Bowl Game Pick 'Em: The Writers Pick the Bowls

Bowl Game Pick 'Em: The Writers Pick the Bowls

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.

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

Bowl season is upon us, so we polled some of our college football writers for their picks.

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 NTNT
Cure
W. Kentucky vs.
Georgia St. -5

17
27
WK GSU WKWKWKWKWKWKWKWKWK GSU
Las Vegas
Boise St. vs.
Oregon -7.5

38
28
BSU BSU BSU OREOREOREORE BSU ORE BSU BSU BSU
New Mexico
Marshall vs.
Colo. St. -5.5

31
28
MAR CSUCSUCSUCSU MAR CSUCSUCSUCSU MAR CSU
Camellia
M. Tenn. vs.
Ark. St. -3.5

35
30
ARKARKARK MT MT ARK MT ARKARKARK MT MT
Boca Raton
Akron vs.
FAU -22.5

3
50
FAU FAU FAU FAU AK FAU FAU FAU AK FAU FAU FAU
Frisco
La. Tech vs.
SMU -5

51
10
LT SMUSMU LT SMUSMUSMUSMUSMUSMUSMU LT
Gasparilla
Temple vs.
FIU +7

28
3
TEM FIUFIUFIU TEM FIUFIUFIUFIUFIUFIU TEM
Bahamas
UAB vs.
Ohio -7.5

6
41
OH UAB OH UAB OH UAB OH UAB OH UAB OH OH
Potato
C. Michigan vs.
Wyoming -1

14
37
CMU WYM WYM WYM WYM WYM CMUCMU WYM WYM WYM WYM
Birmingham
Texas Tech vs.
S. Florida -2.5

34
38
SF SF SF SF SF SF SF SF TT SF SF SF
Armed Forces
SD St. vs.
Army +6.5

35
42
SDSDSDSD ARMY SDSDSDSD ARMY SDSD
Dollar General
Appa. St. vs.
Toledo -8

34
0
TOLTOLTOLTOLTOLTOL APP TOL APP TOLTOLTOL
Hawaii
Fresno St. vs.
Houston -2.5

33
27
HOUHOU FS FS HOU FS HOU FS HOU FS FS FS
Dallas
Utah vs.
W. Virginia +7

30
14
WVWV UT WVWV UT WV UT WVWV UT WV
Quick Lane
Duke vs.
N. Illinois +4.5

36
14
NIU DK NIU DK NIUNIUNIU DK NIUNIU DK DK
Cactus
Kansas St. vs.
UCLA +2.5

35
17
UCLA KSU UCLAUCLA KSU KSU KSU KSU UCLAUCLA KSU UCLA
Independence
S. Miss. vs.
Florida St. -15

13
42
FSU FSU SMSMSMSM FSU FSU SMSM FSU FSU
Pinstripe
Iowa vs.
Boston Coll. +3

27
20
BC IOWA BC IOWA IOWA BC IOWA BC IOWA IOWA IOWA BC
Foster Farms
Arizona vs.
Purdue +3.5

35
38
PUR UAUAUAUAUAUA PUR UA PUR UA PUR
Texas
Texas vs.
Missouri -3

33
16
MO TEX MOMO TEX MO TEX MOMO TEX TEX MO
Military
Virginia vs.
Navy -4

7
49
UV NAVY NAVY NAVY NAVY UVUV NAVY UV NAVY UVUV
Camp World
Virginia Tech vs.
Okla. St. -6

21
30
OSU OSU VTVT OSU OSU VT OSU OSU OSU OSU OSU
Holiday
Wash. St. vs.
Michigan St. +3

17
42
MSU MSU WSUWSUWSU MSU MSU MSU MSU MSU WSUWSU
Alamo
Stanford vs.
TCU -2.5

37
39
TCUTCU STAN TCUTCU STAN STAN STAN STAN TCUTCUSTAN
Belk
Wake Forest vs.
Texas A&M +3

55
52
WFTAMTAMTAMWFWFTAMWFTAMWFTAMWF
Sun
NC St. vs.
Arizona St. +6.5

52
31
ASUASUASU NC NC NC ASU NC ASUASU NC NC
Music City
Kentucky vs.
Nrthwstrn -7.5

23
24
NWNWNW UK NWNWNW UK UK NWNWNW
Arizona
N. Mexico St. vs.
Utah St. +3.5

26
20
USUUSUUSUUSUUSU NM USUUSU NM USUUSU NM
Cotton
USC vs.
Ohio St. -7

7
24
OSU USCUSC OSU USCUSCUSCUSCUSC USC OSU USC
Taxslayer
Louisville vs.
Miss. St. +6.5

27
31
LOU MSU LOU MSU LOULOULOULOULOULOULOU MSU
Liberty
Iowa St. vs.
Memphis -3.5

21
20
MEMMEMMEMMEM ISU MEM ISU ISU ISU ISUMEM ISU
Fiesta
Washington vs.
Penn St. -2.5

28
35
UW PSU UW PSU PSU UW PSU PSU UWUW PSU PSU
Orange
Wisconsin vs.
Miami +6.5

34
24
WIS WIS UMUM WIS WIS WIS WIS WIS WIS WIS UM
Outback
Michigan vs.
S. Carolina +8

19
26
UMUMUMSCUMUM SC SC SC UMUMUM
Peach
UCF vs.
Auburn -9.5

34
27
AUBAUB UCF UCF UCF UCF AUBAUBAUB UCF AUBAUB
Citrus
Notre Dame vs.
LSU -3

21
17
ND LSU ND LSULSULSULSULSULSULSULSU ND
Rose
Georgia vs.
Oklahoma +1.5

54
48
GA GA GA OK GA GA GA GA GA OKOK GA
Sugar
Alabama vs.
Clemson +2.5

24
6
CLM ALA CLMCLMCLMCLMCLM ALA CLMCLMCLMCLM
National
Champ TBD

CLM ALA GACLMCLMGACLMGAGAOKOKGA
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

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