This article is part of our Bowl Game Pick 'Em series.
Bowl season is upon us, so we polled some of our college football writers for their picks.
One bowl provided consensus – every writer picked favorite Boise State to beat Boston College in the First Responders Bowl.
A number of bowls had near-consensus picks. Isaac Buttke prevented consensus in three bowls. He was the lone writer to pick underdog Eastern Michigan (vs. Georgia Southern) in the Camellia Bowl, favorite West Virginia (vs. Syracuse) in the Camping World Bowl and underdog North Carolina State (vs. Texas A&M) in the Gator Bowl.
Texas A&M is the best bet of Greg Vara, who prevented consensus in the Pinstripe Bowl, picking favorite Miami vs. Wisconsin.
Jason Thornbury prevented consensus in the Las Vegas Bowl as the only writer to back underdog Arizona State against Fresno state. Chris Bennett is the only writer who thinks underdog Wake Forest can hang with Memphis in the Birmingham Bowl. Nick Grays is the sole picker who jumped on the Utah bandwagon in the Holiday Bowl against Northwestern. And Jesse Siegel is the only backer of underdog Virginia Tech in the Military Bowl against Cincinnati, while Erik Helm made the Bearcats his best bet.
Chris Morgan made Oregon his best bet vs. Michigan State in the RedBox Bowl, while John McKechnie went with the homer pick as his best bet, tabbing Georgia as a double-digit favorite against Texas in the Sugar Bowl.
As for the national championship, Alabama, as expected, earned a majority of the picks, but Clemson was
Bowl season is upon us, so we polled some of our college football writers for their picks.
One bowl provided consensus – every writer picked favorite Boise State to beat Boston College in the First Responders Bowl.
A number of bowls had near-consensus picks. Isaac Buttke prevented consensus in three bowls. He was the lone writer to pick underdog Eastern Michigan (vs. Georgia Southern) in the Camellia Bowl, favorite West Virginia (vs. Syracuse) in the Camping World Bowl and underdog North Carolina State (vs. Texas A&M) in the Gator Bowl.
Texas A&M is the best bet of Greg Vara, who prevented consensus in the Pinstripe Bowl, picking favorite Miami vs. Wisconsin.
Jason Thornbury prevented consensus in the Las Vegas Bowl as the only writer to back underdog Arizona State against Fresno state. Chris Bennett is the only writer who thinks underdog Wake Forest can hang with Memphis in the Birmingham Bowl. Nick Grays is the sole picker who jumped on the Utah bandwagon in the Holiday Bowl against Northwestern. And Jesse Siegel is the only backer of underdog Virginia Tech in the Military Bowl against Cincinnati, while Erik Helm made the Bearcats his best bet.
Chris Morgan made Oregon his best bet vs. Michigan State in the RedBox Bowl, while John McKechnie went with the homer pick as his best bet, tabbing Georgia as a double-digit favorite against Texas in the Sugar Bowl.
As for the national championship, Alabama, as expected, earned a majority of the picks, but Clemson was picked by three writers.
• Picks are against the spread (except the national championship).
• Best Bets are in bold.
• Losers are noted as such.
• Pushes are italicized.
Happy Bowling.
(Note: Chris Benzine and Edward Kensik were late additions.)
| BOWL MATCHUP | FINAL | JESSE | CHRIS1 | CHRIS2 | NICK | GREG | JOHN | ISAAC | ERIK | JASON | CHRIS3 | ED |
| Cure Tulane vs. Lafayette +3.5 | 41 24 | TUL | TUL | TUL | TUL | |||||||
| New Mexico Utah St. vs. N. Texas +9 | 52 13 | UST | UST | UST | UST | UST | UST | |||||
| Las Vegas Arizona St. vs. Fresno St. -4 | 20 31 | FSU | FSU | FSU | FSU | FSU | FSU | FSU | FSU | FSU | ||
| Camellia Ga. South. vs. E. Michigan +1 | 23 21 | GS | GS | GS | GS | GS | GS | GS | GS | |||
| New Orleans Mid. Ten. vs. App. St. -7 | 13 45 | APP | APP | APP | APP | |||||||
| Boca Raton UAB vs. N. Illinois +2.5 | 37 13 | UAB | UAB | UAB | UAB | UAB | UAB | UAB | UAB | |||
| Frisco SD St. vs. Ohio -3 | 0 27 | OH | OH | OH | OH | |||||||
| Gasparilla Marshall vs. S. Florida +2.5 | 38 20 | MAR | MAR | MAR | MAR | |||||||
| Bahamas FIU vs. Toledo -5.5 | 35 32 | FIU | FIU | FIU | FIU | FIU | FIU | FIU | ||||
| Potato W. Michigan vs. BYU -12 | 18 49 | BYU | BYU | BYU | WMU | BYU | BYU | BYU | ||||
| Birmingham Memphis vs. W. Forest +4.5 | 34 37 | WFU | WFU | WFU | ||||||||
| Armed Forces Houston vs. Army -3 | 14 70 | ARM | ARM | ARM | ARM | ARM | ARM | ARM | ARM | ARM | ||
| Dollar Gen. Buffalo vs. Troy +2.5 | 32 42 | TRY | TRY | TRY | TRY | TRY | TRY | |||||
| Hawaii Hawaii vs. La. Tech +1 | 14 31 | LT | LT | |||||||||
| First Respndrs Boston Col. vs. Boise St. -3 | Cancel | BSU | BSU | BSU | BSU | BSU | BSU | BSU | BSU | BSU | BC | BSU |
| Quick Lane Minnesota vs. Ga. Tech -4 | 34 10 | MIN | MIN | MIN | MIN | MIN | MIN | MIN | ||||
| Cheez-It Califonia vs. TCU pick | 7 10 | TCU | TCU | TCU | TCU | TCU | TCU | |||||
| Indpndnce Temple vs. Duke +3 | 27 56 | DK | DK | DK | DK | DK | DK | DK | ||||
| Pinstripe Miami vs. Wisconsin +4 | 3 35 | WIS | WIS | WIS | WIS | WIS | WIS | WIS | WIS | WIS | WIS | |
| Texas Baylor vs. Vanderbilt -3.5 | 45 38 | BAY | BAY | BAY | BAY | BAY | BAY | |||||
| Music City Purdue vs. Auburn -4 | 14 63 | AUB | AUB | AUB | AUB | AUB | AUB | |||||
| Camp World W. Virginia vs. Syracuse +1.5 | 18 34 | SYR | SYR | SYR | SYR | SYR | SYR | SYR | SYR | |||
| Alamo Iowa St. vs. WSU -3.5 | 26 28 | ISU | ISU | |||||||||
| Peach Florida vs. Michigan -7.5 | 41 15 | FLA | FLA | FLA | FLA | FLA | ||||||
| Belk S. Carolina vs. Virginia +4 | 0 28 | VRG | VRG | VRG | ||||||||
| Arizona Ark. St. vs. Nevada +1.5 | 13 16 | NEV | NEV | NEV | NEV | NEV | NEV | |||||
| Cotton Notre Dame vs. Clemson -11.5 | 3 30 | CLM | CLM | CLM | CLM | |||||||
| Orange Oklahoma vs. Alabama -14 | 34 45 | OU | OU | OU | OU | |||||||
| Military Cincinnati vs. Va. Tech +5 | 35 | VT | ||||||||||
| Sun Stanford vs. Pitt. +6.5 | 14 13 | PIT | PIT | PIT | ||||||||
| Redbox Michigan St. vs. Oregon -3 | 6 7 | MSU | MSU | MSU | MSU | |||||||
| Liberty Missouri vs. OK St. +8 | 33 38 | OSU | OSU | OSU | OSU | OSU | OSU | OSU | OSU | |||
| Holiday Nrthwstrn vs. Utah -7 | 31 20 | NW | NW | NW | NW | NW | NW | NW | NW | NW | ||
| Gator NC St. vs. Texas A&M -5 | 13 52 | TAM | TAM | TAM | TAM | TAM | TAM | TAM | TAM | TAM | TAM | |
| Outback Miss. St. vs. Iowa +6.5 | 22 27 | IOWA | IOWA | IOWA | IOWA | |||||||
| Fiesta LSU vs. UCF +7.5 | 40 32 | LSU | LSU | LSU | LSU | LSU | ||||||
| Citrus Kentucky vs. Penn St. -6.5 | 27 24 | UK | UK | UK | UK | UK | ||||||
| Rose Washington vs. Ohio St. -6.5 | 23 28 | UW | UW | |||||||||
| Sugar Texas vs. Georgia -11 | TEX | TEX | TEX | TEX | ||||||||
| National Champ | ALA | ALA | ALA | CLM | ALA | ALA | ALA | CLM | CLM | ALA | ALA | |
| RECORD | 20-18 | 20-18 | 20-18 | 19-19 | 23-15 | 15-23 | 16-23 | 23-15 | 21-17 | 18-20 | 15-23 |
THE PLAYERS
Jesse Siegel: Covers the SEC
Chris Bennett: (Chris1) Writes College Capper column; 2016 Bowl Picks champion
Chris Morgan: (Chris2) Covers Conference USA
Nick Grays: Covers the Big 12; 2017 Bowl Picks champion
Greg Vara: Writes College Capper column; 2008 Bowl Picks champion
John McKechnie: RotoWire College Football Editor
Issac Buttke: Covers the Mountain West
Erik Helm: Covers the American Athletic Conference
Jason Thornbury: RotoWire Senior Editor; 2011, 2014 and 2015 Bowl Picks champion
Chris Benzine: (Chris3) Covers Big Ten
Edward Kensik Covers Notre Dame
