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.

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
FINALJESSECHRIS1CHRIS2NICKGREGJOHNISAACERIKJASONCHRIS3ED
Cure
Tulane vs.
Lafayette +3.5

41
24
TUL LAFLAFLAF TUL LAF TUL LAFLAF TUL LAF
New Mexico
Utah St. vs.
N. Texas +9

52
13
UST UST NTNTNTNT UST UST UST UST NT
Las Vegas
Arizona St. vs.
Fresno St. -4

20
31
FSU FSU FSU FSU FSU FSU FSU FSU ASU FSU ASU
Camellia
Ga. South. vs.
E. Michigan +1

23
21
GS GS GS GS GS GS EMU GS GS EMUEMU
New Orleans
Mid. Ten. vs.
App. St. -7

13
45
MTMT APP APPMTMT APP APP MTMTMT
Boca Raton
UAB vs.
N. Illinois +2.5

37
13
UAB UAB NIL UAB UAB UAB UAB UAB NIL UAB NIL
Frisco
SD St. vs.
Ohio -3

0
27
SDSD OH SD OH SDSD OH SDSD OH
Gasparilla
Marshall vs.
S. Florida +2.5

38
20
SFUSFUSFU MAR SFU MAR SFU MAR SFU MAR SFU
Bahamas
FIU vs.
Toledo -5.5

35
32
FIU FIU FIU TOL FIU TOL FIU TOL FIU FIU TOL
Potato
W. Michigan vs.
BYU -12

18
49
BYU BYU BYU WMU BYU WMUWMU BYU WMUWMU BYU
Birmingham
Memphis vs.
W. Forest +4.5

34
37
MEM WFU MEMMEMMEMMEMMEMMEMMEM WFU WFU
Armed Forces
Houston vs.
Army -3

14
70
ARM ARM ARM HOU ARM ARM HOU ARM ARM ARM ARM
Dollar Gen.
Buffalo vs.
Troy +2.5

32
42
TRY TRY TRY TRY TRY TRY BUFBUFBUFBUFBUF
Hawaii
Hawaii vs.
La. Tech +1

14
31
UHUHUH LT UH LT UHUHUHUHUH
First Respndrs
Boston Col. vs.
Boise St. -3

Cancel
BSUBSUBSUBSUBSUBSUBSUBSUBSUBCBSU
Quick Lane
Minnesota vs.
Ga. Tech -4

34
10
MIN MIN GT MIN MIN GT MIN GTGT MIN MIN
Cheez-It
Califonia vs.
TCU pick

7
10
TCU TCU CAL TCU CALCAL TCU CALCAL TCU TCU
Indpndnce
Temple vs.
Duke +3

27
56
DK DK DK TEMTEMTEM DK TEM DK DK DK
Pinstripe
Miami vs.
Wisconsin +4

3
35
WIS WIS WIS WIS MIA WIS WIS WIS WIS WIS WIS
Texas
Baylor vs.
Vanderbilt -3.5

45
38
VANVAN BAY VAN BAY VAN BAY BAY BAY BAY VAN
Music City
Purdue vs.
Auburn -4

14
63
PUR AUB AUB AUB AUB PURPUR AUB AUB PURPUR
Camp World
W. Virginia vs.
Syracuse +1.5

18
34
SYR SYR SYR SYR SYR SYR WVU SYR SYR WVU WVU
Alamo
Iowa St. vs.
WSU -3.5

26
28
WSU ISU WSUWSUWSUWSUWSUWSU ISU WSUWSU
Peach
Florida vs.
Michigan -7.5

41
15
UM FLA FLA FLA FLA FLA UMUMUMUMUM
Belk
S. Carolina vs.
Virginia +4

0
28
SCSC VRG SCSC VRG VRG SCSCSCSC
Arizona
Ark. St. vs.
Nevada +1.5

13
16
NEV ARK NEV ARK NEV ARKARK NEV NEV NEV ARK
Cotton
Notre Dame vs.
Clemson -11.5

3
30
CLM NDND CLM NDND CLM CLM NDNDND
Orange
Oklahoma vs.
Alabama -14

34
45
ALAALAALA OU ALAALAALA OU OU ALA OU
Military
Cincinnati vs.
Va. Tech +5

3531
VT CINCINCINCINCINCINCINCINCINCIN
Sun
Stanford vs.
Pitt. +6.5

14
13
STNSTNSTNSTN PIT STNSTNSTN PIT PIT STN
Redbox
Michigan St. vs.
Oregon -3

6
7
ORG MSU ORG MSU ORG MSU ORGORG MSU ORGORG
Liberty
Missouri vs.
OK St. +8

33
38
OSU MIS OSU OSU OSU MISMIS OSU OSU OSU OSU
Holiday
Nrthwstrn vs.
Utah -7

31
20
NW NW NW UTA NW NW NW NW NW UTA NW
Gator
NC St. vs.
Texas A&M -5

13
52
TAM TAM TAM TAM TAM TAM NC TAM TAM TAM TAM
Outback
Miss. St. vs.
Iowa +6.5

22
27
MSUMSUMSUMSU IOWA MSUMSU IOWA IOWA MSU IOWA
Fiesta
LSU vs.
UCF +7.5

40
32
UCFUCF LSU UCF LSU LSU UCF LSU UCFUCF LSU
Citrus
Kentucky vs.
Penn St. -6.5

27
24
PSUPSUPSUPSU UK PSU UK UK UK UK PSU
Rose
Washington vs.
Ohio St. -6.5

23
28
OSUOSUOSU UW OSUOSUOSUOSU UW OSUOSU
Sugar
Texas vs.
Georgia -11

GAGAGAGA TEX GAGA TEX TEX GA 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

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