The regular season of college football is over (with the exception of Saturday’s Army-Navy game) and the bowl matchups have been decided. The top four teams will play for the national championship and the games are almost pick ‘em affairs with #1 ranked Clemson playing #4 ranked Alabama and #2 Oklahoma facing #3 Georgia.

The NCAA committee decided that Alabama deserved the #4 spot just ahead of Ohio State and Wisconsin. Personally, I don’t agree as I think it’s impossible to crown a national champion and not have at least one Big Ten team in the mix. That said, OSU did lose by 31 points at Iowa and they lost to Oklahoma in Columbus giving them two losses … Wisconsin only lost once, but it was to Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship game. It is kinda crazy they put two SEC Teams in the final four with Georgia and Alabama. No matter what we will have some great games on January 1st.

Other January 1st games include Notre Dame v LSU in the Citrus Bowl (in Orlando),  Michigan v South Carolina in the Outback Bowl at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa and the undefeated UCF Knights will take on Auburn in the Peach Bowl in Atlanta also on January 1st.

Other bowl games featuring the top teams are also damn good with Ohio State squaring off against Southern California in a good old Big 10 v Pac 10 matchup in the Cotton Bowl (12/29), Miami v Wisconsin in the Orange Bowl (12/30) and Washington playing Penn State in the Fiesta Bowl (12/30).

Here in Tampa Bay a few games of interest include USF playing Texas Tech in Birmingham on 12/23, Akron playing Florida Atlantic in Boca Raton (12/19), Florida State playing Southern Mississippi in the Independence Bowl (12/27) and in the Gasparilla Bowl Temple plays Florida International (12/21).

There you have it !! College Bowl games start on 12/16 and the NCAA Championship Game will be played in Atlanta on January 8. Football … football … football … football … I love this time of year even if it means I’m watching the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl from Boise! (Yes, this is a real bowl game that features Central Michigan University and Wyoming doing battle on December 22nd) !!