College football predictions: Pre-Christmas bowls

Only four bowl games between now and Christmas, which reveals the next wave of bowl development. More games before Christmas. Anyway, let’s get right to the predictions:

Poinsettia: Brigham Young vs. San Diego. Cougars 26-21. I wonder if BYU ever regrets its identity change. The Cougars were on the cutting edge of wing-it and fling-it football, but now they have running quarterbacks who throw footballs the way they would throw a cement block.

Beef O’Brady’s: Central Florida vs. Ball State. Golden Knights 27-24. Have you noticed that the one league unaffected by realignment is the MAC? The Mid-American Conference just flows along, unraided and non-raiding. And rewarded with seven bowl games this season. Not that the MAC will win many.

New Orleans: Louisiana-Lafayette vs. East Carolina. Pirates 37-31. East Carolina continues to have amazing fan support. The Pirates averaged 47,013 fans in 2012. That’s more than Minnesota, TCU, Utah, Georgia Tech, Oregon State and Stanford.

Las Vegas: Boise State vs. Washington. Broncos 21-19. Washington beat Stanford, but otherwise had a disappointing season. Losing to Washington State 31-28 in overtime to finish 7-5? Not good.

Previous week: 15-4. Season: 292-131.