Miami 9-3 (5-3) vs. Wisconsin 9-3 (5-3)

Champs Sports Bowl

Citrus Bowl Stadium

Orlando, FL

I never take solace in the argument of conference superiority. Sure, you could claim that is because the two conference I have been affiliated with fan base wise, the ACC and Big 10, have for the past five years been atrocious. On the contrary, I have always been adamantly opposed to the ‘SEC! SEC!’ chants, or even Clemson players chanting ‘ACC! ACC!’ last night during the waning moments of their win over Kentucky. It is meaningless. Conference superiority is all circular, and everyone regresses back to the mean at some point.

I could not care less about Miami beating Wisconsin so I can say the Big 10 sucks. I don’t care what the rest of the ACC does in their bowl games. All I want is for Miami to win. The ACC can go 1-11 in bowl games, Miami can win the national title, and yes, all the other fans will claim the ACC sucks so it somehow taints the Hurricanes title. Uh, sorry, douchebags from the Slave States. Doesn’t work that way. A title is a title.

You never can tell what happens in a bowl game. Too much time off, motivation of the players can vary on the extremes. Is an upperclassman-loaded team worrying more about their draft stock than winning a meaningless late December exhibition? Does the tired young players just want to get back home for the rest of a long Miami private school winter break? You just never know. What I do know, is that the Hurricanes players have all been giving lip service to the 10 win mantra. I love it. 10 wins this year erases the blowout loss to Virginia Tech, and the two other conference losses to lesser talented teams. Guaranteed top 15 ranking next preseason, most likely top 10. Hopefully this motivation will carry Miami over whatever smash mouth gameplan Wisconsin comes out with.

Enough with this lip service from the Midwest Badgers about their team speed. If Wisconsin had Miami’s speed, they would be the Big 10 champs. Wisconsin is going to come out and run the ball, run it some more, throw play-action passes, and run the ball some more. The only way Wisconsin wins this game is if they take an early three score lead, minimum of 20 points, and Miami does their usual turnover show trying to scrape their way back into it. Even then, Miami only loses if they run out of time. I see Miami grabbing an early 7-0 lead, and no more scoring until the 3rd quarter, when Miami breaks the game open in Big 10 terms, and ends up with a two touchdown win.

Official Prediction: Miami 27, Wisconsin 10