I’m going to jam-mash these two previews together so as to not completely overload your already football soaked minds.  Today is, after all, the most wonderful day of the year!

Liberty Bowl

Arkansas (7-5, 3-5 SEC) vs. East Carolina (9-4, 7-1 CUSA)

January 2, 2010 1:00 PM ET

Liberty Bowl, Memphis, Tennessee

I honestly cannot think of a single person outside of Arkansas and the Carolinas who wants to watch this game.  East Carolina is being given no chance in this one, and given the way Arkansas has played against ranked opponents that might not be a bad viewpoint.  East Carolina has lost 4 games this season: at West Virginia (35-20), at then #24 North Carolina (31-17), at Southern Methodist (28-21) and a loss at home to then #23 Virginia Tech (16-3).  The only win of note was against #21 Houston 38-32 in the Conference USA championship game.  Given how Houston looked against Air Force, that win starts to look less valuable.

Arkansas, on the other hand, has lost 5 games.  Three of those games I want to point out: at then #3 Alabama (35-7) early in the season, at then #1 Florida (23-20) and at then #15 LSU (33-30).  The last two games in that list seem to suggest that Arkansas just suffered from tough breaks and could have been a better quality team then their record suggests.  The beatdown they took against Bama, though suggests otherwise, along with the fact that I strongly believe Florida to be grossly overrated all year.

East Carolina – coached by Lou Holtz’s son Skip – has a fairly balanced offense lead by Quarterback Patrick Pinkney and Runningback Dominique Lindsay.  Pinkney is far from being the best quarterback in the world with a 59.5% completion percentage, 14 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.  He’s a competent player, though, and will get the ball to his receivers more often than not.  The East Carolina runningbacks have picked up 23 touchdowns this season, of which Lindsay only has 5.  However, Lindsay has earned 206 carries and picked up 1029 yards for his effort making him one of the most dangerous players in the Pirate’s backfield.

Buckeye fans will be familiar with Arkansas’ Quarterback Ryan Mallett who transferred from Michigan when Rich Rod showed up.  He’s a solid passing threat with 3425 yards, 29 touchdowns and 7 interceptions on 210 completions and 367 attempts.  He is Arkansas’ primary threat player, though they do have a runningback that likes to score points.  Broderick Green only has 392 yards on 93 carries for the season but he has made the most of his attempts having scored 11 touchdowns, including a 99 yard scoring scamper that came against Eastern Michigan.

Who Are We Picking?

Jeff at the BBC: Arkansas

Mali: Arkansas

Jim: Arkansas

Eric: East Carolina

Wait...I picked East Carolina?  What was I thinking?  Ugh...

(Given the way I've been picking, I'm trying to fake fate into giving me the win here...think it'll work?)

Please check Arkansas Expats for further coverage of the game.

Alamo Bowl

Michigan State (6-6, 4-4 Big Ten) vs. Texas Tech (8-4, 5-3 Big 12)

January 2, 2010 9:00 PM ET

Alamo Dome, San Antonio, Texas

We will simply call this the Suspension Bowl.  Michigan State has suspended more than 10 players leading up to this game, including several indefinitely, due to on campus after hours incident at a frat event.  The players were involved in a scuffle on November 22^nd that was kept pretty quiet, even on campus.  Considering I work at Michigan State (surprise!) it was fairly surprising how little we heard about the event.  As for Texas Tech, I’m sure there are few people who haven’t heard about the incident.  In short, head coach Mike Leach decided to toss the son of commentator Craig James into an equipment shed and ended up getting suspended when James reported Leach to the University.  Three days ago, the University fired Leach for insubordination as Leach fought tooth and nail against the complaint, refusing to resolve it.  He also sued the university to remove the suspension based on having "done the right thing".  Texas Tech decided that they had enough and kicked him to the curb.  Texas Tech will now be coached by interim head coach Ruffin McNeill.

What a disaster.

Michigan State’s receiver corps was decimated by the suspension having lost B.J. Cunningham and Mark Dell, the #2 and #3 receivers for the team.  MSU also lost their top cover corner, along with another defensive back.  Considering MSU’s defense struggled so badly towards the end of the season (gave up 1,500 yards in the last three games) it’s likely that MSU will be completely unable to stop Texas Tech’s passing attack.

Who Are We Picking?

Jeff at the BBC: Texas Tech

Mali:Texas Tech

Jim: Texas Tech

Eric: Texas Tech

Perhaps we should reevaluate now that Leach is out, but I don't think that's going to make as much of a difference.  The Red Raiders should walk away with this one no problem.

For further coverage of this game, please visit our SB Nation comrades The Only Colors and Double T Nation.