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The Book is all dressed for the holidays and looking for a party to attend. Unfortunately, eleven games below .500 for the season (320-331-9 .491) after an 8-6 championship week, most likely sends us to a kegger vs a gala!
The BC Eagles though look strong heading into their bowl matchup with Penn State. Vegas lists the Eagles a 2.5-point favorite, and The Book has BC by 4, so once again...lay 'em with the Maroon and Gold. The Book has had a fabulous year to date picking BC, going 8-3, so we are looking for a big 9 win season.
BC finished the regular season ranked #5 in the ACC and #44 in the country. It is looking a bit unlikely that the Eagles could wind up much better than the high 30s, but it would be a drastic improvement from a year ago, where despite the bowl bid, BC finished all the way down at #73.
On the national front, I have listed all the bowl games and, for this week, included their national ranking as well. The Book didn't totally agree with the College Football Playoff committee, but wasn't too far off, selecting #1 Oregon, #2 TCU, #3 Alabama and #4 Ohio State. Florida State's win over Georgia Tech in the ACC Title game finally moved the Noles into the top 10 at #7.
By the way, according to the Massey composite poll, the Book got the four teams correct, albeit not in the right order. Massey picked Bama at one, Oregon at two, TCU at three and OSU at four.
Our publication has two fairly bizarre spreads for the semis: Alabama and Ohio State a pick em (see what a 59-0 win can do for a team) and Oregon a huge 15 point favorite over Jameis and Company in the Rose Bowl.
In case you are curious, the highest rated team not to make a bowl this year was an ACC team, Virginia at #48, while the lowest rated team to appear in a bowl will be Bowling Green at #104.
It does appear that this year's bowl season will be filled with competitive games. The new format seems to have worked at least in year one if that was the goal, with 17 of the games showing a spread of a FG or less, with the National Championship game still to be determined.
Two more Book posts for the year, the next one the week of the National Title game.
Check out the polls and the spreads and enjoy the most wonderful time of the year...bowl season, of course!
Go Eagles!
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| RANK | TEAM | REC | MASSEY | |
| 1 | Oregon Ducks | 12-1 | 2 | |
| 2 | TCU Horned Frogs | 11-1 | 3 | |
| 3 | Alabama Crimson Tide | 12-1 | 1 | |
| 4 | Ohio State Buckeyes | 12-1 | 4 | |
| 5 | Michigan State Spartans | 10-2 | 9 | |
| 6 | Ole Miss Rebels | 9-3 | 7 | |
| 7 | Florida State Seminoles | 13-0 | 6 | |
| 8 | Georgia Bulldogs | 9-3 | 10 | |
| 9 | Mississippi State Bulldogs | 10-2 | 8 | |
| 10 | Baylor Bears | 11-1 | 5 | |
| 11 | Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets | 10-3 | 13 | |
| 12 | USC Trojans | 8-4 | 23 | |
| 13 | Kansas State Wildcats | 9-3 | 12 | |
| 14 | Missouri Tigers | 10-3 | 17 | |
| 15 | LSU Tigers | 8-4 | 18 | |
| 16 | Wisconsin Badgers | 10-3 | 16 | |
| 17 | UCLA Bruins | 9-3 | 14 | |
| 18 | Arkansas Razorbacks | 6-6 | 26 | |
| 19 | Auburn Tigers | 8-4 | 11 | |
| 20 | Stanford Cardinal | 7-5 | 28 | |
Others receiving votes: Arizona State, Arizona, Boise State, Marshall, Oklahoma
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| RANK | TEAM | REC | NATIONAL RANK | |
| 1 | Florida State Seminoles | 13-0 | 7 | |
| 2 | Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets | 10-3 | 11 | |
| 3 | Clemson Tigers | 9-3 | 26 | |
| 4 | Louisville Cardinals | 9-3 | 29 | |
| 5 | Boston College Eagles | 7-5 | 44 | |
| 6 | Duke Blue Devils | 9-3 | 45 | |
| 7 | Virginia Cavaliers | 5-7 | 48 | |
| 8 | Miami-Florida Hurricanes | 6-6 | 50 | |
| 9 | Pittsburgh Panthers | 6-6 | 54 | |
| 10 | North Carolina State Wolfpack | 7-5 | 55 | |
| 11 | Virginia Tech Hokies | 6-6 | 62 | |
| 12 | North Carolina Tar Heels | 6-6 | 66 | |
| 13 | Syracuse Orange | 3-9 | 91 | |
| 14 | Wake Forest Demon Deacons | 3-9 | 105 | |
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| FAVORITE | SPREAD | UNDERDOG | ||
| #71 Louisiana Lafayette | 1 | #74 Nevada | ||
| #53 Utah St | 10 | #87 UTEP | ||
| #36 Colorado St | 1 | #33 Utah | ||
| #64 W Michigan | 1 | #57 Air Force | ||
| #96 S Alabama | 2 | #104 Bowling Green | ||
| #37 Memphis | 5 | #49 BYU | ||
| #24 Marshall | 7 | #42 Northern Illinois | ||
| #63 San Diego St | 6 | #70 Navy | ||
| #61 W Kentucky | 7 | #84 C Michigan | ||
| #80 Fresno St | 1 | #77 Rice | ||
| #43 Louisiana Tech | 8 | #68 Illinois | ||
| #66 North Carolina | 1 | #65 Rutgers | ||
| #41 UCF | 5 | #55 NC State | ||
| #35 Cincinnati | 7 | #62 Virginia Tech | ||
| #21 Arizona St | 8 | #45 Duke | ||
| #46 South Carolina | 2 | #50 Miami | ||
| #44 Boston College | 4 | #59 Penn State | ||
| #11 USC | 8 | #27 Nebraska | ||
| #30 West Virginia | 3 | #34 Texas A&M | ||
| #25 Oklahoma | 2 | #26 Clemson | ||
| #18 Arkansas | 7 | #39 Texas | ||
| #15 LSU | 14 | #51 Notre Dame | ||
| #8 Georgia | 12 | #29 Louisville | ||
| #20 Stanford | 16 | #52 Maryland | ||
| #2 TCU | 7 | #6 Ole Miss | ||
| #22 Arizona | E | #23 Boise St | ||
| #11 Georgia Tech | 1 | #9 Mississippi St | ||
| #16 Wisconsin | 1 | #19 Auburn | ||
| #5 Michigan St | 5 | #10 Baylor | ||
| #14 Missouri | 2 | #28 Minnesota | ||
| #1 Oregon | 15 | #7 Florida State | ||
| #4 Alabama | E | #5 Ohio State | ||
| #54 Pittsburgh | 1 | #58 Houston | ||
| #38 Tennessee | 1 | #40 Iowa | ||
| #13 Kansas St | 5 | #17 UCLA | ||
| #32 Washington | 9 | #56 Oklahoma St | ||
| #31 Florida | 7 | #47 E Carolina | ||
| #72 Toledo | 2 | #82 Arkansas St | ||