Your guide to bowling: even you have to get off the couch once in a while. Our state-of-the-art remote control ratings will help you pick your spots

Sporting News, The, Dec 20, 2004 by Kyle Veltrop

YOUR GUIDE TO BOWLING

Even you have to get off the couch once in a while. Our state-of-the-art
remote control ratings will help you pick your spots.

All times Eastern.

Tuesday, December 21
champs Sports Bowl       Georgia Tech (6-5) vs. Syracuse (6-5),
                         7:45 p.m., ESPN.

Wednesday, December 22
GMAC Bowl                Memphis (8-3) vs. Bowling Green (8-3),
                         8:00 p.m., ESPN.

Thursday, December 23
Fort Worth Bowl          Cincinnati (6-5) vs. Marshall (6-5),
                         6:30 p.m., ESPN.

Las Vegas Bowl           Wyoming (6-5) vs. UCLA (6-5), 9:45 p.m.,
                         ESPN.

Friday, December 24
Hawaii Bowl              UAB (7-4) vs. Hawaii (7-5), 7:00 p.m., ESPN.

Monday, December 27
MPC Computers Bowl       Fresno State (8-3) vs. Virginia (8-3),
                         2:00 p.m., ESPN.

Motor City Bowl          Toledo (9-3) vs. Connecticut (7-4),
                         5:30 p.m., ESPN.

Tuesday, December 28
Independence Bowl        Iowa State (6-5) vs. Miami (Ohio) (8-4),
                         6:30 p.m., ESPN.

Insight Bowl             Notre Dame (6-5) vs. Oregon State (6-5),
                         9:45 p.m., ESPN.

Wednesday, December 29
Houston Bowl             UTEP (8-3) vs. Colorado (7-5), 4:30 p.m.,
                         ESPN.

Alamo Bowl               Ohio State (7-4) vs. Oklahoma State (7-4),
                         8:00 p.m., ESPN.

Thursday, December 30
Continental Tire Bowl    Boston College (8-3) vs. North Carolina
                         (6-5), 1:00 p.m., ESPN2.

Emerald Bowl             New Mexico (7-4) vs. Navy (9-2), 4:30 p.m.,
                         ESPN2.

Holiday Bowl             California (10-1) vs. Texas Tech (7-4),
                         8:00 p.m., ESPN.

Silicon Valley Classic   Troy (7-4) vs. Northern Illinois (8-3),
                         11:00 p.m., ESPN2.

Friday, December 31
Music City Bowl          Alabama (6-5) vs. Minnesota (6-5),
                         12:00 p.m., ESPN.

Sun Bowl                 Purdue (7-4) vs. Arizona State (8-3),
                         2:00 p.m., CBS.

Liberty Bowl             Boise State (11-0) vs. Louisville (10-1),
                         3:30 p.m., ESPN.

Peach Bowl               Miami (8-3) vs. Florida (7-4), 7:30 p.m.,
                         ESPN.

Saturday, January 1
Cotton Bowl              Tennessee (9-3) vs. Texas A&M (7-4),
                         11:00 a.m., FOX.

Outback Bowl             Wisconsin (9-2) vs. Georgia (9-2),
                         11:00 a.m., ESPN.

Gator Bowl               Florida State (8-3) vs. West Virginia (8-3),
                         12:30 p.m., NBC.

Capital One Bowl         Iowa (9-2) vs. LSU (9-2), 1:00 p.m., ABC.

Rose Bowl                Michigan (9-2) vs. Texas (10-1), 4:30 p.m.,
                         ABC.

Fiesta Bowl              Utah (11-0) vs. Pittsburgh (8-3), 8:30 p.m.,
                         ABC.

Monday, January 3
Sugar Bowl               Auburn (12-0) vs. Virginia Tech (10-2),
                         8:00 p.m., ABC.

Tuesday, January 4
Orange Bowl              Southern California (12-0) vs. Oklahoma
                         (12-0), 8:00 p.m., ABC.

Tuesday, December 21
champs Sports Bowl       After a week of recovering from the Southern
                         Miss-North Texas throwdown, the bowl season
                         reconvenes with two of the nation's top
                         teams. (Oh wait, this isn't basketball.) *

Wednesday, December 22
GMAC Bowl                Watch Memphis' DeAngelo Williams run. Watch
                         Bowling Green's Omar Jacobs throw. Just
                         watch. ***

Thursday, December 23
Fort Worth Bowl          A banged-up Gino Guidugli takes aim at the
                         Herd, which thundered back from an 0-3
                         start. *

Las Vegas Bowl           The best bet is to take the over--these teams
                         should light up the scoreboard. ***

Friday, December 24
Hawaii Bowl              The Blazers play in their first bowl game,
                         facing all-time NCAA passing leader Timmy
                         Chang. Alert The History Channel! **

Monday, December 27
MPC Computers Bowl       Fresno wants to show it can play with the big
                         boys; UVa just wants to show it is a big
                         boy. ***

Motor City Bowl          The Rockets' Bruce Gradkowski and the
                         Huskies' Dan Orlovsky put the pedal to the
                         metal while directing high-octane
                         attacks.  *** 1/2

Tuesday, December 28
Independence Bowl        The RedHawks look to continue their
                         late-season tear and prove that the Big 12
                         North is no match for the MAC. **

Insight Bowl             Nostalgia will be thick as the Irish play
                         without a head coach, reminding many of the
                         Gerry Faust years. ** 1/2

Wednesday, December 29
Houston Bowl             Party coach Mike Price meets party school CU.
                         Proposed halftime show almost forces game to
                         Cinemax. ** 1/2

Alamo Bowl               In the battle of the OSUs, neither offense
                         will get too flashy, though the Buckeyes did
                         show late life. When the Pokes have the ball,
                         so will running back Vernand Morency. ** 1/2

Thursday, December 30
Continental Tire Bowl    The Eagles have won four straight bowl games,
                         but the surprising Heels will have the
                         Charlotte crowd on their side. ** 1/2

Emerald Bowl             The Middies will take to the ground to try to
                         continue their feel-good story. **

Holiday Bowl             Jeff Tedford and Mike Leach both are
                         offensive masterminds, but only Tedford gets
                         to bring Aaron Rodgers to this shootout. ***

Silicon Valley Classic   After Letterman, switch over to see NIU
                         mighty mite Garrett Wolfe, plus the bowling
                         debut of Troy. * 1/2
Friday, December 31
Music City Bowl          The underachieving Gophers run Laurence
                         Maroney and Marion Barber at the
                         overachieving Tide. * 1/2

Sun Bowl                 Andrew Walter is a no-go, but Kyle Orton gets
                         to put on one last aerial show before heading
                         to the NFL. Running time: 252
                         minutes. *** 1/2

Liberty Bowl             With no blue-field edge, the Broncos will
                         have it tough preserving their unbeaten
                         dream. Only the Orange Bowl features teams
                         with fewer combined losses. Running time: 253
                         minutes. ****

Peach Bowl               It used to take three seasons for these teams
                         to have seven losses combined, but there
                         still will be plenty of Sunday players
                         dotting the field. ***

Saturday, January 1
Cotton Bowl              Roll out of bed in time to see the Aggies'
                         Reggie McNeal. The Vols' Cedric Houston and
                         Gerald Riggs will carry heavy loads. ** 1/2

Outback Bowl             Top Dawgs David Greene and David Pollack
                         close their careers against a Badgers team
                         that can run and play some "D." *** 1/2

Gator Bowl               The Mountaineers saw their offense go AWOL in
                         their three losses. That spells trouble
                         against a swarming 'Noles defense. ** 1/2

Capital One Bowl         The stars of this one are on defense--and on
                         the sideline. Kirk Ferentz and Nick Saban are
                         as good as it gets. *** 1/2

Rose Bowl                Two perennial powers meet, and they're
                         bringing the stars. Braylon Edwards, Michael
                         Hart, Vince Young and Cedric Benson all are
                         super talents. ****

Fiesta Bowl              Another game in which you won't see Urban
                         Meyer on NBC. Watch him punctuate his
                         farewell speech with an exclamation. ***

Monday, January 3
Sugar Bowl               Cadillac Williams and Jason Campbell star for
                         the Tigers, who will shoot for perfection.
                         *** 1/2

Tuesday, January 4
Orange Bowl              The climax of the season features two great
                         quarterbacks (Matt Leinart, Jason White) and
                         two great running backs (Reggie Bush, Adrian
                         Peterson). Winner (almost certainly) takes
                         all. ****