I’m breaking up the bowl games and talking bowls every day through the BCS Championship game between Notre Dame and Alabama on January 7^th.

First up…

New Mexico Bowl Nevada vs. Arizona – December 15^th, 1 pm

The bowl games get started early this year and the first game is a game that will not be talked about much but I can’t wait to see. Nevada will take on Arizona in the New Mexico Bowl and more than anything, everyone should realize Arizona is on the come.

It does depend on which Arizona team shows up. They have been all over the place. They lost to Oregon 49 – 0 and to UCLA 66 – 10. They lost by three to Oregon State, in overtime to eventual Pac 12 champion Stanford by six and beat USC when they were # 9.

Next up…

MAACO Las Vegas Bowl Washington vs. No. 19 Boise State – December 22, 3:30 pm

Boise State does not have the team that they have had over the last couple of years. They are playing off their reputation and they should ask the University of Texas, Tennessee and Auburn how that worked out for them.

Washington is a program that I thought would be better in 2012 but they have been up and down as well. They beat # 8 Stanford and # 7 Oregon State but lost the season finale to their rival Washington State where a win would have been five in a row and had them ranked.

I’m picking this one now; Washington wins and heads into 2013 with a pretty good team.

The Heisman Trophy is one of the most revered and most hated awards in sports. To those that get in that small fraternity it has to be one of the most special moments of a life or at least an athletic career.

For every easy decision for the Heisman Trophy winner like Ricky Williams in 1998 and Cam Newton in 2010 there is Eddie George (Ohio State) winning the Heisman in 1995 over Tommy Frazier (Nebraska), Charles Woodson (Michigan) winning the Heisman over Payton Manning (Tennessee) in 1997 and Paul Hornung (Notre Dame) winning over Jim Brown (Syracuse) in 1956.

It is all over but the shouting in 2012 though because going into championship weekend only one pseudo Heisman candidate is playing. Collin Klein and Kansas State will host Texas Saturday night but Klein (a.k.a. Optimus Klein) might be on the outside looking in.

Already in the clubhouse just hoping for an invite to New York are USC wide receiver Marqise Lee, Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o, quarterback Johnny Manziel of Texas A&M and quarterback Braxton Miller of Ohio State.

Let’s be honest this not a stellar year for the Heisman and we could have a freshmen (Johnny Manziel) win the Heisman trophy for the first time.

As for now, Collin Klein will have the eyes of America on him on Saturday as they take on one of America’s marquee programs. Can he do enough to thrust himself to the front of the line? He was there a few weeks ago and they lost to Baylor. How much can be regained in one night?

We’ll see but I’m betting on Johnny!

As the college football regular season slowly dwindles to an end and bowl season approaches one can only stare in awe at how chaotic the 2012 season has been. For starters the team that was projected to win it all in the beginning is nowhere to be found. Starting with a preseason rank of #1 the USC Trojans suffered some devastating upsets that completely banished them from the top 25 come week 14. As the Trojans went from BCS Championship game hopefuls to hoping for a Hunyadi Sun Bowl invitation, teams like Kansas State, Texas A&M, Kent State, and most importantly Notre Dame flipped the script and shook the college football world.

Kent State started the season completely off the radar and has now taken their seat at the AP Poll’s # 18 position. Suffering an early loss to their in-state rival, Kentucky would keep the Golden Flashes from completing a perfect season but not out of the MAC football Championship against another surprise team #19 Northern Illinois . Both teams will enter the Championship undefeated in conference play and a win here for Kent State would surely send them to the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl against Middle Tennessee.

Another team that possibly holds the most impressive feat this year is Texas A&M. The Aggies made the transition to the SEC this year and clearly were not expected to do much as their preseason ranking was lost between South Florida and Houston. Low and behold the Aggies failed to be stopped by all the hype behind what many consider to be the toughest conference in college football. Not only did they break their way into the top ten with predictions hoisting them towards the Capital One Bowl, they could potentially hold this year’s Heisman trophy winner.

Though Kansas State saw glimmers of a championship run their season fell short of mid-season expectations with an upset from Baylor. A Kansas State-Oregon National Championship that spectators were expecting to see during week 12 will most likely head to the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl leaving the Title game to the most impressive Notre Dame team the BCS has ever seen. With heavy predictions leaning towards Alabama coming out on top in the SEC Championship game against Georgia the Crimson Tide will have their shot at becoming repeat champions.

The 2012 season could not have been written any better. There was a Cinderella Story in Notre Dame, Goliath fell in Southern California, and just as quickly as Bama was out they were back in. All in all the season has only reinforced my love for college football and left me hanging on a quote from Forest Gump — “College Football is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get.”

We already know that Notre Dame is going to play for the National Championship in the Orange Bowl in January. Before the season started we knew they had the season set up for them if they could win all of the games.

#15 Michigan State

Notre Dame has proved the doubters wrong. Photo courtesy of Joe Raymond/AP

#8 Michigan

#21 Stanford

#4 Oklahoma

#1 USC

How can you go wrong that schedule? Outside of those games there would still be games against Miami (FL), BYU, and Pittsburgh. Five games against the top 21 teams in the country and 3 top 10 teams. That is not how it worked out.

By the time Notre Dame rolled into the Los Angeles last week to take on USC everything had changed and the schedule didn’t look so good. Michigan State and preseason # 1 USC were not ranked at all. Michigan was down from 8 to 19 and Oklahoma was down from 4 to 11. The only team that was actually better was Stanford that went from # 21 to the Top 10 at # 8.

Notre Dame will play the SEC winner between Alabama and Georgia for the BCS Title on January 7^th. We know the Notre Dame front seven is good. We know their young quarterback Everett Golson is athletic and getting better every day.

What we don’t know is how good this team is based on the schedule they have played. I can’t wait to see the game though.