. I really think this is one of the greatest challenges for the Coach Richt and his staff.

Meanwhile, I am sure the Warriors and Coach Jones will be fired up and playing for the respect they feel has been denied them.

Georgia is giving 8 points, and this is a tough one to pick.

I am leaning towards taking Georgia and giving the points.

What do you guys think?