Every bowl game is important to the teams involved but not all of them are important to the rest of us. Still, they all deserve at least some of our attention, so FanHouse is previewing all the minor bowls in three sentences or less. Part 1, which covered all the games played before Dec. 30, may be found here. In this installment, we look at the rest of this year's less weighty games. If a game isn't covered in Part 1 or Part 2, we'll give it more attention soon.Your New Year's Eve Eve will start off with the Humanitarian Bowl (Maryland vs. Nevada), and the over/under is 43. That's not for points; that's for the number of Maryland fans who will actually fly across the country to watch a 7-5 team play another 7-5 team in a stadium that takes its color cues from the Brady Bunch's rec room.
Later that same day we get the Texas Bowl (Western Michigan vs. Rice). Both these teams feature wide-open offenses and purely theoretical defenses, so expect a lot of points. Actually, don't expect anything, because it's on the NFL Network and you probably won't be able to see it.
The actual New Year's Eve starts off with the Armed Forces Bowl (Houston vs. Air Force). As with the EagleBank Bowl, ESPN is really hoping you don't notice that they're just rerunning the game these two teams have already played this season. You know I'm right because they didn't put either game on ESPN Classic.
Next comes another installment of "Bowl Games for the Excessively Homesick": the Music City Bowl (Boston College vs. Vanderbilt). So typical. Vanderbilt gets to a bowl for the first time since Reagan's first term and they don't actually get to go anywhere.
Also that day is the Insight Bowl (Minnesota vs. Kansas). The 2006 Insight Bowl was the game that sent Glen Mason into the broadcasting industry after his Gophers let Texas Tech make the largest comeback in the history of bowl games. Don't expect a repeat, because it's unlikely the Gophers will ever be ahead by 31 points in this game.
All the games on New Year's Day are worthwhile, so they won't be covered here. Just remember as you're watching that if you left the clam dip out overnight, it's not safe to eat. But are we done with pointless bowl games? Of course not!After all, we've still got the Liberty Bowl (Kentucky vs. East Carolina) to deal with. Kentucky can take solace in the fact that, while they finished last in the SEC East, they'd have been fourth in the West. East Carolina can point to the fact that, at least for now, there's a very good chance Skip Holtz will still be their coach at kickoff time.
Speaking of coaches who might be renting U-Hauls soon, the International Bowl (Buffalo vs. Connecticut) features one in Buffalo's Turner Gill, who has been rumored to be the head coach next year at every Division I-A school except, um, Buffalo. This game will settle a lot of questions, the most important of which is "Has the Big East finally sunk below the MAC?"
That leaves us with but one game left to consider, the GMAC Bowl (Ball State vs. Tulsa), which you can get into for $15, or 136.7 shares of GM stock. It's fitting that this one is last, because it figures to be the least crappy of all these matchups. Both teams actually have decent records, solid personnel, and excellent coaches, so who screwed up and let that happen?
And there you have it. All those annoying little gnat-like bowl games previewed, so you can decide for yourself whether to watch them or watch those old episodes of "The Streets of San Francisco" you've got on VHS somewhere in your basement. There will be some hidden gems among these bowl games but personally, I never get tired of the battle between Michael Douglas' chin and Karl Malden's nose.
