ESPN College Football

During bowl season there are intangibles, instead of just looking at who has the better team. One of the first things to look for is incentive. How deflated will teams like Boston College, Michigan and Georgia Tech be after they slipped down to lesser bowls? Sometimes the little guys knock off teams from the BCS conferences because the games mean a lot more to them. And playing close to home or a home base also can make a big difference.

Here are the picks for the first part of the bowl season, through the Dec. 26 Motor City Bowl.

Southern Miss -17 vs. Arkansas State: With a 17-day break between games, college football fans won't mind this less-than-intriguing matchup to get the bowls under way. This might not be one of Jeff Bower's better Southern Miss teams in his 15 years coaching there, but it certainly is one that battles to the end. At 6-5, the Golden Eagles might be better than their record indicates. Two of their losses were on the road against top competition, falling to Alabama by nine and to NC State by four. They also lost close battles against Conference USA foes Houston and Memphis. Their only other loss was to conference champion Tulsa.

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