First I want to wish everyone a Happy and Safe New Year! I also would like to thank everyone who has been using and reading PhilSteele.com this year. Your support and comments have helped us improve the site tenfold the past couple of years and with your help we will make PhilSteele.com even better in the upcoming year!

Each day during bowl season in my daily blog, I will give you my forecasts on the bowl games taking place that day. My forecasts will include a detailed write-up with my computer’s projected box score including rushing and passing yards, points and turnovers along with a detailed write-up on each game.

Also check out the bowl matchup section to get the latest and greatest information on all the upcoming bowl games including, game by game stats, 2009 recaps, and checklists for every position and intangible.

Armed Forces Bowl

Air Force vs Houston

Gametime Projected Weather: 47° Cloudy Wind: NNE 5-10 mph

It will be a classic matchup of Houston (offense) vs Air Force (defense). These two met in the same bowl last year with Houston winning 34-28.  While Houston’s offense is even more dynamic this year, Air Force’s defense is much improved as well.  Both teams know how to defend each other’s offenses but will still struggle with the contrasting style of play. Expect a lot of points on the board and I’ll call for each team to add a field goal to their points from last year.

PHIL’S FORECAST HOUSTON 37 AIR FORCE 31

Sun Bowl

Stanford vs Oklahoma

Gametime Projected Weather: 50° Sunny Wind: NNW 10-15 mph

Oklahoma center Brian Lepak will miss the game and the backup has little to no playing experience. The Sooners have struggled away from Norman this season going 1-5.  Stanford RB Toby Gerhart should be able to establish the run despite the Sooners great front seven as Oklahoma’s defense is geared to stop the spread offenses in the Big 12 and not the power-I that the Cardinal feature.  Stanford will be playing without starting QB Andrew Luck (finger) but new QB Tavita Pritchard has 19 career starts.  I would not be surprised with a Cardinal upset but I’ll call for the Sooners by 3.

PHIL’S FORECAST: OKLAHOMA 27 STANFORD 24

Texas Bowl

Missouri vs Navy

Gametime Projected Weather: 65° Partly Cloudy Wind: WSW 5mph

Missouri features two of the best players of the 2nd half of the season in QB Blaine Gabbert and WR Danario Alexander. Gabbert is now fully healthy and Navy has allowed a couple of WRs 100+ yards in the same game this season.  Missouri is worried about the chop blocks of Navy. The Midshipmen have a lot of players from the Houston area and will have the crowd edge but that won’t be enough to overcome the Tigers big talent edge as I’ll call for Missouri to win by 7.

PHIL’S FORECAST: MISSOURI 34 NAVY 27

Insight Bowl

Minnesota vs Iowa St

Gametime Projected Weather: 64° Sunny Wind: ENE 5 mph

Iowa St is excited to be playing in a bowl for the first time since 2005, but the bowl experience is brand new to all the players.  Meanwhile Minnesota coach Brewster is in his 2nd bowl game and will want a better showing than last year.  The Gophers are familiar with the setting as they played in the same bowl last year and in 2006.  Minnesota has played the tougher schedule and if you look at the checklist in the Bowl Matchup, you’ll find the Gophers with a 6.5 check advantage which means they should win the game as I’ll call for the Gophers to win easier than expected.

PHIL’S FORECAST: MINNESOTA 28 IOWA ST 20

Chick-Fil-A Bowl

Tennessee vs Virginia Tech

Gametime Projected Weather: Played in the Georgia Dome.

Both teams have excellent run games and play great defense as they nearly mirror each other. Tennessee is excited to be here after missing out on a bowl last year and they figure to have the crowd edge.  Virginia Tech does have a large special teams advantage and with both teams evenly matched everywhere else a special teams play could be the difference.  It should be an excellent and exciting Chick-Fil-A bowl as they usually are and I’ll call for the Hokies by 4.

PHIL’S FORECAST: VIRGINIA TECH 24 TENNESSEE 20

Conference Bowl Standings

The MWC is off to a great start with a 3-0 record thanks to Wyoming’s upset over Fresno St in the New Mexico Bowl and two big wins over the Pac-10 the last week. The Big East has picked up a couple of wins including Pittsburgh’s win over North Carolina on Saturday. The Big 10 got its first victory on Tuesday with Wisconsin’s impressive win over Miami in the Champs Sports Bowl. The PAC 10 and ACC have had disappointing starts to the bowl seaoson as they are a combined 3-6 so far. The MAC is 0-3 but all of the losses have been by single digits and Temple and Bowling Green both led late in the 2nd half before losing.

Bowl Confidence Contest

Make sure to check the daily blog every day as we will be posting the standings here after every bowl game is played.

There will be two Top 50 leaderboards. The first one will be points won and the second is best win percentage of their points. Sometimes the early leaders are the ones that risked the most on the early bowls and they fall by the wayside as the contest goes on so that is why I will also keep track of those that have the best win percentage.

After 15 bowl games William Meleski continues to lead the contest for the eigth day in a row with 270 points won and a 75% win %. Lyell Marks moved up to 2nd with 257 points and Goran Mili is now in 3rd with 238 points. Jeff Hamilton has been near the top of the leaderboard in win % for the past week and takes over 1st with 84%. Patrick Hilt is in 2nd with 83% which is about .4% better than Matt Schupp who was 1st yesterday.

I now have 157 points and there are still 19 bowl games left including 15 in the next three days! Remember 1st place wins $250, 2nd place gets $100 and a set of regionals and 3rd gets $50 and a set of regionals.

Thanks again to the near 1200 people that have entered. If you have any questions concerning your points or do not see your name in the Top 50 and think it should be please email Brandon@philsteele.com.

Here are the current leaderboards.

The Top 50 in Points Won

The Top 50 in Win %

Each day during bowl season in my daily blog, I will give you my forecasts on the bowl games taking place that day. My forecasts will include a detailed write-up with my computer’s projected box score including rushing and passing yards, points and turnovers along with a detailed write-up on each game.

Also check out the bowl matchup section to get the latest and greatest information on all the upcoming bowl games including, game by game stats, 2009 recaps, and checklists for every position and intangible.

Humanitarian Bowl

Bowling Green vs Idaho

Gametime Projected Weather: 34°, Flurries Wind: WNW 5 mph

Idaho is playing in their home state and figures to have a large crowd advantage. The Vandals have plenty of weapons on offense that starts with QB Nathan Enderle who has 2,666 yards (62.3%) with an 18-9 ratio. Idaho has three solid tailbacks in De’Maundray Woolridge (853 rush yards, 5.7, 16 TD’s), Princeton McCarty (605 rush yards, 5.7) and Deonte Jackson (584 total yards). The Vandals also have a 1,000 yard WR in Max Komar. Idaho is simply the more balanced team as my computer projects them to have more than 200 yards rushing and passing while BG will just be throwing the ball all over the field. Idaho played on the blue turf earlier this year in a loss to Boise St but this time the Vandals will be on the other side of the outcome.

PHIL’S FORECAST: IDAHO 37 BOWLING GREEN 32

Holiday Bowl

Arizona vs Nebraska

Gametime Projected Weather: 58°, Partly Cloudy Wind: W 5 mph

Arizona is a dangerous team as they were just a few plays away from being unbeaten in Pac-10 play. Both teams are solid on offense and defense with Nebraska having the edge on defense (#5-20) and Arizona having the edge on offense (#25-62). Generally the Holiday Bowl is one of the higher scoring bowl games each season but with two top-notch defenses it figures to be a lower scoring affair this year. While both teams are excited to be playing in this bowl Ndamukong Suh was named the AP College Football Player of the Year and the Huskers will want to send him out on a winning note.

PHIL’S FORECAST: NEBRASKA 20 ARIZONA 17

Conference Bowl Standings

The MWC is off to a great start with a 3-0 record thanks to Wyoming’s upset over Fresno St in the New Mexico Bowl and two big wins over the Pac-10 the last week. The Big East has picked up a couple of wins including Pittsburgh’s win over North Carolina on Saturday. The Big Ten got its first victory last night with Wisconsin’s impressive win over Miami in the Champs Sports Bowl. The Pac-10 after an 0-2 start is now 2-2 after USC and UCLA victories. Similarly, CUSA, after starting 0-2, has won their last two. The ACC has played all BCS conference teams in their bowl games and has not fared well going 1-3. The MAC has had a couple of tough losses including Temple’s loss to UCLA yesterday where the Owls at one point led 21-7.

Bowl Confidence Contest

Make sure to check the daily blog every day as we will be posting the standings here after every bowl game is played.

There will be two Top 50 leaderboards. The first one will be points won and the second is best win percentage of their points. Sometimes the early leaders are the ones that risked the most on the early bowls and they fall by the wayside as the contest goes on so that is why I will also keep track of those that have the best win percentage.

After 13 bowl games William Meleski continues to lead the contest for the seventh day in a row with 253 points won and a 77% win %. Gene Winters is a name that has been near the top of the leaderboard since day 1 and he is in 2nd with 226 points won. Matt Schupp is the new leader in win % with an impressive 87% which is 4% better than 2nd place Jeff Hamilton.

After some tough early losses, I now have 140 points and there are still 21 bowl games left! Remember 1st place wins $250, 2nd place gets $100 and a set of Regionals and 3rd gets $50 and a set of Regionals.

Thanks again to the near 1,200 people that have entered. If you have any questions concerning your points or do not see your name in the Top 50 and think it should be please email Brandon@philsteele.com.

Here are the current leaderboards.

The Top 50 in Points Won

The Top 50 in Win %