BOWLNANZA!: The Sun Bowl

Missouri (8-4) vs. #25 Oregon State (9-4)

Missouri's a pretty nondescript program. They've been in about the 5-7 to 8-4 range for a while now, it feels like, and there was some concern going into the year that they'd fall off the cliff with the graduation of QB Brad Smith, who will statistically go down as an all-time great player, even if the results were "meh." Chase Daniel filled Smith's shoes just fine, however, throwing for almost 3200 yards and a 26/10 TD/INT ratio as the focus of the #11 passing attack in the country. There's no real revelations about the Tigers, as they pretty much are what they appear: a pretty good Big 12 team.

Oregon State, however, has had quite an interesting season. They were a weak 2-3 to start the year, only beating Idaho and I-AA Eastern Washington. Fans wanted coach Mike Riley fired, but then a funny thing happened: The Beavers won 7 of their last 8 games, including an upset of then-#3 USC. The Beavers may have been lucky in a few of those wins, however, as they easily could've lost to Oregon, Hawaii, or the aforementioned USC.

Oregon State's probably closer to a .500 team, but any team with as much momentum as the Beavers have can't be ignored. However, Missouri has the yardage edge both on offense and on defense. Riley is undefeated in bowl games while at OSU, so I hate to pick against him, but Missouri's pretty solidly the better team.

My Pick: Missouri
Confidence (out of 5): 1