The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

By Brett Samuels

With a few entertaining games and a few not so watchable games in the books, college football bowl season now moves to the games that matter most, and it all starts on New Years Eve.

One of the best matchups of bowl season takes place the night of December 31 when LSU and Clemson play in the Chick Fil-A bowl. This battle of the Tigers has the potential to be one of the most entertaining games of the winter in a classic matchup between a high-powered offense (Clemson), and a stingy defense (LSU).

And that game will just be an appetizer for what is arguably the best day of the year for any college football fan: New Years Day. It is annually the biggest day of bowl season and features the biggest matchups.

While some games have slightly less exciting matchups than past years (see Rose Bowl), others should bring the fireworks.

There are three matchups between the Big Ten and the SEC on January 1, and while the Big Ten has had a disappointing year for the most part, they can salvage their national reputation with wins against the always-dominant SEC. South Carolina and Michigan will play in what is probably the most evenly matched of the SEC-Big Ten games. Georgia would seem to have the edge on Nebraska in the Capital One Bowl, and Northwestern has looked like a better team than Mississippi State all year. Those two will face off in the Gator Bowl, therefore leaving Michigan vs. South Carolina as the potential rubber match between the conferences.

Those matchups and others will all lead up to the primetime matchup between Northern Illinois and Florida State in the Discover Orange Bowl. It is a classic David and Goliath matchup, and Northern Illinois quarterback Jordan Lynch, who put up Heisman worthy numbers even if it was in the MAC, believes his team has a shot to knock off the mighty Seminoles.

“They haven’t seen an offense like ours,” Lynch told reporters. “We definitely deserve to be here.”

Even with the element of surprise on the Huskies’ side its unlikely that they will be able to matchup with the athletes of Florida State for all four quarters. Look for the Seminoles to cap off the most exciting day of college football with a BCS bowl victory.