So close, yet...ah never mind-thanks, Sooners!

Yesterday's Bowl results:
-Fiesta Bowl (OU -7)
West Virginia 48, Oklahoma 28
MY PICK: Oklahoma 37-21

My Bowl Season Record: 13-15

Don't worry, Bob Stoops, the cards are in the mail.

As in the thank you cards from June Jones & Colt Brennan, Ron Zook & Juiceless Williams, and Jim Leavitt & Matt Grothe, showing their appreciation for taking their teams' dismal bowl performances out of the spotlight and helping bestow the honor of the biggest bowl gag job to Stoops' under performing Sooner squad.

How bad was West Virginia's whipping of the previously potent Oklahoma club? WVU interim coach Bill Stewart not only became the first of seven fill-in skippers to win a bowl game this season, but he was also awarded the permanent job directly after the game based on his team's professed love of their humble leader, a fact that was evident in the way they played for the longtime assistant to exiled Rich Rodriguez.

The Sooners, who many experts believed could have staked a claim to best team in the country with a win, laid a gigantic egg against the speedier, hungrier Mountaineers, as WVU rolled up 525 yards of offense, including a staggering 349 on the ground against one of the nation's stingiest run defending teams, and consequently Stoops lost his fourth consecutive BCS bowl game.

Why the fuck didn't I see that one coming?

But I don't feel too bad, as just about everyone had the Mountaineers getting crushed, especially after they blew a shot at the national title by losing to Pitt in their season finale, then watching as their beloved coach Rodriguez bolted for Michigan shortly thereafter.

So instead of leveling my record at 14-14, I stand 2 games below .500 with four more games to go. That's what I get for trusting a pimply-faced freshman QB, who got sacked when a midget cornerback brushed by him and knocked him over early in the first quarter.

Nice performance, Sam Bradford. Pick up some Clearasil and some balls and maybe they'll let you come back next year.

Now it's up to the Orange Bowl to salvage some BCS dignity and give us one competitive game before the championship game Monday. But with the upstart Kansas Jayhawks taking on a veteran and tough-as-nails Virginia Tech team, it looks like BCS blowout #4 could be on the way tonight.

-Fed Ex Orange Bowl
Kansas (11-1) vs. Virginia Tech (11-2)
Miami 815PM FOX
Line: Va Tech -3

Most people believe the newbie Jayhawks, who are playing in their first post-New Years Day bowl game since the Summer of Love, are going to get rolled by the defensively stout Hokies, who allow just 15 PPG and have played in big bowls for the better part of the last decade.

Throw in the fact tha Va Tech is playing with extra determination in the memory of the 32 students & faculty members who were killed in the massacre on campus last April, and this one is shaping up to be a one-sided affair.

But that's what everyone thought about the OU/WVU game, too, where another defensive team was supposed to shut out a high-powered offensive club, and look what happened there.

The key to the Hokies is their perennially solid D and outstanding special teams play, while Kansas' miraculous rise from the dregs of the NCAA was built upon a flashy offense and smart decision making, i.e few turnovers and penalties. Most believe the experienced Hokies will trash the flash-in-the-pan 'Hawks, but the more I think about it, the more I'm saying hold on a minute there.

On the heels of that Fiesta Bowl shocker, I've decided I'm gonna go against the grain here and choose the Jayhawks to pull the upset. Sure they got dissected by Mizzou in the last big game they played, on November 24th in a battle of top 5 teams. And maybe they haven't been to the big dance as many times as Va Tech, and they don't have a coach as well-respected as Frank Beamer.

But what they do have is a potent offense, which averaged 44 PPG, led by QB Todd Reesing (3259 yards, 32 TDs, 6 INTs), and a decent defense as well (16PPG allowed, albeit against inferior competition.) But they do have the Man-genius, coach Mark Mangino, plus they have that "we're not supposed to be here, so what do we have to lose?" attitude that a team needs to overcome the adversity they will face from the fearless Hokies.

But the main reason for my pick is I just want to go against the grain and hope I can look like a mangenius if the upset does come in. It's easy to back the favorite, right?

After all, what do I have to lose?

MY PICK: Kansas 27, Va Tech 24