This article is part of our Bowl Game Pick 'Em series.
This year, we had an unprecedented 12 writers submit picks. Perhaps it shouldn't be surprising then that not one bowl provided a consensus pick. The closest to consensus was the Birmingham Bowl, as every writer save for Jason Thornbury gave up the 2.5 points and picked South Florida to beat Texas Tech. Among the South Florida backers, Chris Morgan was the most confident, making the Bulls his best bet.
Two writers, John McKechnie and Chris Bennett, picked Louisville, a 6.5-point favorite against Mississippi State in the Taxslayer Bowl, as their best bets. Chris Benzine and Travis Elliott were on opposite sides of the Alamo Bowl. Benzine took TCU (-2.5) as his best bet, while Elliott picked underdog Stanford for his.
Brad Berreman and Jesse Siegel backed big underdogs for their best bets. Berreman took the 15 points and Southern Mississippi against Florida State in the Independence Bowl. Siegel took South Carolina and eight points against Michigan in the Outback Bowl.
Nick Grays was similar, picking seven-point underdog USC to beat Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl. Nick Whalen, however, took the biggest favorite among the best bets, giving up 9.5 points to pick Auburn to beat Central Florida in the Peach Bowl.
The Liberty Bowl split the votes evenly, but Ethan Padway was sold enough on Iowa State (+3.5) to make the Cyclones his best bet against Memphis.
Greg Vara made College Football
This year, we had an unprecedented 12 writers submit picks. Perhaps it shouldn't be surprising then that not one bowl provided a consensus pick. The closest to consensus was the Birmingham Bowl, as every writer save for Jason Thornbury gave up the 2.5 points and picked South Florida to beat Texas Tech. Among the South Florida backers, Chris Morgan was the most confident, making the Bulls his best bet.
Two writers, John McKechnie and Chris Bennett, picked Louisville, a 6.5-point favorite against Mississippi State in the Taxslayer Bowl, as their best bets. Chris Benzine and Travis Elliott were on opposite sides of the Alamo Bowl. Benzine took TCU (-2.5) as his best bet, while Elliott picked underdog Stanford for his.
Brad Berreman and Jesse Siegel backed big underdogs for their best bets. Berreman took the 15 points and Southern Mississippi against Florida State in the Independence Bowl. Siegel took South Carolina and eight points against Michigan in the Outback Bowl.
Nick Grays was similar, picking seven-point underdog USC to beat Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl. Nick Whalen, however, took the biggest favorite among the best bets, giving up 9.5 points to pick Auburn to beat Central Florida in the Peach Bowl.
The Liberty Bowl split the votes evenly, but Ethan Padway was sold enough on Iowa State (+3.5) to make the Cyclones his best bet against Memphis.
Greg Vara made College Football Playoff semifinalist Georgia (-1.5) his best bet against Oklahoma in the Rose Bowl. But he didn't like the Bulldogs enough to win the national championship, going instead with Clemson. The Tigers won the support of four writers for the CFB title, but Georgia is the favorite among our group with five votes. Oklahoma got two votes, and Alabama's lone fan is Whalen.
• Picks are against the spread (except the national championship).
• Best Bets are in bold.
•Losers are noted as such.
•Pushes are italicized.
Happy Bowling.
| BOWL MATCHUP | FINAL | JM | NW | BB | JS | CBZ | CBT | GV | NG | JT | EP | CM | TE |
| New Orleans Troy vs. N. Texas +6.5 | 50 30 | TRY | TRY | TRY | TRY | TRY | TRY | TRY | TRY | TRY | TRY | ||
| Cure W. Kentucky vs. Georgia St. -5 | 17 27 | GSU | GSU | ||||||||||
| Las Vegas Boise St. vs. Oregon -7.5 | 38 28 | BSU | BSU | BSU | BSU | BSU | BSU | BSU | |||||
| New Mexico Marshall vs. Colo. St. -5.5 | 31 28 | MAR | MAR | MAR | |||||||||
| Camellia M. Tenn. vs. Ark. St. -3.5 | 35 30 | MT | MT | MT | MT | MT | |||||||
| Boca Raton Akron vs. FAU -22.5 | 3 50 | FAU | FAU | FAU | FAU | FAU | FAU | FAU | FAU | FAU | FAU | ||
| Frisco La. Tech vs. SMU -5 | 51 10 | LT | LT | LT | |||||||||
| Gasparilla Temple vs. FIU +7 | 28 3 | TEM | TEM | TEM | |||||||||
| Bahamas UAB vs. Ohio -7.5 | 6 41 | OH | OH | OH | OH | OH | OH | OH | |||||
| Potato C. Michigan vs. Wyoming -1 | 14 37 | WYM | WYM | WYM | WYM | WYM | WYM | WYM | WYM | WYM | |||
| Birmingham Texas Tech vs. S. Florida -2.5 | 34 38 | SF | SF | SF | SF | SF | SF | SF | SF | SF | SF | SF | |
| Armed Forces SD St. vs. Army +6.5 | 35 42 | ARMY | ARMY | ||||||||||
| Dollar General Appa. St. vs. Toledo -8 | 34 0 | APP | APP | ||||||||||
| Hawaii Fresno St. vs. Houston -2.5 | 33 27 | FS | FS | FS | FS | FS | FS | FS | |||||
| Dallas Utah vs. W. Virginia +7 | 30 14 | UT | UT | UT | UT | ||||||||
| Quick Lane Duke vs. N. Illinois +4.5 | 36 14 | DK | DK | DK | DK | DK | |||||||
| Cactus Kansas St. vs. UCLA +2.5 | 35 17 | KSU | KSU | KSU | KSU | KSU | KSU | ||||||
| Independence S. Miss. vs. Florida St. -15 | 13 42 | FSU | FSU | FSU | FSU | FSU | FSU | ||||||
| Pinstripe Iowa vs. Boston Coll. +3 | 27 20 | IOWA | IOWA | IOWA | IOWA | IOWA | IOWA | IOWA | |||||
| Foster Farms Arizona vs. Purdue +3.5 | 35 38 | PUR | PUR | PUR | PUR | ||||||||
| Texas Texas vs. Missouri -3 | 33 16 | TEX | TEX | TEX | TEX | TEX | |||||||
| Military Virginia vs. Navy -4 | 7 49 | NAVY | NAVY | NAVY | NAVY | NAVY | NAVY | ||||||
| Camp World Virginia Tech vs. Okla. St. -6 | 21 30 | OSU | OSU | OSU | OSU | OSU | OSU | OSU | OSU | OSU | |||
| Holiday Wash. St. vs. Michigan St. +3 | 17 42 | MSU | MSU | MSU | MSU | MSU | MSU | MSU | |||||
| Alamo Stanford vs. TCU -2.5 | 37 39 | STAN | STAN | STAN | STAN | STAN | STAN | ||||||
| Belk Wake Forest vs. Texas A&M +3 | 55 52 | WF | TAM | TAM | TAM | WF | WF | TAM | WF | TAM | WF | TAM | WF |
| Sun NC St. vs. Arizona St. +6.5 | 52 31 | NC | NC | NC | NC | NC | NC | ||||||
| Music City Kentucky vs. Nrthwstrn -7.5 | 23 24 | UK | UK | UK | |||||||||
| Arizona N. Mexico St. vs. Utah St. +3.5 | 26 20 | NM | NM | NM | |||||||||
| Cotton USC vs. Ohio St. -7 | 7 24 | OSU | OSU | USC | OSU | ||||||||
| Taxslayer Louisville vs. Miss. St. +6.5 | 27 31 | MSU | MSU | MSU | |||||||||
| Liberty Iowa St. vs. Memphis -3.5 | 21 20 | ISU | ISU | ISU | ISU | ISU | ISU | ||||||
| Fiesta Washington vs. Penn St. -2.5 | 28 35 | PSU | PSU | PSU | PSU | PSU | PSU | PSU | |||||
| Orange Wisconsin vs. Miami +6.5 | 34 24 | WIS | WIS | WIS | WIS | WIS | WIS | WIS | WIS | WIS | |||
| Outback Michigan vs. S. Carolina +8 | 19 26 | SC | SC | SC | SC | ||||||||
| Peach UCF vs. Auburn -9.5 | 34 27 | UCF | UCF | UCF | UCF | UCF | |||||||
| Citrus Notre Dame vs. LSU -3 | 21 17 | ND | ND | ND | |||||||||
| Rose Georgia vs. Oklahoma +1.5 | 54 48 | GA | GA | GA | GA | GA | GA | GA | GA | GA | |||
| Sugar Alabama vs. Clemson +2.5 | 24 6 | ALA | ALA | ||||||||||
| National Champ TBD | ALA | ||||||||||||
| RECORD | 16-23 | 20-19 | 13-26 | 16-23 | 18-21 | 16-23 | 17-22 | 22-17 | 14-25 | 17-22 | 19-20 | 21-18 |
THE PLAYERS
John McKechnie: RotoWire College Football Editor
Nick Whalen: NBA Editor; college football watcher
Brad Berreman: Covers the MAC; 2009 Bowl Picks champion
Jesse Siegel: Covers the SEC
Chris Benzine: Covers the Big Ten
Chris Bennett: Writes College Capper column; 2016 Bowl Picks champion
Greg Vara: Writes College Capper column; 2008 Bowl Picks champion
Nick Grays: Covers the Big 12
Jason Thornbury: RotoWire Senior Editor; 2011, 2014 and 2015 Bowl Picks champion
Ethan Padway: Covers the AAC
Chris Morgan: Covers Conference USA
Travis Elliott: Covers the ACC and SEC
