Liberty Bowl: Georgia (6-6) vs. Central Florida (10-3)
Georgia has had a disappointing year, really disappointing. When the season began I said they were the biggest swing team in the SEC and they could go anywhere from no bowl to winning the East. Well, they almost didn't make a bowl. Of course, if they would have had A.J. for all 12 games they might have managed to win a couple more but still this is a bad year for a team loaded with talent. As soon as this game ends, Mark Richt will be on the hotseat. If the Dawgs lose this game the seat will be on fire...although there is no chance he gets fired after the game, he's got at least one more year in Athens.
Central Florida won 10 games and Conference USA. Right now CUSA is 1-3 in the bowl season. This is the SEC's 2nd game. UCF lost to two BCS teams, Kansas State and N.C. State - both of whom went to bowl games, but they did not lose by much. They have a freshman quarterback, but he threw for more than 2,000 yards and had a completion percentage close to 70%. Their defense is ranked 17th in the country, and they've held 9 out of 13 opponents to 17 points or less.
Georgia is favored by 6 1/2 points in this one, and I don't think it will be much of a problem for Georgia to cover. This may not be where UGA expected to be, but they did work back from a 1-4 record to make it to this point. Georgia has better athletes than anyone UCF has seen all year, and this is A.J. Green's final game to improve his draft stock. Georgia's defense has been improving as the year has gone on and I think they will be able to handle the Knights without too much trouble. Georgia 38 Central Florida 17.
Chick-Fil-A Bowl: South Carolina (9-4) vs. Florida State (9-4)
This game is a matchup between the losers of the SEC and ACC Championship Games. South Carolina has has perhaps their greatest season ever - beating the #1 team in the country and winning the SEC East. Florida State is having a bounce back season in Jimbo Fisher's first year as head coach.
Florida State has a good defense and a good offense. So does South Carolina. Both of these teams squashed Florida. There are plenty of similarities between the teams and this should be another great Chick-Fil-A Bowl - the best non-BCS game every year. To add a little backstory to the game, it's the first time Steve Spurrier has faced "Free Shoes University" since he was at Florida.
When a bowl game looks pretty even you've got to look at motivation. Both of these programs are on the up-tick and are happy to be here. They are both ranked and have had a satisfying season to this point. I want to pick South Carolina because they are in the SEC, so I'll come up with some motivation for them. They got shalacked in the SEC Championship Game, and they would like to rectify that by getting a bowl win. Florida State didn't have Christain Ponder in the ACC Championship Game so losing to VA Tech probably didn't sting too bad. South Carolina 24 Florida State 23.
JB
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