Pigskin Potpourri, Bowl Selection Edition

It was a wretched football weekend in the Batsell household. First, ASU laid an egg in Tucson, bringing the Rudy Carpenter era to a merciful close. With a bowl game, statewide bragging rights and his own legacy on the line, you'd think Rudy might have prepared for the game with the maturity of a seasoned senior quarterback. Instead, he spent his free time during rivalry week getting ejected from a girls' high school hoops game for heckling the refs. Now there's the mark of a champion. Bring on Jack Elway.

Then came the perennially disappointing BCS bowl lineup. I won't waste bandwidth by reciting the usual litany of injustices. The matchups just aren't that compelling. I predict Cincy-VaTech will be the most competitive game among the five. But I am intrigued by these undercard bowls:

* The "Why Aren't We in the BCS" Bowl: Never thought I'd hear myself say this, but the postseason game I'm looking most forward to this year is the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia tilt between Boise State and TCU. Both of these teams have shown they can hang with, and even defeat, BCS-caliber opponents. Should be a shootout.

* The Fourth Estate Bowl: Journalism school powerhouses Missouri and Northwestern duke it out at the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio. Can't wait for the trash talk on the field: "Bitch, you couldn't write a story if I spotted you the lede and the nut graf!"

* The Hurricane Ike Rematch Bowl: Houston and Air Force will venture back to the Metroplex for the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth. You may recall that SMU hosted Round One of this epic matchup when Hurricane Ike forced the game 240 miles north and Air Force ran its way to a 31-28 victory. If you're a fan of the passing game, though, you might be disappointed -- Air Force failed to complete a single pass in its victory on the Hilltop.

* The Ted Kim Got Hosed Bowl: Boston College heads to Nashville to face hometown Vandy at the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl in Nashville. Mr. Kim was envisioning spending New Year's Day in Miami; instead, he and the Eagles get an SEC road game. If you go, Ted, do check out the Bluebird Cafe, immortalized in the cinematic genius that is The Thing Called Love.