Virginia Tech’s season did not look promising. There was the campus shooting, then the 48-7 drubbing at the hands of LSU. But the Hokies are 10-1 SU and 7-3 ATS since then, and are deservedly playing in the Orange Bowl.

It’s difficult to muster the same feelings for Kansas. The Jayhawks delighted handicappers with 10 straight paydays before finally meeting a top club in Missouri. The party ended there, and it’s likely to get even worse against the mighty Hokies. Kansas finished the season 25th in the nation in Fremeau efficiency. Virginia Tech was No. 10.

The lack of quality competition for the Jayhawks this year was evident to handicappers, but less so to the casual bettor – Kansas is ranked No. 8 in the polls and gets just four points against the Hokies. The outstanding Tech defense and the QB combo of Sean Glennon and Tyrod Taylor should cover that relatively small spread.

The time between the end of the regular season and the bowl schedule hasn’t been easy on the Oklahoma Sooners. Offensive coordinator Kevin Sumlin is the new head coach at Houston, cornerback and top punt returner Reggie Smith is out of action with a broken toe, and safety Lendy Holmes reportedly failed a class and is academically ineligible for the Fiesta Bowl.

Nobody in Morgantown will shed a tear for the Sooners. West Virginia suffered an even bigger loss when native son Rich Rodriguez went to Michigan for the Wolverines head coaching position. At least Sumlin is still working the Fiesta Bowl for OU; the Mountaineers have to rely on interim head coach Bill Stewart to shield the team from distraction and pilot the famed Rodriguez spread option.

The Sooners are a public team and the Big East is still undervalued, but the coaching chaos in West Virginia (+8) has to be considered a backbreaker for the Mountaineers.

The Hawaii Warriors made it out of the WAC with no losses, powered by the most prolific offense in the nation at 46.2 points per game. But they’re getting eight points against the Georgia Bulldogs.

This Hawaii team isn’t as gifted as last year’s version. The Bulldogs have taken the under to the pay window five times in a row and are 2-5 ATS in their last seven outings, as QB Colt Brennan has thrown 20 fewer TD passes than he did in 2006.

The Bulldogs’ secondary can be beaten, but the Dawgs have that brilliant tailback combo of Knowshon Moreno and Thomas Brown, their defensive line dwarfs Hawaii in the trenches, and Georgia will be playing with intent after getting snubbed for a spot in the BCS championship game. Watch for the Bulldogs to control the clock and enjoy excellent field position in front of a partial crowd at the Superdome.

The Illinois Fighting Illini deserve a lot of credit for their superb season. They’re bowl-eligible for the first time since 2001, they beat No. 1 Ohio State, and they’ve earned a trip to the Rose Bowl.

This is where the ride becomes bumpy. The Illini were selected for the Rose Bowl not because they were the best team available (that would be Georgia), but because they’re from the Big Ten, and tradition dictates the Big Ten face the Pac-10 in this rivalry.

The Trojans are favored by 14 points and are expected to put a serious licking on Illinois QB Juice Williams. It was the USC defense that held things together while QB John David Booty struggled to recover from a broken finger. Now the Trojans are on a four-game winning streak (3-1 ATS) and bent on proving themselves in front of both the hometown fans and a national viewing audience.

Now that Tim Tebow has broken the seal on sophomores winning the Heisman Trophy, the field of viable candidates for the 2008 award has blossomed.

Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford will be at the top of many preseason lists this summer. His production as a freshman was beyond expectations: 34 TD throws and just seven interceptions, leading OU back to the BCS bowl trough. If the Sooners beat West Virginia at the upcoming Fiesta bowl, that’ll give Bradford a significant Heisman boost heading into his sophomore campaign.

Other top second-year studs include Washington QB Jake Locker and Georgia RB Knowshon Moreno. But Tebow himself has to be considered the main man at this point. His Gators are still a very young squad with room for development, and Tebow will have an even bigger spotlight for his 2008 performances. Former Ohio State RB Archie Griffin could soon have some company in the two-time Heisman club.

The job description for the head coach of the Michigan Wolverines is pretty simple: Beat Ohio State. So when Lloyd Carr lost to the Buckeyes for the sixth time in seven years, his resignation seemed anticlimactic – especially after that loss to Appalachian State.

Rich Rodriguez may have been Michigan’s No. 2 choice to replace Carr, behind LSU’s Les Miles, but Wolverines supporters are still in love with their new coach. And rightly so. This is the man who brought the spread option offense to West Virginia and made the Mountaineers four-time Big East champions.

It’s a bit of a surprise that the Wolverines didn’t hire a “Michigan Man” to take over the reins – Rodriguez is a WVU alum. But with Miles happily ensconced in Baton Rouge, the Rodriguez signing will not only keep Michigan among the elite programs in the nation, it will also bring some zest to the Big Ten. They need it.

Bobby Petrino’s decision to bolt the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons and head back to college may have been a bolt out of the blue, but it makes absolute sense in retrospect, given how many others have done the same. It’s not the difference between the professional and college brands of football, but the players themselves.

Student-athletes are at school to develop, physically and emotionally, and they need credible authority figures. Once you have a few seasons in the big leagues under your belt, your status in the world rises. Coaches aren’t given the same authority over their players, at least on this side of the Atlantic.

Some college coaches can make the transition from being in charge of players to being their assistants. Jimmy Johnson won football championships with both the University of Miami and the Dallas Cowboys. But he’s the exception to the rule, and it’s a rule both team owners and handicappers should pay attention to.

Did you get our rundown of the college football bowl schedule yet? No? Not a problem – here it is, from the Poinsettia Bowl to the BCS Championship Game.

Poinsettia: Utah vs. Navy, Dec. 20
New Orleans: Memphis vs. Florida Atlantic, Dec. 21
Papajohns.com: Southern Miss vs. Cincinnati, Dec. 22
New Mexico: Nevada vs. New Mexico, Dec. 22
Las Vegas: UCLA vs. BYU, Dec. 22
Hawaii: Boise State vs. East Carolina, Dec. 23
Motor City: Purdue vs. Central Michigan, Dec. 26
Holiday: Arizona State vs. Texas Dec. 27
Champs Sports: Boston College vs. Michigan State, Dec. 28
Texas: TCU vs. Houston, Dec. 28
Emerald: Maryland vs. Oregon State, Dec. 28
Meineke Car Care: UConn vs. Wake Forest, Dec. 29
Liberty: UCF vs. Mississippi State, Dec. 29
Alamo: Penn State vs. Texas A&M, Dec. 29
Independence: Alabama vs. Colorado, Dec. 30
Armed Forces: California vs. Air Force, Dec. 31
Humanitarian: Georgia Tech vs. Fresno State, Dec. 31
Sun: South Florida vs. Oregon, Dec. 31
Music City: Kentucky vs. Florida State, Dec. 31
Insight: Indiana vs. Oklahoma State, Dec. 31
Chick-fil-A: Clemson vs. Auburn, Dec. 31
Outback: Wisconsin vs. Tennessee, Jan. 1
Cotton: Missouri vs. Arkansas, Jan. 1
Gator: Texas Tech vs. Virginia, Jan. 1
Capital One: Michigan vs. Florida, Jan. 1
Rose Bowl: Illinois vs. USC, Jan. 1
Sugar: Hawaii vs. Georgia, Jan. 1
Fiesta: Oklahoma vs. West Virginia, Jan. 2
Orange: Virginia Tech vs. Kansas, Jan. 3
International: Rutgers vs. Ball State, Jan. 5
GMAC: Bowling Green vs. Tulsa, Jan. 6
BCS Championship Game: LSU vs. Ohio State, Jan. 7

It’s bowl season. Yay. Doesn’t quite have the same appeal of say…the NFL playoffs, does it? And it’s not because college football is any less exciting than professional football (I believe more fans turn up to cheer on their favorite college team than they do their favorite NFL team)…I think it has more to do with the way the NCAA uses a complicated computer system to determine which two teams (out of a possible 120 or so) will meet in the final national championship. All other teams that qualify for the “playoffs” will meet in their respective bowl games.

The college football season was all over the place this year and any number of teams could have made a case for themselves, but it took the final week of the season to determine the two opponents: LSU and Ohio State. Teams like Oklahoma and Southern California…heck even Georgia could have made a run for the BCS but nothing doing…the system wielded its mighty hand and kept them out of the big dance. Ah well, maybe next year? Probably not.

Playoffs are used to decide champions in every other NCAA sport, and at every other level of college football other than Division 1A. So what’s the deal here? I say we make it fair across the board and have these teams battle it out, playoffs style.

Ohio State vs. LSU for the Bowl Championship Series title game takes place on Jan. 7 in New Orleans. This is the third time the Buckeyes will be in the final and it’ll be the Tigers second appearance.

It feels like we’ve just been through college football’s version of a teen slasher flick. Every time you turned around, another team was getting the axe from the BCS. But we’ve survived the regular season. Now the real fun begins.

Bowl season is money season for handicappers. The surge in public interest for these games brings with it a flood of square cash waiting to be liberated. Uninformed bettors historically overvalue favorites and inflate totals with their high-scoring expectations. Last year, underdogs were 18-14 ATS and the under had a slight 17-15 advantage.

Fading the most public of the public teams in key situations can pay off handsomely. Among those who failed to cash in last year: Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Miami, Texas and Alabama. When handicapping this year’s Fiesta Bowl between the Sooners and the Big East’s West Virginia Mountaineers, take OU’s popularity and the lower profile of the Big East into account.