It’s nearing the end of the college football season and that means it’s officially bowl season! Sure there are way too many bowl games and some matchups are complete snoozers but it does provide us with Football!
Last year’s bowl season was weird with so many games being canceled due to covid-19, its just nice to see a normal schedule of games this year. So let’s take a look at the matchups from each bowl game and give it a watchability score on a scale of 0–3. 0 means don’t even waste your time watching, 1 is considered not entertaining and probably shouldn’t waste your time watching, 2 is the game is intriguing and worth watching, and 3 is can’t miss a game.
Also, If you want to have more fun with the Bowl games join the Saturday Sports Report Confidence Bowl Pickem game on ESPN, just click on the Saturday Sports Report and sign up. You pick the winner of the game and put a confidence value of 1-44. 1 is the least confidence, 44 is the most confidence and you must use every number from 1-44 and the number can only be used once. If you get the game right you get the point value and whoever has the most points at the end wins and you could win a prize!
But with that being said let’s take a look at the Bowl Games
Toledo vs Middle Tennessee State- Bahamas Bowl: December 17, 12 pm start time- Location Nassau Bahamas
Toledo is coming into this game with a 7-5 record while Middle Tennessee State is 6-6 to kick off the bowl season this game features two mediocre teams.
Other than for the nice images of the beautiful beaches and to see the sunny warm weather this game isn’t too appealing and I would say unless you don’t have anything better to do I would say pass on watching this game.
Watchability Score- 1
Northern Illinois vs Coastal Carolina Cure Bowl: December 17, 6 pm start time- Location Orlando Florida
Coastal Carolina is coming into this game at 10-2 while Nothern Illinois is coming into this matchup at 9-4. Northern Illinois really had a nice bounce-back season after having a done year the year before. Coastal Carolina once again put together a really strong season.
I feel like overall this can be a pretty entertaining game that might be worth tuning in on at least for some of the action as both teams are capable of putting up some points.
Watchability Score- 2
Western Kentucky vs App State: Boca Raton Bowl December 18, 11 am start time- Location Boca Raton Florida
Western Kentucky is 8-5 and App State is 10-3 and if you like a team that likes to spread the football and throw it around then Western Kentucky offense is one you would like to watch as they very rarely look to run the football and they like to pass it any chance they get as they average 436 passing yards a game and they can put up a lot of points.
App state is a team that can also put up points as they are 24th in the country for points per game, so I look for this game to be pretty high scoring, and if you like points this game should have a lot of scoring.
Watchability Score- 2
UTEP VS Fresno State: New Mexico Bowl December 18, 2:15 pm start time- Location Albuquerque New Mexico
UTEP is entering this game at 7-5 and Fresno State is entering the game at 9-3. Fresno State will not have their head coach as Kalen DoBoer left to coach Washington State and their QB is out of this game, so a lot is unknown heading into this matchup for Fresno State.
Overall, not very much excitement for this game and I wouldn’t recommend watching it.
Watchability Score- 1
BYU vs UAB: Independence Bowl December 18, 3:30 pm start time- Location Shreveport Louisiana
Despite losing Zach Wilson to the NFL draft the BYU Cougars haven’t skipped a beat without him as they have won 10 games this year and they will take on UAB who is coming into this game with an 8-4 record.
UAB has gotten to bowl eligibility the past 4 seasons now and have done a nice job building themselves into a solid football program but they have a tall task against them having to face BYU and I think this game will be a blowout.
Watchability- 1
Eastern Michigan vs Liberty: Lending Tree Bowl December 18, 5:45 pm start time- Location Mobile Alabama
Eastern Michigan is 7-5 coming into this game and has become bowl eligible for the first time since 2019 and offense that can score as they average 31 points per game.
Eastern Michigan will take on LIberty who is also 7-5 and score around 31 points per game. This game on paper appears to be a pretty evenly matchup but the difference here is the Liberty Quarterback Malik Williams who is a future NFL draft pick and think he will be the difference in this game and the reason why you might want to tune in.
Watchability- 2
Utah State vs Oregon State: Jimmy Kimmel LA Bowl December 18, 7:30 pm start time- Location Inglewood California
Utah State enters this game 10-3 on the year and just beat the breaks off of San Diego St in the Mountain West Conference Championship game. They are a balanced team that can pass the ball as they are ranked 15th in the country for passing yards per game but also are decent at running the football as they are 80th in the country in that category and because of their balance they are tough to beat.
Oregon State comes into this game with a 7-5 record and they are a team that loves to run the football as they are 12th in the nation for rushing yards per game. For them to be in this one they have to have success on the ground because if they fall behind and have to change from their ground and pound philosophy it will be tough for them to win.
Overall, this game does not excite me that much.
Watchability- 1
Louisiana vs Marshall: R+L R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl December 18, 9:15 pm start time- Location New Orleans
Louisiana comes into this game at 12-1 and won’t have head coach Billy Napier who left to coach the Flordia Gators, but the Rajun Cajuns are a deep football team and should be ready to go in this one.
Marshall on the other hand is 7-5 on the year as they started off with a 2-3 record but straighten things out and finished the year 5-2.
There are potential NFL players on both rosters but in the end, I do think this game will be one-sided and the Rajun Cajuns should win this game without having Napier there.
Watchability- 1
Old Dominion vs. Tulsa: Myrtle Beach Bowl December 20, 2:30 start time- Location Myrtle Beach SC
Old dominion enters this game 6-6 and so does Tulsa not going to spend a lot of time on this one but this game is a snoozer.
Watchability- 0
Kent State vs. Wyoming: Famous Idaho Potato Bowl December 21, 3:30 pm start time- Location Boise Idaho
Kent State enters this game with a 7-6 record and they do have some playmakers on offense so they can put up a good amount of points.
They will be taking on Wyoming who is 6-6 and bowl eligible for the first time since Josh Allen’s final year there in the 16-17 season.
Overall another non- exciting game that I would recommend to do something else and not watch this game.
Watchability – 0
UTSA vs San Diego State: Tropical Smoothie Café Frisco Bowl December 21, 7:30 pm start time- Location Frisco Texas
UTSA comes into this game with a 12-1 record and really had a strong year as they average nearly 38 points per game while allowing only 23 points per game. The points per game total are 12th in the country so this roadrunner has an explosive offense.
But the Roadrunners are playing a strong defensive team in the Aztecs that allows just 20 per game and that is 20th in the nation. So, Explosive offense vs a solid defense which one is going to give. San Diego State just got steamed rolled in their conference game so they will be looking to bounce back from that and this one can be a sneaky good game to watch on this day.
Watchability- 3
Army vs Missouri: Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl December 22, 8:00 pm start time- Fort Worth Texas
Army enters this game at 8-3 as they put together another strong season as they are 19th in the country for ppg and are second in the country at running the football. Their ability to move the ball upfield with the run game and how they control the clock makes them extremely difficult to beat.
Missouri is coming into the game at 6-6 and in my opinion, are overmatched in this game as I think they will be able to stop the run and see Army winning this game by 10+ points
Watchability- 1
Miami Ohio vs North Texas: Frisco Football Classic December 23, 3:30 pm start time- Frisco Texas
Snoozer. Pair of two 6-6 teams that are not very exciting, I would pass.
Watchability- 0
Florida vs UCF: Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl, December 23, 7:00 pm start time- Tampa Florida
Florida had a very disappointing season and it resulted in Dan Mullen losing his job. The gators had to win their final game against Florida State to become bowl eligible and they pulled out a close victory.
Central Florida is coming into this game at 8-4 another solid season by UCF but they aren’t as sharp as they were a couple of years back. They got off to a slow start this season and turned it on the final 6 weeks going 5-1 in that span.
Overall, I think this is not the most exciting game to watch but might be worth giving a try watching with two well known football programs squaring off.
Watchability- 1
Memphis vs Hawaii: EasyPost Hawaii Bowl, December 24, 8:00 pm start- Location Honolulu Hawaii
Memphis is 6-6 and Hawaii is 6-7 this is not an exciting game by any means but since they aren’t many sports on Christmas Eve and I don’t want to watch 24 hours of the Christmas story I will probably tune in for a little bit of this game.
But really this is not a very exciting game since it’s the only game on for the day that’s helping its watchability score.
Watchability- 1
Ball State vs Georgia State: TaxAct Camellia Bowl December 25, 2:30 pm
Christmas day football usually would sound exciting but this game doesn’t create a lot of buzz. Ball State is 6-6 and Georgia State is 7-5.
With a full slate of NBA games on Christmas day that is what I will be doing so watching this game will not happen for me but being the only college football game on for the day helps the watchability score here.
Watchability- 1
Part two of the next set of bowl games will come out next week! remember to sign up for the confident pickem bowl mania game on ESPN by clicking on this link https://fantasy.espn.com/games/college-football-bowl-mania-2021/group?id=93fe9a6a-100e-45b0-8f29-c1bdddea08b9&joining=true
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