Ranking of the 2010-2011 Bowls - No. 10 to 17

Before they start, the ranking of the bowls and how entertaining they should be, along with an early prediction. The decent bowls, ranked 10th to 17th.

2010-2011 Bowl Rankings

Ranking Them 10 to 17

- Initial Thoughts on the Bowl Matchups    
- Top 15 Non-AQ Bowl Teams | Every School's Bowl Profile    
- Six Bowls Worthy of Respect | 35 Games, 35 Comments  
- Ranking the 2009/2010 Bowl Season
- 2009-2010 CFN All-Bowl Team & Top 50 Players 

The 2010-2011 Pre-Bowl Rankings
- No. 1 to No. 9 | No. 18 to No. 27 | No. 28 to No. 35 

Looks Good, But Possibly Forgettable
These are the better bowl games that should be entertaining, but not quite the games you have to drop everything to see.

17. Military Bowl Presented by Northrop Grumman
December 29, 2010 Washington, DC 2:30 pm ESPN
Maryland vs. East Carolina
Three Reasons To Watch This Bowl: 1) East Carolina doesn't play any defense ... that's a good thing for a bowl game. This should be a fun and wild shootout. 2) Maryland will be pumped up to be back in a bowl game after a 2-10 2009 season. ECU will be interested in beating an ACC team. 3) Maryland WR/KR Torrey Smith might be the best player you haven't seen. ECU QB Dominique Davis might be No. 2.
And Why You Should Spend Your Time Roasting Your Chestnuts: East Carolina's defense is so bad and Maryland is so good in the turnover margin that the Terps could make this a blowout.
Three Names To Drop That'll Make The Perky Girl In Accounting Want To Take You Into The Storeroom During The Holiday Party For Smooches: 1) QB Danny O'Brien, Maryland, 2) WR Dwayne Harris, East Carolina, 3) LB Alex Wujciak, Maryland
Gut-Reaction Pick That Might Change In The Next Few Days On A Whim: Maryland 44 ... East Carolina 27

16. Fiesta Bowl
January 1, 2011 Glendale, AZ 8:00 pm ABC
Oklahoma vs. Connecticut
Three Reasons To Watch This Bowl: 1) Connecticut isn't as bad as it'll be made out to be. It doesn't have a passing game, but the ground game and defense are fantastic. The team is 3-1 in bowls since 2004. 2) Oklahoma will care. It'll hear for a month about how past teams gagged away Fiesta Bowl losses to West Virginia in 2008 and Boise State in 2007. 3) UConn's Jordan Todman might be the best running back in the country. There's a chance that he controls the game and the Huskies make this a shocker.
And Why You Should Spend Your Time Roasting Your Chestnuts: Michigan 30, Connecticut 10. It might have been the opening game of the year, but if the Huskies couldn't move the ball on Michigan, and if the offense is 96th in the nation. If OU gets up early, this won't be pretty.
Three Names To Drop That'll Make The Perky Girl In Accounting Want To Take You Into The Storeroom During The Holiday Party For Smooches: 1) DE Jeremy Beal, Oklahoma, 2) LB Lawrence Wilson, 3) LB Travis Lewis, Oklahoma
Gut-Reaction Pick That Might Change In The Next Few Days On A Whim: Oklahoma 34 .. Connecticut 16

15. Outback Bowl
January 1, 2011 Tampa, FL 1:00 pm ABC
Penn State vs. Florida  
Three Reasons To Watch This Bowl: 1) It sounds fantastic. Penn State vs. Florida will be an excellent game ... next year. Both teams are young and improving. 2) It's the Big Ten vs. SEC. The two mighty programs might be shadows of their former selves, but the game will generate a ton of interest. 3) If you want Urban Meyer talk, this is for you.
And Why You Should Spend Your Time Roasting Your Chestnuts: Neither team is that great. Neither one can generate any consistent offense.
Three Names To Drop That'll Make The Perky Girl In Accounting Want To Take You Into The Storeroom During The Holiday Party For Smooches: 1) LB Ahmad Black, Florida, 2) RB Evan Royster, Penn State, 3) CB Janoris Jenkins, Florida
Gut-Reaction Pick That Might Change In The Next Few Days On A Whim: Florida 26 ... Penn State 17

14. San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl
December 23, 2010 San Diego, CA 8:00 pm ESPN
San Diego State vs. Navy  
Three Reasons To Watch This Bowl: 1) The Navy offense is always worth the price of admission. The SDSU defense is good enough to make it interesting. 2) SDSU has an NFL-caliber passing game with QB Ryan Lindley and WRs Vincent Brown and DeMarco Sampson all backups at the next level.. 3) Interesting home battle. Navy in San Diego always gets a crowd, and the Aztecs will be fired up to be in their first bowl since 1998.
And Why You Should Spend Your Time Roasting Your Chestnuts: Since becoming a regular bowl team, Navy has only played in two interesting bowl games. It has either blown teams out, like Colorado State in the 2005 Poinsettia and Missouri in the 2009 Texas, and it sputtered in a loss to Wake Forest in the 2008 EagleBank.
Three Names To Drop That'll Make The Perky Girl In Accounting Want To Take You Into The Storeroom During The Holiday Party For Smooches: 1) QB Ricky Dobbs, Navy, 2) QB Ryan Lindley, San Diego State, 3) RB Ronnie Hillman, RB San Diego State
Gut-Reaction Pick That Might Change In The Next Few Days On A Whim: San Diego State 38 ... Navy 27

13. Chick-fil-A Bowl
December 31, 2010 Atlanta, GA 7:30 pm ESPN
Florida State vs. South Carolina
Three Reasons To Watch This Bowl: 1) It's a really, really solid matchup between the losers of the ACC and SEC championships. 2) Stepping-stone game. Each team is expected to be good in 2011 and the winner will be red-hot going into the offseason. 3) It's the last college football game of 2010.
And Why You Should Spend Your Time Roasting Your Chestnuts: The Chick-fil-A Bowl has been awful ... AWFUL ... over the last several years. There have only been two decent games in the last eight, and the other six were miserable blowouts.
Three Names To Drop That'll Make The Perky Girl In Accounting Want To Take You Into The Storeroom During The Holiday Party For Smooches: 1)  WR Alshon Jeffery, South Carolina, 2) QB Christian Ponder, Florida State, 3) RB Marcus Lattimore, South Carolina
Gut-Reaction Pick That Might Change In The Next Few Days On A Whim: Florida State 31 ... South Carolina 21

12. Insight Bowl 
December 28, 2010 Tempe, AZ 10 pm ESPN
Iowa vs. Missouri
Three Reasons To Watch This Bowl: 1) Both teams will be motivated. Iowa will look to bounceback after a bad second half of the season, while Missouri will look to erase the memory of last year's lifeless Texas Bowl loss to Navy. 2) It's a nice Big 12-Big Ten showdown that'll be used for the message board types in several offseason arguments. 3) Missouri might be the best team in the Big 12 North, even with the loss to Nebraska. Iowa is better than 7-5.
And Why You Should Spend Your Time Roasting Your Chestnuts: What if Iowa really is as bad as it looked over the last month? If you lose to Northwestern and Minnesota, there's a change you might not be very good. Missouri might be 10-2, but it's not like it set the world on fire over the second half of the season.
Three Names To Drop That'll Make The Perky Girl In Accounting Want To Take You Into The Storeroom During The Holiday Party For Smooches: 1)  QB Blaine Gabbert, Missouri, 2) DE Adrian Clayborn, Iowa, 3) DE Aldon Smith, Missouri
Gut-Reaction Pick That Might Change In The Next Few Days On A Whim: Iowa 24 ... Missouri 14

11. MAACO Las Vegas Bowl
December 22, 2010 Las Vegas, NV 8:00 pm ESPN
Utah vs. Boise State  
Three Reasons To Watch This Bowl: 1) There was a time this year when this would've been a top five matchup and would've been the big game of whatever week. 2) Statement time. Boise State might be disappointed, but it's going to want to show it really is a top five team. Utah wants to show it can beat someone good. 3) Boise State leads the nation in sacks. Utah is fifth in the nation in sacks allowed.
And Why You Should Spend Your Time Roasting Your Chestnuts: The Las Vegas Bowl is usually a clunker. The Utah offense clunked over the second half of the year and won't have QB Jordan Wynn.
Three Names To Drop That'll Make The Perky Girl In Accounting Want To Take You Into The Storeroom During The Holiday Party For Smooches: 1)  RB Doug Martin, Boise State, 2) WR/PR Shaky Smithson, Utah, 3) WR Titus Young, Boise State
Gut-Reaction Pick That Might Change In The Next Few Days On A Whim: Boise State 45 ... Utah 20

10. Advocare V100 Independence Bowl
December 27, 2010 Shreveport, LA 4:00 pm ESPN
Air Force vs. Georgia Tech
Three Reasons To Watch This Bowl: 1) Running game, running game, running game. Georgia Tech is No. 1 and Air Force is No. 2. 2) Four of the last five Air Force bowl games have been decided by a touchdown or less. 3) This isn't an exaggeration. This might be a historic bowl game. There might only be 15 passes thrown.
And Why You Should Spend Your Time Roasting Your Chestnuts: Georgia Tech hasn't been all that strong losing four of the last five games. The Yellow Jackets beat North Carolina, and that's been it. This isn't last year's Orange Bowl Yellow Jacket team.
Three Names To Drop That'll Make The Perky Girl In Accounting Want To Take You Into The Storeroom During The Holiday Party For Smooches: 1)  RB Anthony Allen, Georgia Tech, 2) QB Tim Jefferson, Air Force, 3) LB Brad Jefferson, Georgia Tech
Gut-Reaction Pick That Might Change In The Next Few Days On A Whim: Air Force 30 ... Georgia Tech 26