Thursday
3 pm, ESPN
Ticketsmarter Birmingham Bowl
Boston College v. Cincinnati
Boston College is in that awkward phase where they fired their coach for being crappy enough to be in this game, and have already hired a new coach who probably has little interest in the current coaching staff, who are just out here trying to win a game. On UC's side Fickell is still pounding, with a chance for another 11 win season for Cincy, which ain't bad. The AAC was pretty strong this year, with several strong teams. By SP if you took out Clemson they were better than the rest of the ACC. Also, what is TicketSmarter? I clicked their website and it almost looks like a scam to get your credit card info.
7 pm, ESPN
TaxSlayer Gator Bowl
Tennessee v. Indiana
Thanks to some truly rotten luck, the Big Ten is 4-4 in bowls instead of 6-2 and now needs a Hoosier win to get above .500. Their task is to take down the mighty Volunteers of Tennessee. Perhaps the most puzzling movement I've seen this year was the cry for Jeremy Pruitt to win coach of the year in the SEC after going 7-5 with losses to Georgia State and BYU. I read one article that he led "the greatest turnaround in program history" after close wins over Kentucky and Missouri. In any event, Tennessee does play pretty good defense and the Hoosiers can move the ball, although they lost their offensive coordinator so how they move on from that will be a question.