Ranking the bowl games from 1-34 (cont.)

Cal's Jahvid Best has seven 100-yard games this season, including 311 in the regular-season finale. Dave Stephenson/Icon SMI Stewart Mandel's Mailbag Submit a question or an opinion to Stewart. Name: Email: Hometown: Question: SEND Follow Stewart Mandel on Twitter

16. Meineke Car Care (Dec. 27): West Virginia (8-4) vs. North Carolina (8-4). Think the home-state Tar Heels will take over Bank of America Stadium? Don't be so sure. Mountaineers fans travel in droves, especially if it means seeing Pat White's last game.

17. Emerald (Dec. 27): Cal (8-4) vs. Miami (7-5). Beating a decent Pac-10 team in its backyard would be a big milestone in Randy Shannon's rebuilding job at Miami. Giving up 300 yards to Jahvid Best would be a giant step backward.

18. Las Vegas (Dec. 20): BYU (10-2) vs. Arizona (7-5). There is no truth to the rumor this game has been renamed the BYU Invitational. There may be truth to the rumor 'Cats coach Mike Stoops will skip the game to help his brother prepare for Florida.

19. Music City (Dec. 31): Boston College (9-4) vs. Vanderbilt (6-6). Vandy's first bowl trip in 26 years is dampened a bit by the fact that a) The Commodores don't even get to leave their own city and b) They're already 0-2 against the ACC this season.

20. Gator (Jan. 1): Nebraska (8-4) vs. Clemson (7-5). If the Gator Bowl committee feels it needs to invite a team that went 5-5 against Division I-A foes to be able to fill seats, that's their prerogative. Just don't expect the rest of us to give a damn.

21. Champs Sports (Dec. 27): Florida State (8-4) vs. Wisconsin (7-5). A year ago, the 'Noles were without 36 suspended or ineligible players for the Music City Bowl. Now, they're playing with a Rhodes Scholar and in warm weather. Nice upgrade.

22. International (Jan. 3): Buffalo (8-5) vs. Connecticut (7-5). Turner Gill's MAC champion Bulls are one of the feel-good stories of 2008. The Huskies boast the nation's leading-rusher, Donald Brown. It should make for good TV ratings ... in the Northeast.

23. Insight Bowl: Kansas (7-5) vs. Minnesota (7-5). Two years ago, Minnesota suffered the biggest collapse in bowl history -- blowing a 38-7 lead to Texas Tech -- in this same game. Maybe I should move this one up the list just in case.

24. Texas (Dec. 30): Rice (9-3) vs. Western Michigan (9-3). It will be the final collegiate game for one of the most prolific passing tandems in the sport's history, Rice QB Chase Clement and WR Jarrett Dillard, and they get to do it in Houston.

25. Liberty (Jan. 2): East Carolina (9-4) vs. Kentucky (6-6). The Pirates burst out of the gate with upsets of Virginia Tech and West Virginia, then went in the tank, then rebounded to win Conference USA. Kentucky stayed evenly mediocre throughout.

26. PapaJohns.com (Dec. 29): Rutgers (7-5) vs. NC State (6-6). You know your bowl is fairly low on the totem pole when ESPN schedules it for 3 p.m. on a random Monday. Apparently the World Poker Tour is off for the holidays.

27. EagleBank (Dec. 20): Navy (8-4) vs. Wake Forest (7-5). These are two philosophically similar programs that seem like natural fits to play each other. Which is why they already did, earlier this season, a 24-17 Navy win on Sept. 27.

28. Armed Forces (Dec. 31): Air Force (8-4) vs. Houston (7-5). Hmm -- this matchup sounds familiar, too. Yep, sure enough, the Falcons beat the Cougars 31-28 on Sept. 13, in a game that was also played in Dallas. Glad we could get everyone back together.

29. New Orleans (Dec. 21): Troy (8-4) vs. Southern Miss (6-6). Troy, if you haven't noticed, is a pretty good team, one that nearly knocked off LSU in Baton Rouge. Unfortunately, as Sun Belt champions, the Trojans are obligated to this crappy bowl.

30. Humanitarian (Dec 30): Nevada (7-5) vs. Maryland (7-5). Of all the bizarre bowl arrangements out there, I've yet to figure out why the ACC ever decided to send one of its teams to Boise every year. They've gone 3-2 so far against their WAC foes.

31. St. Petersburg (Dec. 20): USF (7-5) vs. Memphis (6-6). Give this inaugural game credit for one thing: It caused me to look up what exactly "magicJack" (the game's title sponsor) is. Ladies and gentlemen: This bowl is sponsored by a phone jack.

32. Motor City (Dec. 26): Central Michigan (8-4) vs. Florida Atlantic (6-6). Bowl director Ken Hoffman said choosing FAU from among four 6-6 teams was "a very difficult decision because all were very close in terms of what they had to offer" -- as in, almost nothing.

33. New Mexico (Dec. 20): Fresno State (7-5) vs. Colorado State (6-6). Fresno coach Pat Hill has long prided his program on its mantra of playing "anyone, anywhere, anytime." Do you think he envisioned that to include playing a 6-6 team in Albuquerque?

34. Independence (Dec. 28): Louisiana Tech (7-5) vs. Northern Illinois (6-6). The Shreveport, La., game has deals to land the No. 7 team from the Big 12 and No. 8 team from the SEC. Some years, that gets you Alabama-Colorado, some years, that gets you ... this.