This is an extension of my picks of the week columns, and I come into the bowl season with two major betting streaks on the line.  First of all, I’m trying to avoid having a below .500 year for the first time in 3 seasons.  If you have followed this blog, you know that I got off to a hot start at the beginning of the season but then fell into a mid-to-late season lull.  I’m still holding on to a winning record (71-69), but I’d definitely like to improve on that.  The more impressive streak I have going is my magnificent run of eight straight lock of the week picks on my blog.   Here is the full rundown of correct picks I made:

• Week 7: Pick- Pittsburgh (+1.0) at Syracuse (Final Score: Pitt 45, Syracuse 14)
• Week 8: Pick- Hawaii (-3.0) at Utah State (Final Score: Hawaii 45, Utah State 7)
• Week 9: Pick: Hawaii (-14.0) vs. Idaho (Final Score: Hawaii 45, Idaho 10)
• Week 10: Pick: UL-Monroe (+9.5) at FIU (Final Score: FIU 42, UL-Monroe 35)
• Week 11: Pick: Tennessee (-1.0) vs. Ole Miss (Final Score: Tennessee 52, Ole Miss 14)
• Week 12: Pick: Clemson (-12.5) at Wake Forest (Final Score: Clemson 30, Wake 10)
• Week 13: Pick: UConn (-1.5) vs. Cincinnati (Final Score: UConn 38, Cincy 17)
• Week 14: Pick: Fresno State (+6.0) vs. Illinois (Final Score: Fresno 25, Illinois 23)

Can I end it on nine a row?  I think so because I’m absolutely crazy in love with my # 1 pick for the bowl season.  All of the spreads below are from the World Sports Exchange’s opening lines and are ordered based on my personal confidence in each.  

Lock of the Bowl Season: Pick # 1: Ohio (+1.5) vs. Troy (New Orleans Bowl)- I’ve already had some heated discussions about this game with friends and family.  For some reason, a lot of people like Troy here.  However, a lot of people also voted for Barcak Obama, a lot of people believe that the Earth is flat, and a lot of people believe that aliens inhabit the Earth.  Don’t believe dumb people like that.  Believe me.  Troy is a horrible team, and Ohio is halfway decent.  Ohio wins this game by 2 touchdowns.

Pick # 2: Arkansas (+3.0) vs. Ohio State (Sugar Bowl)- You ready to have your mind blown?  Ohio State can’t beat an SEC team, pure and simple.  Don’t believe me?  Here is a series of stats for you to consider.  I’ll warn you in advance these may be the most shocking football stats you’ve ever seen in your life. Here we go: The last time Ohio State beat an SEC foe was September 24, 1988 with a tight home victory over a medicore LSU squad.  Other than that victory, OSU has not beaten an SEC school since 1935!!!  AND THE BUCKEYES HAVE NEVER IN THEIR 120-YEAR HISTORY BEATEN AN SEC SCHOOL AWAY FROM HOME.  They are in fact 0-11 in such games despite being favored or ranked higher in the past 5 of them.  Here is a complete list of their non-home losses to SEC schools: Alabama- 1977, Alabama- 1986, LSU- 1987, Auburn- 1989, Georgia- 1992, Alabama- 1994, Tennessee- 1999, South Carolina- 2000/2001, Florida- 2006, and LSU- 2007.  Think about this for a second.  One of the greatest programs in college football history has never won a non-home game against a team from the greatest conference in college football.  Now let me give you a moment to recover from this astonishing revelation…

Pick # 3: Miami-OH (-2.0) vs. MTSU (Godaddy.com Bowl)- The Blue Raiders have absolutely no business going to a bowl game this year, as somehow they got a big at 6-6 while an 8-4 Temple team gets left out.  MTSU is by far the worst bowl participant of 2010 and they won’t  even be able to keep this game relatively close.

Pick # 4: Southern Miss (+3.5) vs. Louisville (Beef O’Brady’s Bowl)- This is another divisive game, as there is a strong contingency of experts who really like Louisville here and another group that really likes the Golden Eagles.  Put me in the latter of those two groups because a C-USA title participant should beat anybody in this year’s Big East, especially a team who finished in the bottom half of the standings.

Pick # 5: UTEP (+12.0) vs. BYU (New Mexico Bowl)- This should be a close high-scoring shootout.  The Cougars may win here, but a 12-point line is way too high.  The Miners blew out a solid SMU team earlier this season and this bowl has produced some shockers in the past (see Wyoming’s win over Fresno last year).

Pick # 6: Missouri (-1.0) vs. Iowa (Insight Bowl)- The Hawkeyes seem to have clearly throw in the towel for the season, as they have been getting worse with every game. Even if Iowa does decide to show up in Tempe, Mizzou’s potent spread attack will be too much for the Hawkeye D to handle.

Pick # 7: UConn (+17.0) vs. Oklahoma (Fiesta Bowl)- The Sooners win here, but 17 points is way too many to give in a BCS game.

Pick #8: Stanford (-3.0) vs. Virginia Tech (Orange Bowl)- Let me preface this pick by saying that I’ve been very high on the Hokies all season.  When everyone else was freaking out about their James Madison loss, I said on this blog that I still liked their chances of winning the ACC.  Sure enough, my prediction rang true.  However, the Cardinal just have too much offense for the Hokies here, as the ACC will lose yet another Orange Bowl.

Pick # 9: Toledo (-2.0) vs. FIU (Little Caesar’s Bowl)- You probably see an emerging trend here, which is that I really like the MAC teams to beat their Sun Belt opposition in all three matchups.  This was a downyear in the Sun Belt conference yet they somehow got all three of their bowl eligible teams into bowl games.  Meanwhile, the MAC had a very solid season and had so many bowl eligible teams that two of them didn’t even get bids (Western Michigan and Temple).  The bottom line is that the upper-echelon of the MAC is much better than the upper-echelon of the Sun Belt and that will be proven during bowl season.

Pick # 10: UCF (+7.0) vs. Georgia (Liberty Bowl)- Here is my upset special for bowl season.  The C-USA always puts up a good fight in this game because they have so much more motivation than their SEC opponent.  ECU could have beaten Kentucky here two years ago and should have beaten Arkansas last year. The SEC has managed to win four straight, but UCF is the better team here.  This is a classic example of a point spread based solely on the names of the two teams.

Week 14 Record: 5-5, Overall Record: 71-69