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The Book - Week 16 - The Bowls

BC looks to cap off a solid season as a 4 point favorite in Pinstripe. Book picks slightly different College Football Playoff participants.

Eagles hunt a Bowl Trophy vs Lions
Eagles hunt a Bowl Trophy vs Lions
Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

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!

THE NATIONAL RANKINGS 1-20 (ADJUSTED)
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

THE ACC RANKINGS (ADJUSTED)
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

THE BOWL SPREADS
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