College football bowl ratings

Who needs local listings? For your viewing pleasure, we rated the 28 bowl games for eyeball appeal. Your alternative during the holidays is the NFL ('Nother Field-goal League), so pay attention.

The BCS bowls are a given. ABC's ad rates and $26 million in payouts are at stake in each of the four games. But somehow in this glutted, gorged postseason world, 24 other bowls have managed to survive. Bravo for that.

The more college football the better. But be forewarned. A lot of these games aren't healthy if you're interested in stuff like spending time with the wife, kids and relatives.

On the other hand, put life on speed dial: kiss the wife, jolly the kids and have a beer with the brothers in law. Come on, the Humanitarian Bowl is on.

-- Wish the bathroom wasn't so far away.
Date	Bowl	Dodd's Comments
Jan. 1	Rose: USC vs. Michigan	Look what the BCS did to our Rose Bowl, made it absolutely perfect!
Jan. 4	Sugar: Oklahoma vs. LSU	See USC wallop Michigan. See both polls go for the Trojans. See the Sooners and Tigers play for a piece of crystal. See the BCS melt down.

-- Just give me the damn remote!
Date	Bowl	Dodd's Comments
Dec. 18	GMAC: Miami (Ohio) vs. Louisville	See a future NFL quarterback (Ben Roethlisberger) against one of the best offenses in the country (Louisville). Unless Bobby Petrino takes Auburn's call at halftime, this will be a shootout.
Dec. 23	Fort Worth: TCU vs. Boise State	Boise State's Ryan Dinwiddie should have been invited to New York for the Heisman. TCU turned down a trip to Mobile, Ala., for the GMAC Bowl. Neither team will be able to stop the other. Great theater, lots of empty seats.
Jan. 1	Orange: Miami (Fla.) vs. Florida St.	The teams, coaches and bowl officials might not want to see it, but we do.
Jan. 1	Outback: Iowa vs. Florida	Catch 'em now in Tampa, because next year both these teams are going to be in the top 10. Chris Leak alone is worth three stars.
Jan. 2	Cotton: Oklahoma St. vs. Mississippi	Big-time bowl for two schools longing for one. Battle of the Heisman wannabes -- Eli Manning vs. Rashaun Woods.

-- Young men in football uniforms, hmmm interesting.
Date	Bowl	Dodd's Comments
Dec. 27	Continental Tire: Virginia vs. Pitt	Only because we want to see Larry Fitzgerald one more time before he heads for the NFL (maybe) will we watch.
Dec. 29	Alamo: Nebraska vs. Michigan St.	Just what the world needs, another look at Jamaal Lord. Mildly interesting because who knows who will be coaching Nebraska?
Dec. 30	Houston: Texas Tech vs. Navy	No. 1 passing offense vs. No. 1 rushing offense. Points ho, matey!
Dec. 30	Holiday: Washington St. vs. Texas	The bowl gifts are nil for free-loading media members. The press-box food sucks. Yep, Holiday still the best bowl going. Yo, it's San Diego!
Dec. 31	Independence: Arkansas vs. Missouri	Bias rating: I went to Missouri and can't wait to see Tigers punk the Hogs. We now return you to objectivity.
Jan. 1	Capital One: Georgia vs. Purdue	Replay of 2000 Outback when Georgia rallied from 25-0 deficit to win 28-25. Dawgs won't score 28 against this Purdue defense.
Jan. 2	Fiesta: Kansas St. vs. Ohio St.	Ohio State thinking of opening an extension campus in Tempe. Meanwhile, Wildcats have just enough Sproles to win.
Jan. 3	Humanitarian: Tulsa vs. Georgia Tech	OK, OK, we know. Blue turf, Boise, usually snowing. But this game has big-time curiosity factor. You do want to see how coach Steve Kragthorpe performed the biggest turnaround of the season at Tulsa. You also want to see Reggie Ball complete his freshman season with a bang. Potentially great game.

-- Hey, it's better than Dr. Phil.
Date	Bowl	Dodd's Comments
Dec. 22	Tangerine: N.C. State vs. Kansas	No one knows about Kansas quarterback Bill Whittemore. They forgot about N.C. State's Philip Rivers.
Dec. 26	Insight: Virginia Tech vs. California	Chokers vs. Physicists. You figure out which is which.
Dec. 31	Music City: Auburn vs. Wisconsin	Tommy Tuberville can't lose, can he? He's got the buyout, a big, old contract and leverage over the administration.
Dec. 31	Liberty: Southern Miss vs. Utah	True test of Utah's BCS worthiness. The Utes haven't won an outright conference title in 45 years. Let's see how many fans show up in Memphis.
Jan. 1	Gator: West Virginia vs. Maryland	Ralph Friedgen wants a playoff. We want a break. If this wasn't for the Big East co-champs this would be a dud.
Jan. 2	Peach: Clemson vs. Tennessee	So this is it for Casey Clausen, huh?

-- What's on the WB?
Date	Bowl	Dodd's Comments
Dec. 16	New Orleans: N. Texas vs. Memphis	Two years ago the Mean Green played in this game with a losing record.
Dec. 24	Las Vegas: New Mexico vs. Oregon St.	Where would you rather be Christmas Eve than watching the second place MWC team against No. 5 from the Pac-10?
Dec. 25	Hawaii: Houston vs. Hawaii	This bowl is a presentation of the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau.
Dec. 26	Motor City: Bowling Green vs. N'western	Root for the Falcons. Northwestern (6-6) is bowling only because of the Big Ten bowl agreement. Where's Northern Illinois' bowl?
Dec. 30	Silicon Valley: Fresno State vs. UCLA	Bruins go bowling carrying a four-game losing streak. Are there too many bowls? Duh.
Dec. 31	Sun: Oregon vs. Minnesota	How's this for cross marketing? Tune in at halftime to see Texas-El Paso announce its new coach.
Dec. 31	San Francisco: Colorado State vs. Boston College	Hell's Angels already recruiting Bradlee Van Pelt.