After going 0-2 in yesterday’s bowl games, I am looking to get back on track today. I missed on Georgia Tech and California yesterday, with the first game of the day getting canceled due to weather, which hasn’t ever happened. We have three more games on the schedule today, so I will preview and make a prediction for each.

Walk-On’s Independence Bowl

Temple vs. Duke

1:30 p.m. ET

Independence Stadium, Shreveport, Louisiana

The Temple football team has had an impressive last few years and have been making the people of Philadelphia proud. They went 8-4 overall this year, and 7-1 in conference with their only loss coming to powerhouse UCF. Their schedule wasn’t exactly the toughest one though, playing only two ranked teams all year. Aside from the UCF loss, they beat #20 Cincinnati by a touchdown. The Owls will be getting quarterback Anthony Russo back after an injury at the end of the regular season. Duke went 7-5 to qualify for a bowl, but only went 3-5 in what I consider a down year for the ACC. They ended the season with two losses in a row, with their final game being a confusing 59-7 blowout to Wake Forest. The most interesting thing to watch for in this game for the Blue Devils is quarterback Daniel Jones’ performance, who will be playing on Sundays in the future. David Cutcliffe can really develop quarterbacks and does a better job than anybody at that. I don’t think it will be enough in this game, however.

Prediction: Temple 27 Duke 19

New Era Pinstripe Bowl

Miami vs. Wisconsin

5:15 p.m. ET

Yankee Stadium, New York, New York

I always think it’s cool when they play football games at baseball stadiums. Maybe it’s because it’s the closest to Major League Baseball I’ll be for a few more months, but it does provide for a cool venue. This game features two teams that had underachieving seasons. Miami was supposed to “be back” by now, but just hasn’t turned the corner to prove they are for real like they used to be. They won seven games this year, but only went .500 in ACC play, which isn’t impressive. They had a terrible stretch during the season in which they lost 4 straight games, and every single one of them was easily winnable. Wisconsin was ranked in the top five at the beginning of the season, but finished only 7-5, and 5-4 in the Big Ten. They just couldn’t string together multiple wins throughout the season, as they won one week, then lost, then won, then lost again. Because I think the Big Ten was the better conference this year, I am going to go with the Badgers in this one. But it’s really a toss-up, as both of these teams had very similar seasons.

Prediction: Wisconsin 20 Miami 17

Academy Sports + Outdoors Texas Bowl

Baylor vs. Vanderbilt

9:00 p.m. ET

NRG Stadium, Houston, Texas

The last game of the day features two teams with losing records within their respective conferences. The Bears went 4-5 within the Big 12 and the Commodores went 3-5 in the SEC. Both teams also just squeaked into bowl season with six wins on the year. Baylor has fallen a long way in recent years. They didn’t have a single big win this year, beating only less-than-impressive teams. Every time they matched up against a ranked team, they lost. While they did improve a lot from their 2017 campaign, the Bears have a long way to go to meet expectations from their fan base. Vanderbilt is a team that is not very accustomed to bowl games. They also didn’t have any big wins on the season, losing all their games against ranked teams. They won the games they were supposed to, and that was enough to grant them a bowl game. Games like this are tough to predict, as both teams had such similar seasons. I will go with the Commodores in this one, though, because of their senior quarterback Kyle Shurmur and his experience.

Prediction: Vanderbilt 28 Baylor 21

Garett

College Football Bowl Preview: December 27