Cfn: Ranking & Predicting All The Bowl Games

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Source: Ranking & Predicting All The Bowl Games

Great matchups. Don't miss ... you'll be a better person for watching.

These aren't guaranteed to be classics, but they should be worth your four hours.

9. R&L Carriers New Orleans Bowl

Dec. 21 / 8 p.m. ET New Orleans, La. ESPN

Troy vs. Southern Miss

Normally one of the worst bowl matchups of the season, the New Orleans Bowl really might be one of the most entertaining early bowl games. Really. This is the best New Orleans Bowl matchup by a huge margin with Southern Miss coming in red hot, and probably deserving of a far better game, and Troy coming in as one of the Sun Belt's best teams ever. Southern Miss is 2-0 in this game, having won two in a row in 2004 and 2005, while Troy blew away Rice in 2006. USM overcame a lousy start to win the final four games of the season in head coach Larry Fedora's first season, highlighted by a 21-3 win over eventual Conference USA champion, East Carolina. The Golden Eagles are 2-0 against the Sun Belt this season, having beaten UL Lafayette and Arkansas State in the first three games. Troy pushed LSU to the wall before dying late, but the Trojans are still on a nice run having beaten UL Lafayette and Arkansas State by a combined score of 83 to 12 to close out the year.

Stars of the show: 1) Southern Miss RB Damion Fletcher, 2) Troy LBs Bear Woods & Boris Lee, 3) Southern Miss QB Austin Davis

The knee jerk, off-the-cuff, initial prediction: Troy 27 ... Southern Miss 17

Bowl Games. Nothing more, nothing less.

You're a college football fan. You'll watch, you'll eat, you'll move on.

23. Motor City Bowl

Dec. 26 / 7:30 p.m. ET Detroit, Mich. ESPN

Florida Atlantic vs. Central Michigan

Last year Central Michigan almost pulled off a comeback for the ages in the Motor City Bowl loss to Purdue. This year, QB Dan LeFevour and Florida Atlantic's Rusty Smith should put on a show in a key battle for the respect of the MAC and the Sun Belt. Fine, so there isn't exactly a national debate over which of the two conferences is better, but this really would be a great win for the Owls. Head coach Howard Schnellenberger doesn't lose bowl games, but this isn't the same FAU team as last year.

Stars of the show: 1) Dan LeFevour, QB Central Michigan, 2) Rusty Smith, QB Florida Atlantic, 3)

The knee jerk, off-the-cuff, initial prediction: Central Michigan 45 ... Florida Atlantic 38