The RBR Bowl Blitz: Poinsettia

8-4

Thursday, 12/20/2007 Qualcomm Stadium San Diego, CA 8pm CST - ESPN

8-4

Food Network Programming Interest Level: Iron Chef America. It might not be that compelling of a matchup: I haven't seen Utah play all year, and without Paul Johnson on the sidelines for Navy, meh, but it's the first bowl game of the season and therefor deserves my full, undivided attention after wandering lost in the football-less wilderness for several weeks.

Battle Ute might not be as interesting to us Bama fans as, say, Battle Buffalo, but you know you'll be watching.

The Season So Far:

8-4 (5-3)	8-4 (0-0)
08/30 at Oregon State (L) 7-24 09/08 vs Air Force (L) 12-20 09/15 vs UCLA (W) 44-6 09/22 at UNLV (L) 0-27 09/29 vs Utah State (W) 34-18 10/05 at Louisville (W) 44-35 10/13 vs San Diego State (W) 23-7 10/18 at TCU (W) 27-20 10/27 at Colorado State (W) 27-3 11/10 vs Wyoming (W) 50-0 11/17 vs New Mexico (W) 28-10 11/24 at BYU (L) 10-17	08/31 at Temple (W) 30-19 09/07 at Rutgers (L) 24-41 09/15 vs Ball State (L) 31-34 09/22 vs Duke (W) 46-43 09/29 vs Air Force (W) 31-20 10/10 at Pittsburgh (W) 48-45 10/20 vs Wake Forest (L) 24-44 10/27 vs Deleware (L) 52-59 11/03 at Notre Dame (W) 46-44 11/10 at North Texas (W) 74-62 11/17 vs Northern Illinois (W) 35-24 12/01 vs Army (W) 38-3

Do they deserve their bowl bid?
Navy: Of course. With all the restrictions and limitations the service academies face, if they can get to .500, let 'em play somewhere.
Utah: Again, of course. The Utes played some good football this season, embarassing both UCLA and Louisville in season when both had high expectations, and should have contended for the MWC if not for a couple of early season (and head scratching) losses to Air Force and UNLV.

Who does Todd think will win?
Navy generally plays a shoot out type of game, with the team that gets the extra stop holding the advantage once the game clock starts to wind down. The only two teams with decent defenses they faced this season, Wake and Rutgers, were able to outscore them handily, while everyone else was busy trying to keep up with their triple option attack. Likewise, Utah has piled up some points on a few teams (50 against Wyoming, 44 at Louiville, and 44 vs UCLA), and has the nominal defensive skill to stymie the Midshipmen. I'm picking the Utes to win.

Who does Todd hope will win?
Navy, of course. You can't pull against a service academy, commie.