Here we are the bowl rankings, these rankings take into account four different ranking of the bowl games. System rank, which is adjusted version of the average rank of the two participants and the difference between those two teams in the rankings, my rank, which is how I ranked the games, and the rankings of Stewart Mandel at Fox and Tom Fornelli at CBS to give an idea of how people who are not me or a system I created think of the games. I did give my rank double the weight because these are ultimately my rankings, but the influence of the other ranks is notable. Ties in average rank are broken by my ranking.
Bowl
|
Home
|
Away
|
Date
|
System
Rank
|
My
Rank
|
Mandel
(FOX)
|
Fornelli
(CBS)
|
Ave.
Rank
|
Fiesta
|
Ohio
State
|
Clemson
|
31-Dec
|
2
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
1.5
|
Peach
|
Alabama
|
Washington
|
31-Dec
|
1
|
2
|
2
|
1
|
1.5
|
Rose
|
USC
|
Penn
State
|
2-Jan
|
3
|
8
|
3
|
3
|
4.25
|
Orange
|
Michigan
|
Florida
State
|
30-Dec
|
6
|
7
|
4
|
4
|
5.25
|
Alamo
|
Oklahoma
State
|
Colorado
|
29-Dec
|
5
|
4
|
7
|
7
|
5.75
|
Sugar
|
Auburn
|
Oklahoma
|
2-Jan
|
9
|
3
|
8
|
6
|
6.5
|
Citrus
|
LSU
|
Louisville
|
31-Dec
|
8
|
6
|
5
|
8
|
6.75
|
Cotton
|
Western
Michigan
|
Wisconsin
|
2-Jan
|
4
|
15
|
6
|
5
|
7.5
|
Russell
Athletic
|
West
Virginia
|
Miami
(FL)
|
28-Dec
|
12
|
10
|
9
|
10
|
10.25
|
Sun
|
Stanford
|
North
Carolina
|
30-Dec
|
7
|
11
|
11
|
12
|
10.25
|
Las
Vegas
|
Houston
|
San Diego
State
|
17-Dec
|
23
|
5
|
10
|
9
|
11.75
|
Outback
|
Florida
|
Iowa
|
2-Jan
|
14
|
14
|
13
|
11
|
13
|
Music
City
|
Nebraska
|
Tennessee
|
30-Dec
|
16
|
17
|
12
|
16
|
15.25
|
Holiday
|
Minnesota
|
Washington
State
|
27-Dec
|
11
|
28
|
16
|
13
|
17
|
Texas
|
Texas
A&M
|
Kansas
State
|
28-Dec
|
18
|
22
|
14
|
15
|
17.25
|
Pinstripe
|
Pittsburgh
|
Northwestern
|
28-Dec
|
21
|
20
|
17
|
17
|
18.75
|
Camellia
|
Appalachian
State
|
Toledo
|
17-Dec
|
27
|
9
|
27
|
14
|
19.25
|
Foster Farms
|
Indiana
|
Utah
|
28-Dec
|
15
|
23
|
19
|
21
|
19.5
|
Cactus
|
Boise
State
|
Baylor
|
27-Dec
|
17
|
18
|
20
|
27
|
20.5
|
Belk
|
Arkansas
|
Virginia
Tech
|
29-Dec
|
20
|
25
|
15
|
22
|
20.5
|
Armed
Forces
|
Louisiana
Tech
|
Navy
|
23-Dec
|
24
|
12
|
29
|
20
|
21.25
|
TaxSlayer
|
Georgia
Tech
|
Kentucky
|
31-Dec
|
13
|
30
|
18
|
24
|
21.25
|
Boca
Raton
|
Memphis
|
WKU
|
20-Dec
|
29
|
16
|
24
|
18
|
21.75
|
Liberty
|
Georgia
|
TCU
|
30-Dec
|
25
|
26
|
21
|
19
|
22.75
|
Poinsettia
|
BYU
|
Wyoming
|
21-Dec
|
22
|
21
|
26
|
29
|
24.5
|
Birmingham
|
USF
|
South
Carolina
|
29-Dec
|
10
|
31
|
22
|
38
|
25.25
|
Independence
|
NC
State
|
Vanderbilt
|
26-Dec
|
28
|
29
|
23
|
25
|
26.25
|
Military
|
Temple
|
Wake
Forest
|
27-Dec
|
26
|
24
|
25
|
33
|
27
|
Cure
|
UCF
|
Arkansas
State
|
17-Dec
|
31
|
19
|
32
|
30
|
28
|
Dollar
General
|
Ohio
|
Troy
|
23-Dec
|
32
|
27
|
30
|
23
|
28
|
Miami
Beach
|
Central
Michigan
|
Tulsa
|
19-Dec
|
19
|
32
|
31
|
37
|
29.75
|
New
Orleans
|
Southern
Miss
|
Louisiana
|
17-Dec
|
40
|
13
|
40
|
34
|
31.75
|
Quick
Lane
|
Maryland
|
Boston
College
|
26-Dec
|
35
|
37
|
28
|
28
|
32
|
Bahamas
|
Eastern
Michigan
|
Old
Dominion
|
23-Dec
|
36
|
33
|
35
|
31
|
33.75
|
Idaho
Potato
|
Idaho
|
Colorado
State
|
22-Dec
|
33
|
40
|
36
|
26
|
33.75
|
New
Mexico
|
New
Mexico
|
UTSA
|
17-Dec
|
30
|
36
|
38
|
32
|
34
|
St.
Petersburg
|
Miami
(OH)
|
Mississippi
State
|
26-Dec
|
38
|
35
|
33
|
35
|
35.25
|
Hawaii
|
Hawaii
|
Middle
Tennessee
|
24-Dec
|
37
|
34
|
34
|
39
|
36
|
Arizona
|
South
Alabama
|
Air
Force
|
30-Dec
|
34
|
38
|
37
|
36
|
36.25
|
Heart of
Dallas
|
Army
|
North
Texas
|
27-Dec
|
39
|
39
|
39
|
40
|
39.25
|
I have seven games in which I am at least 10 spots different on average from the average ranking of the other three components. The biggest difference I have is the New Orleans bowl between Southern Miss & Louisiana-Lafayette (Louisiana from here out). Neither team is a great or particularily good, but this game and it's setting seem to bring an entertaining game and great atmosphere every season. plus it's one of the first bowls and you should watch it. I am 25 spots different on this game and I'll defend that to anyone. Also, in the games I'm higher on category, we have the Camellia Bowl (13.67 spots), Armed Forces Bowl (12.33), and the Cure Bowl (12). The Camellia matches up two very good group of 5 teams who should play a fun game with good talent. The Armed Forces Bowl matches up two very good offenses and what more do you want the Friday before Christmas. Lastly, the Cure Bowl matches up two more fun group of 5 that are on their way up and should score a good amount of points. All this adds up to me liking bowl game day 1 more than most. The games I'm down on, relatively, are the Holiday, Cotton, and TaxSlayer Bowls. Let's start with the outlier, the Cotton Bowl between Wisconsin and Western Michigan. It's not that I think it will be bad, but nothing about it gets me all that excited. Wisconsin is very good when healthy but that defense is starting to show it's cracks and the offense is more one-dimensional that Keanu Reaves face in the Matrix trilogy. Western Michigan has an underrated senior QB and the best senior WR (Corey Davis), but they are a clearly flawed team as well making this game good, one I'll watch out of loyalty but not a game that I'm going to freak out about. The other two are solid games that I have on the low side of Meh. Minnesota-Wazzou should be fun when the Wazzou offense is on the field but when Leidner and company trot out it's going to be the worst. As for Georgia Tech-Kentucky, well please tell me why I'm wrong because I don't get even the tepid excitement for this game. So there we are, my bowl ranks. I'll pair these with my system predictions.
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