Oh Look... the Liberty Bowl

Forgive the delay in posting, as I've not only brought back my loot from Christmas, but also a nasty little sinus infection. It's made watching football a chore, and writing about it while trying to be funny nearly impossible. With the litany of prescriptions I'm chucking down my gullet, I'm optimistic this will be fixed in time for lots of GMAC Bowl coverage for Ball State. But if not, I'm sure Edge and RV can provide your fix.

Bowl Season is winding down, though, as only a handful of games remain. The Bowls this year have been, in my opinion, outstanding. Upsets galore, most games exciting to watch, and some amazing individual performances by players you did and didn't know. In the two BCS Bowls so far, neither were exceptionally exciting, though both played out much differently than I expected. While nowhere close to "competitive", the Penn State-USC game was not the blood bath I expected. Virginia Tech intercepted their way to a victory in the Orange Bowl, and we're left with only 3 major bowl games left to decide the season. Tonight's matchup of Alabama-Utah has the potential to be a dandy, while Monday's Ohio State-Texas tilt should once again demonstrate why OSU and the BCS have no business together.

Today, though, features a three-peat of football action with the aforementioned Bama-Utah Sugar Bowl the nightcap to today's schedule. Starting us off in an hour or so is Ole Miss-Texas Tech in the Cotton Bowl. Entertainment is sure to follow as you have two of the best soundbyte coaches in Houston Nutt and Mike Leach. It's a prelim of the Big 12-SEC matchup featured in the national title game, but Tech is no Oklahoma and Ole Miss is no Florida, though Ole Miss did hand the gators their lone loss.

The happy hour fiesta of the Liberty Bowl is what I'm concerning myself with today, though, as Kentucky battles East Carolina. Both teams slid ass-backwards into a Bowl game, and ended the year much differently than they started. When 2008 started, ECU was everyone's darling, beating BCS team after BCS team. Kentucky started the season 4-0, and gave Alabama one of their closest games of the season. Injuries plagued the Cats, and the losses soon followed. Finishing 6-6, but 2-6 in the SEC is not the way to end your season.

The Cats are struggling mightily right now, without Randall Cobb, and in dire need of an offense. The best thing about today's Liberty Bowl will be that when it ends, this season is over for Kentucky and 2009 can quickly get rolling, a year that figures to be tremendously better for the football Cats than 08. Any showing that's better than total embarrassment is a moral victory for these wounded kittens, but I'll be shocked if Big Blue rolls out of Memphis with a W.

I'll go with an official I-Hope-I'm-Way-Wrong-Prediction of:
ECU 24
UK 10

5pm... ESPN... be there or be square.