It's Alan Cole's world and the rest of us just live in it, at least this is true when it comes to picking college football games. Give Alan a follow on Twitter if you aren't already, let's see if we can make him the celebrity guest picker next time Gameday comes to town.

Bowl season really picks up the latter half of the third week. All NY6 bowls and the playoff semifinals are go this week. The Gamecocks and Irish are this week. Chances are you already what games you are watching this week but if you are still on the fence, here is our viewing guide.

Is too late to sub North Carolina for Maryland for next season's opener in Charlotte? Let's hope a certain 5-star prospect watches the Duke's Mayo Bowl and the Gator Bowl and compares the crowds of two of his finalists. We usually don't have a rooting interest in the games we pick for Gamecock Scoop, but in this case. Go PACK!

Gamecock Scoop will have every aspect of this game live from the ground in Jacksonville. We are hoping to see about 40,000 Gamecock fans fill up Jacksonville to secure Carolina's eighth 9+ win season in program history.

The great thing about this game is someone is going to lose and that someone is going to be one of South Carolina's 3-4 biggest rivals in a season where the Gamecocks beat them both. Tennessee is going to without its three best offensive players with Hendon Hooker's injury and both Jalin Hyatt and Cedric Tillman opting out for the draft. The Vols are also down their best linebacker in Jeremy Banks. Tennessee has been the better team all season and Josh Heupel has had a month to get ready for a vastly overrated Clemson defense.

Cole Klubnik's era officially begin in Miami. Two of Clemson's highest projected draft picks are out with DE Myles Murphy and LB Trenton Simpson preparing for the next level.

Bryce Young and Will Anderson, Jr., are playing. Usually when Alabama loses a non-playoff postseason game, its fair to question their motivation. It certainly appears that if two Top 5 NFL Draft picks are playing, the Tide are coming to win despite being hit hard by the transfer portal. Meanwhile the Wildcats come into this game fully loaded.

This should be a fun matchup but Alabama has too much firepower to lose in Young and Anderson's final colligate game.

Mark Stoops has won a whole lot of football games with a pounding run game, stout defense, and average quarterback play. Will Levis, who always seemed pretty average to me, if not playing. Despite your thoughts on Levis, he was head and shoulders better than anybody else under center for Kentucky. Chris Rodriguez has opted out of this game and Kavosiey Smoke is in the portal. The Wildcats are going to need a lot out of third string back Jutahn McClaine. The Wildcats have won their last four bowl games including a 20-17 over Iowa on New Year's Day 2022 in the Citrus Bowl.

Iowa, whose offense was awful all season, is turning this game over to Joey Labas, who has never attempted a pass. There is a reason the total in this game is 31.

For comprehensive coverage of this semifinal matchup head over to our sister site the Maize and Blue Review.

For comprehensive coverage of this semifinal matchup head over to our sister sites UGASports and DottingTheEyes.

This matchup has received more attention than it normally would have and rightfully so. Mike Leach was truly one of a kind and his absence from college football will be missed.

Both teams will be without keys players, but for different reasons. Mississippi State will be missing leading receiver Rara Thomas and second leading rusher Dillon Johnson due to portal deflections. Illinois will be missing P5 leading rusher Chase Brown, his twin brother (safety) Sydney Brown, and award winning cornerback Devon Witherspoon to the NFL draft.

The two teams will also be dealing with coaching staff shakeups. Zach Arnett has been promoted from defensive coordinator to head coach for the Bulldogs. Illinois defensive coordinator Ryan Walters is now the head coach at Purdue and took several Illinois assistants with him.

Due to the different men leading the charge in various capacities, some tweaks will surely be made in how the plays are called. Despite that, both teams will continue to play physically on defense and produce big plays on offense. Mississippi State sports a form of the air raid offense, while Illinois will exhibit a pro style somewhat similar to what Carolina fans are used to seeing on game days.

Mississippi State will count on junior quarterback Will Rogers to lead the charge and add to his already impressive year of 3,713 yards passing and 34 touchdowns. The Bulldogs still have a slew of talented wide receivers that will fill in after Thomas’ departure. Senior linebacker Nathaniel Watson and Emanuel Forbes are names to watch on defense.

Illinois has been preparing for the potential personnel losses since about midseason and will rely on a rotation of Josh McCray and Reggie Love at running back and several talented young players at defensive back. The Illini have a massive offensive line and a gun slinger at quarterback with Syracuse transfer Tommy DeVito. Defensively, sophomore defensive lineman “Johnny” Newton, freshman outside linebacker Gabe Jacas, and defensive back “Quan” Martin are players to know.

There is a reason that this spread is one of the largest of the bowl season. Purdue's roster was decimated in their coaching change. The Boilermakers are down QB Aidan O’Connell, WR Charlie Jones, TE Payne Durham, LG Spencer Holstege and CB Cory Trice, all starters. All but Holstege declared for the draft and opted-out – Holstege is transferring to UCLA.

O’Connell, a second-team All-Big Ten selection, led the conference in the regular season with 290.8 YPG passing. He finished with 22 TD and 3,490 yards this fall.

Jones led the nation with 110 catches, adding 1,361 yards receiving and 12 TD, in his first year at the school after transferring from Iowa. Jones was a semifinalist for the 2022 Biletnikoff Award.

LSU was hit hard as well, but QB Jaylen Daniels is coming back. He will be a top 10 Heisman candidate next year. LSU's best receiver, Kayshon Boutte seems to change his mind daily about his draft status, but as of yesterday he is sitting this game out and declaring for the draft.