Happy New Years Eve to everybody. Tonight is an evening dedicated to amateur drinkers the world over. I generally choose not to plan too much because it seems like big plans are often a letdown for NYE. A friend of mine is having a cocktail party at his place, so I'll go over for some drinks and hanging out with friends. It will allow me to get back and get a decent night's sleep to get ready for tomorrow's regular season finale. The 49ers have a 10:00am game, so it is a bit of an "early" morning.
In the meantime, today is a big day for bowl action. We have five bowl games on tap, with a few intriguing matchups and some possible stinkers as well. After the jump, I've posted a rundown of some of the prospects from each of the five bowl games, courtesy of Mocking The Draft. Throughout the day they will also have more detailed posts on each of the bowl games, so head over to see what they have to say about the draft prospects in each game.
Today is thankfully the last day of most of the fairly awful bowl matchups. There is one more .500 vs. .500 bowl game between Ohio State and Florida on Monday, but otherwise it is mostly quality football after today.
However, today you get to enjoy games like the truly epic Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl up here in San Francisco. It features 6-6 Illinois versus 6-7 UCLA in a game that UCLA had to apply for a waiver to play. Even better? Both teams have fired their head coaches, Illinois has lost six straight and UCLA has been outscored 99-31 in their last two games. Good times will be had by all. Over at SB Nation Bay Area, we have a story stream set up for the game and one of our guys will be covering the game from a slightly more comedic angle. Given that the Bay Area has no rooting interest in the game (aside from Boo UCLA!), we've decided to take a fun approach to an awful matchup.
The necessary TV channel and time info is listed after the jump with each bowl game. We have three ESPN games, one ABC game and a CBS game. If you are looking for something fun to do on New Years Eve, watching these games is probably not high on the list. But if you need to get your college football fix and want to check out a mix of solid draft prospects, we'll have this thread open all day for chatter. And if you just want to discuss how drunk you are getting, go to town.
| Meineke Car Care Bowl; Houston, TX | |||||
| Texas A&M vs. Northwestern (ESPN/ESPN3, 12:00pm) | |||||
| Tannehill | Ryan | QB | Sr. (RS) | Texas A&M | 1-3 |
| Fuller | Jeff | WR | Sr. | Texas A&M | 2-5 (↓) |
| Gray | Cyrus | RB | Sr. | Texas A&M | 3-5 |
| Judie | Coryell | CB | Sr. (RS) | Texas A&M | 3-6 |
| Jerod-Eddie | Tony | DT | Sr. | Texas A&M | 5-7 |
| Williams | Garrick | ILB | Sr. (RS) | Texas A&M | 6-UD |
| Hunter | Trent | FS | Sr. | Texas A&M | 6-UD |
| Frederick | Terrence | CB | Sr. (RS) | Texas A&M | 6-UD |
| Porter | Sean | OLB | Jr. | Texas A&M | 1-3 |
| Lewis | Patrick | G | Jr. | Texas A&M | 3-6 |
| Nwachukwu | Uzoma | WR | Jr. | Texas A&M | 5-7 |
| Michael | Christine | RB | Jr. | Texas A&M | 5-7 |
| Swope | Ryan | WR | Jr. (RS) | Texas A&M | 5-UD |
| Campbell | Steven | SS | Jr. | Texas A&M | 7-UD |
| Prioleau | Hutson | TE | Soph. (RS) | Texas A&M | 7-UD (↓) |
| Matthews | Jake | OT | Soph. | Texas A&M | N/A (↑) |
| Moore | Damontre | 3-4 OLB | Soph. | Texas A&M | N/A (↑) |
| Joeckel | Luke | OT | Soph. | Texas A&M | N/A |
| Hicks | Nehemiah | TE | Soph. | Texas A&M | N/A |
| Raven | Floyd | CB | Fr. | Texas A&M | N/A |
| Matthews | Howard | SS | Fr. | Texas A&M | N/A |
| Ward | Patrick | OT | Jr. | Northwestern | 6-UD |
| Williams | Quentin | DE | Jr. (RS) | Northwestern | 6-UD |
| Jones | Christian | WR | Fr. | Northwestern | N/A |
| Hyundai Sun Bowl; El Paso, TX | |||||
| Georgia Tech vs. Utah (CBS, 2:00pm) | |||||
| Peters | Jason | DE | Sr. (RS) | Georgia Tech | UD (↓) |
| Uzzi | Omoregie | G | Jr. (RS) | Georgia Tech | 3-5 |
| Hill | Stephen | WR | Jr. | Georgia Tech | 4-6 (↓) |
| Cross | Izaan | 3-4 DE | Jr. | Georgia Tech | 4-6 (↓) |
| Sweeting | Rod | CB | Jr. | Georgia Tech | 4-6 (↑) |
| Smith | Orwin | RB | Jr. | Georgia Tech | UD (↓) |
| Johnson | Isaiah | S | Soph. | Georgia Tech | N/A (↑) |
| Attaochu | Jeremiah | OLB | Soph. | Georgia Tech | N/A (↑) |
| Young | Louis | CB | Soph. | Georgia Tech | N/A |
| Nealy | Quayshawn | ILB | Fr. (RS) | Georgia Tech | N/A |
| Perkins | Charles | RB | Fr. (RS) | Georgia Tech | N/A |
| Cullen | John | OT | Sr. | Utah | 6-UD |
| Bergstrom | Tony | RT | Sr. | Utah | 7-UD |
| Lotulelei | Star | DT | Jr. | Utah | 3-5 |
| Kruger | Dave | DT | Jr. (RS) | Utah | 5-7 |
| Taumoelau | Percy | OT | Soph. (RS) | Utah | 6-UD |
| Kruger | Joe | DE | Soph. (RS) | Utah | 3-5 |
| Reilly | Trevor | 3-4OLB | Soph. (RS) | Utah | 4-6 |
| Blechen | Brian | OLB | Soph. | Utah | N/A |
| Rowe | Eric | FS | Fr. | Utah | N/A |
| AutoZone Liberty Bowl; Memphis, TN | |||||
| Cincinnati vs. Vanderbilt (ABC/ESPN3, 3:30pm) | |||||
| Pead | Isaiah | RB | Sr. | Cincinnati | 3-5 (↑) |
| Wolfe | Derek | DT | Sr. | Cincinnati | 5-UD (↑) |
| Hoffman | Alex | OT | Sr. (RS) | Cincinnati | 6-UD (↑) |
| Schaffer | J.K. | ILB | Sr. | Cincinnati | 6-UD (↑) |
| Frey | Drew | SS | Jr. (RS) | Cincinnati | 5-UD |
| Stewart | Walter | DE | Jr. (RS) | Cincinnati | 6-UD |
| Bujnoch | Austen | G | Soph. (RS) | Cincinnati | 7-UD (↑) |
| Washington | Shaq | WR | Fr. | Cincinnati | N/A |
| Temple | Nick | OLB | Fr. | Cincinnati | N/A (↑) |
| Hayward | Casey | CB | Sr. | Vanderbilt | 4-6 |
| Marve | Chris | ILB | Sr. (RS) | Vanderbilt | 5-UD |
| Richardson | Sean | SS | Sr. | Vanderbilt | 6-UD |
| Lohr | Rob | DT | Jr. (RS) | Vanderbilt | 7-UD |
| Marshall | Javon | FS | Soph. (RS) | Vanderbilt | 7-UD |
| Garnham | Chase | OLB | Soph. | Vanderbilt | N/A |
| Ladler | Kenneth | SS | Soph. | Vanderbilt | N/A |
| Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl; San Francisco, CA | |||||
| Illinois vs. UCLA (ESPN/ESPN3, 3:30pm) | |||||
| Jenkins | A.J. | WR | Sr. | Illinois | 3-5 (↑) |
| Allen | Jeff | OT | Sr. | Illinois | 6-UD |
| Mercilus | Whitney | DE | Jr. | Illinois | 1-2 (↑) |
| Pocic | Graham | C | Jr. (RS) | Illinois | 2-4 |
| Buchanan | Michael | DE/ATH | Jr. | Illinois | 6-7 |
| Hawthorne | Terry | CB | Jr. | Illinois | 6-UD |
| Spence | Akeem | DT | Soph. (RS) | Illinois | 1-3 |
| Hull | Steve | SS | Soph. (RS) | Illinois | 6-UD |
| Brown | Jonathan | OLB | Soph. | Illinois | N/A (↑) |
| Bates | Houston | OLB | Fr. (RS) | Illinois | N/A |
| Young | Donovonn | RB | Fr. | Illinois | N/A |
| Dye | Tony | SS | Sr. | UCLA | 5-UD (↓) |
| Westgate | Sean | OLB | Sr. | UCLA | 7-UD |
| Franklin | Johnathan | RB | Jr. (RS) | UCLA | 5-UD (↓) |
| Fauria | Joseph | TE | Jr. (RS) | UCLA | 4-7 |
| Hester | Aaron | CB | Jr. (RS) | UCLA | 5-UD |
| Larimore | Patrick | ILB | Jr. (RS) | UCLA | 5-UD (↑) |
| Locke | Jeff | P | Jr. (RS) | UCLA | 6-UD |
| Jones | Datone | DE | Jr. (RS) | UCLA | 6-UD (↑) |
| Hillard | Dalton | FS | Jr. | UCLA | 7-UD |
| Zumwalt | Jordan | ILB | Soph. | UCLA | N/A |
| Riley | Dietrich | SS | Soph. | UCLA | N/A |
| Odighizuwa | Owamagbe | DE | Soph. | UCLA | N/A |
| Marsh | Cassius | DT | Soph. | UCLA | N/A |
| Chick-fil-A Bowl; Atlanta, GA | |||||
| Virginia vs. Auburn (ESPN/ESPN3, 7:30pm) | |||||
| Minnifield | Chase | CB | Sr. (RS) | Virginia | 1-2 |
| Johnson | Cam | DE | Sr. | Virginia | 2-4 |
| Conrath | Matt | DT/3-4 DE | Sr. (RS) | Virginia | 5-UD |
| Mosley | Corey | FS | Sr. (RS) | Virginia | 7-UD |
| Burd | Kris | WR | Sr. (RS) | Virginia | 7-UD (↑) |
| Aboushi | Oday | OT | Jr. | Virginia | 3-6 (↑) |
| Greer | Steve | ILB | Jr. (RS) | Virginia | 7-UD |
| Hill | Will | DT | Jr. | Virginia | 7-UD (↑) |
| Moses | Morgan | OT | Soph. | Virginia | N/A (↑) |
| Nicholson | Demetrious | CB | Fr. | Virginia | N/A |
| Parks | Kevin | RB | Fr. (RS) | Virginia | N/A (↓) |
| Mosley | Brandon | OT | Sr. | Auburn | 3-5 |
| Thorpe | Neiko | CB/FS | Sr. | Auburn | 6-UD |
| Lutzenkirchen | Philip | TE | Jr. | Auburn | 3-5 |
| Blake | Emory | WR | Jr. | Auburn | 3-6 |
| McCalebb | Onterio | RB | Jr. | Auburn | 6-UD |
| Bates | Daren | OLB/SS | Jr. | Auburn | 6-UD (↑) |
| Bell | T'Sharvan | CB | Jr. (RS) | Auburn | 7-UD |
| Eguae | Nosa | DE | Soph. (RS) | Auburn | 7-UD |
| Burgess | Blake | C | Soph. (RS) | Auburn | 7-UD |
| Dyer | Michael | RB | Soph. | Auburn | N/A |
| Lemonier | Corey | DE | Soph. | Auburn | N/A |
| Whitaker | Jeffrey | DT | Soph. | Auburn | N/A |
| Holland | Jake | ILB | Soph. | Auburn | N/A |
| Florence | Erique | FS | Fr. | Auburn | N/A |