Complete 2007-2008 College Bowl Predictions/Projections

The bowls were only announced Sunday night, but if people make pre-season bowl predictions, why is now too early to predict how all 32 bowl games will end? These predictions/projections were made the Monday after all the bowls were announced, so these can change based on injuries and academic ineligibilities, but as of now, here are my projections for each and every bowl game.

San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl

The San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl has the honor of being the first NCAA college football bowl game of the 2007-2008 season. The Poinsettia Bowl will be played December 20^th, at San Diego, and features two good teams in the Utah vs. Navy match up.

Utah (8-4) has had a solid season highlighted by an excellent defense that is 15^th in the country against the pass. Utah is solid against the run, and has more athletes on that side of the ball than usual. They have solid wins against Louisville, TCU, and a very impressive 50-0 shut out win over Wyoming. In addition, they took BYU down to the wire.

They look to face an 8-4 Navy team whose accomplishments include breaking the 43 year losing streak to Notre Dame, and their explosive offense is ranked #1 in the country in rushing yards and #8 in scoring. This is the most efficient triple option opponents have seen in years, and they can pile up points on almost anyone.

The Prediction: The problem here is Navy's schedule is beyond powder puff, they had to go to OT to beat a bad Notre Dame team, they even lost to I-AA Delaware, who put up 50 on Navy's D. In addition, they have one quality win over Air Force, but lost to every other quality team they faced (Rutgers, Wake Forest, Ball State).

Utah has a solid, though not great, spread offense to go with their defense, and although their defense is designed more for the pass than the run, I can't see them putting up less than 40 against a bad Navy defense, and Utah has enough athletes to pull out the win. Utah will win a shoot out, pulling away in the 4^th quarter, because Navy will not be able to pass to keep up.

R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl