Predictions: College bowl games

Beyond Golf — 16 December 2022 by Jim Street

A wild two-horse race from start to finish in the celebrated GolfersWest.com season-ending pick’em exercise basically was determined with a coin toss.
That is when TCU called “tails” and it came up “heads”, an appropriate beginning to what became the most lopsided score in the history of the College Football Playoff.
The 65-7 rout by the Georgia Bulldogs National Champions but made Bob Sherwin a two-time winner of the world-renowned GolfersWest.com College Football pick’em competition.
Bob and Kirby Arnold entered the grand finale with identical 25-16 records, just a shade or five ahead of third-place finisher Jim Street, the odds-on favorite to win his third title. Not to be.

After a blazing start (9-1), Sherwin cooled off a bit and Arnold moved into a tie when Mississippi State defeated Illinois in the ReliaQuest Bowl (whatever that is) on Jan. 2.

Congrats to the GW co-founder, CEO and the site’s best bowl winner-picker in the ’22-23 season.

(boldface=winner)

Bob (26-16) Jim (20-21) Kirby (25-17)

Bahamas/Dec. 16 UAB UAB UAB

Cure/Dec. 16 TROY UTSA UTSA

Kimmel/LA/Dec. 17 FRES WSU WSU

New Mexico/Dec. 17 BYU BYU BYU

Wasabi/Fenway/Dec. 17 CIN CIN CIN (LOUISVILLE)

Lending Tree/Dec. 17 S.MISS S.MISS S.MISS

Las Vegas/Dec. 17 OSU OSU OSU

Fresno/Dec. 17 BOISE BOISE BOISE

Myrtle Beach/Dec. 19 MARS MARS MARS

Idaho Potato/Dec. 20 E.MICH S.JOSE SJOSE

Boca Raton/Dec. 20 LIBERTY TOLEDO TOLEDO

New Orleans/Dec. 21 S.ALAB S.ALAB S.ALAB (W.Ky.)

Armed Forces/Dec. 22 BAYLOR BAYLOR BAYLOR (AF)

Independence/Dec. 23 HOU HOU HOU

Gasparilla/Dec. 23 WAKE MISSOURI WAKE

Hawaii/Dec. 24 SD.ST SD.ST M.TENN

Quick Lane/Dec. 26 BG N.MEX N.MEX

Camellia/Dec. 27 GA.SO GA.SO GA.SO (Buff)

First Responder/Dec. 27 MEMP MEMP MEMP

Birmingham/Dec. 27 E.CAR E.CAR E.CAR

Guaranteed Rate/Dec. 27 OK.ST OK.ST OK.ST (Wisc.)

Liberty/Dec. 28 ARK KAN ARK

Military/Dec. 28 UCF DUKE DUKE

Holiday/Dec. 28 ORE ORE ORE

Texas/Dec. 28 TT TT MISS

Pinstripe/Dec. 29 SYRA MINN MINN

Cheese-It/Dec. 29 FSU FSU FSU

Alamo/Dec. 29 WASH TEX TEX

Sun/Dec. 30 UCLA UCLA UCLA (Pitt)

Duke’s Mayo/Dec. 30 MARY NC.ST NC.ST

Arizona/Dec. 30 OHIO WYOM OHIO

Gator/Dec. 30 ND S.CAR S.CAR

Orange/Dec. 30 CLEM TENN CLEM

Music City/Dec. 31 IOWA KY IOWA

Sugar/Dec. 31 ALAB ALAB ALAB

Peach/Dec. 31 OSU GEORGIA GEORGIA

Fiesta/Dec. 31 MICH MICH MICH (TCU)

ReliaQuest/Jan. 2 ILL. ILL MISS.ST

Citrus/Jan. 2 LSU LSU LSU

Cotton/Jan. 2 USC USC USC (Tulane)

Rose/Jan. 2 PENN.ST UTAH PENN.ST

Nat. Champ/Jan. GEORGIA. – TCU

About Author

Jim Street

Jim’s 40-year sportswriting career started with the San Jose Mercury-News in 1970 and ended on a full-time basis on October 31, 2010 following a 10-year stint with MLB.com. He grew up in Dorris, Calif., several long drives from the nearest golf course. His first tee shot was a week before being inducted into the Army in 1968. Upon his return from Vietnam, where he was a war correspondent for the 9th Infantry Division, Jim took up golf semi-seriously while working for the Mercury-News and covered numerous tournaments, including the U.S. Open in 1982, when Tom Watson made the shot of his life on the 17th hole at Pebble Beach. Jim also covered several Bing Crosby Pro-Am tournaments, the women’s U.S. Open, and other golfing events in the San Francisco area. He has a 17-handicap, made his first and only hole-in-one on March 12, 2018 at Sand Point Country Club in Seattle and witnessed the first round Ken Griffey Jr. ever played – at Arizona State during Spring Training in 1990. Pebble Beach Golf Links, the Kapalua Plantation Course, Pinehurst No. 2, Spyglass Hill, Winged Foot, Torrey Pines, Medinah, Chambers Bay, North Berwick, Gleneagles and Castle Stuart in Scotland, and numerous gems in Hawaii are among the courses he has had the pleasure of playing. Hitting the ball down the middle of the fairway is not a strong part of Jim’s game, but he is known (in his own mind) as the best putter not on tour. Most of Jim’s writing career was spent covering Major League Baseball, a tenure that started with the Oakland Athletics, who won 101 games in 1971, and ended with the Seattle Mariners, who lost 101 games in 2010. Symmetry is a wonderful thing. He currently lives in Seattle and has an 8-year-old grandson, Andrew, who is the club's current junior champion at his home course (Oakmont CC) in Glendale, Calif.