bowl games: watch it, peep it, or skip it

There are 35 bowl games. If you plan on watching all of them in their entirety, you're probably unemployed, hate your family and own multiple televisions.

Chances are, you're not watching some of the bowl games, and you're mainly focusing on the ones with intriguing matchups, or the bowl your favorite school is playing in.

Here are the games to watch, peep or skip all together during bowl season.

WATCH IT

Vizio BCS National Championship Game (January 6, 2014, 8:30PM) ESPN
(1) Florida State vs. (2) Auburn
Why Watch It: Duh. It's the national title game. Two exciting offenses take the field at the Rose Bowl.  Jameis Winston will look to add a national title to his Heisman (Spoiler: He's gonna win it Saturday), and Auburn looks to go from a team that won 0 games in the SEC last season, to national champion.

Also, it's the last bowl game of the BCS era.

The Rose Bowl (New Years Day, 5PM) ESPN
(4) Michigan State vs. (5) Stanford
Why Watch It: The Spartans and Cardinal both have top rated defenses. They also have great run offenses. It's old time football on New Years Day.

Tostitos Fiesta Bowl (New Years Day, 8:30PM) ESPN
(15) Central Florida vs. (6) Baylor
Why Watch It: UCF is a former Conference USA school now playing in the American Athletic Conference that is an exact replica of C-USA. Baylor got a second chance at the Big 12 title after the Sooners scored late to beat Oklahoma State a week after the Pokes embarrassed the Bears in Stillwater.
Baylor wins this easily. Bears offense will be too much for the Knights.

Discover Orange Bowl (January 3, 2014, 8:30PM) ESPN
(7) Ohio State vs. (12) Clemson
What Watch It: The Buckeyes would rather be in California than South Beach. Will 2-loss Clemson hand Ohio State a second loss? Probably.

All State Sugar Bowl (January 2, 2014, 8:30PM) ESPN
(3) Alabama vs. (11) Oklahoma
Why Watch It: It could be Nick Saban's final game coaching the Crimson Tide. The Sooners helped secure an at-large spot by beating Oklahoma State.

Russell Athletic Bowl (December 30, 3:15PM) ESPN
Miami vs. Louisville
Why Watch It: Despite missing out on the BCS bowl game and Heisman trophy run, Teddy Bridgewater will be fun to watch and see what he does against the Hurricanes defense. Miami had an up-and-down finish to the season.

Capitol One Bowl (New Years Day, NOON) ESPN 2
(19) Wisconsin vs. (9) South Carolina
Why Watch It: The Badgers dropped their finale to Penn State and fans of the Gamecocks feel like they were robbed of an at-large bid for the Orange or Sugar Bowl.

Valero Alamo Bowl (December 30, 8PM) ESPN 
(10) Oregon vs. Texas
Why Watch It: Oregon is vulnerable. Mack Brown may or may not coach in this bowl game. As of now, he's planning on it. The drama surrounding Texas is worth watching the game.

AT&T Cotton Bowl (January 4, 2014, 7:30PM) FOX
(13) Oklahoma State vs. (8) Missouri
What Watch It: BCS bowl or not, this is a great game to watch. Both teams play great offense. The Cowboys have a slight advantage on defense. Both missed out on conference titles, too.

PEEP IT

Hawaii Bowl (Christmas Eve, 8PM) ESPN
Boise State vs. Oregon State
If you hate watching "It's a Wonderful Life" on Christmas Eve, this might be your best option.

Pinstripe Bowl (December 28, NOON) ESPN
Notre Dame vs. Rutgers
Nice bowl game for both fanbases. Far cry from where the Irish were last season, though.

Las Vegas Bowl (December 21, 3:30PM) ABC
(20) Fresno State vs. (25) USC
The Bulldogs almost snuck into a BCS Bowl. The Trojans didn't think they would be here when they canned Kiffin. Fresno State could win this one.

Little Caesars Bowl (December 26, 6PM) ESPN
Pittsburgh vs. Bowling Green
The Panthers couldn't get the Compass Bowl for a fourth straight year, so at 6-6, they'll take a game against the MAC Champion. Could be a good one. 

Poinsettia Bowl (December 26, 9:30PM) ESPN
(23) Northern Illinois vs. Utah State
The Huskies were a win away from playing in a BCS Bowl game. Still, this bowl game isn't half bad for a team out of the MAC. Also, Heisman finalist Jordan Lynch should be fun to watch.

Texas Bowl (December 27, 6PM) ESPN
Syracuse vs. Minnesota
The Gophers were good this year? Might be a reason to turn it on for a few series.

Fight Hunger Bowl (December 27, 9:30PM) ESPN
BYU vs. Washington
How will the Huskies play now that their head coach is assembling his staff down at USC?

Belk Bowl (December 28, 3:20PM) ESPN
Cincinnati vs. North Carolina
Worth looking at if you're planning on watching the marathon of games on December 28th.

Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl (December 28, 10:15PM) ESPN
Michigan vs. Kansas State.
The Wolverines are one of those teams that will appeal to an audience.

Music City Bowl (December 30, 3:15PM) ESPN
Ole Miss vs. Georgia Tech
Ole Miss is trying to build itself into an SEC contender. The Yellow Jackets triple option is fun to watch.

Chick-fil-A Bowl (New Years Eve, 8PM) ESPN
(24) Duke vs. (21) Texas A&M
I miss the days when we called this the Peach Bowl. Two ways this game could go. Either Duke makes it close or Manziel goes "Johnny Football" all over the Blue Devils.

Holiday Bowl (December 30, 10:15PM) ESPN
(14) Arizona State vs. Texas Tech
High Octane.

Sun Bowl (New Years Eve, 2PM) CBS
Virgina Tech vs. (17) UCLA
Could be a sleeper...hopefully won't put you to sleep like past matchups in this bowl game.

Gator Bowl (New Years Day, NOON) ESPN2
Nebraska vs. (23) Georgia
I want to put this in the "Watch It" list, because both of these teams had their downfalls this season. It could make for a close game.

Outback Bowl (New Years Day, 1PM) ESPN
Iowa vs. (16) LSU
Could be unwatchable by halftime. Not a bad one to peep if you flip back and forth between it and the Gator Bowl.

SKIP IT

New Mexico Bowl (December 21, 2PM) ESPN
Washington State vs. Colorado State
Both these teams are bowl eligible for the first time in a long time. Still unwatchable football.

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl (December 21, 5:30PM) ESPN
Buffalo vs. San Diego State
Smurf Turf. That's it.

New Orleans Bowl (December 21, 9PM) ESPN
UL-Lafayette vs. Tulane
A home game for Tulane pretty much.

Beef O'Brady's Bowl (December 23, 2PM) ESPN
East Carolina vs. Ohio
Playing a bowl game in a building that looks like a football stadium on the outside, is used for baseball, and doesn't look a football stadium on the inside.

Military Bowl (December 27, 2:30PM) ESPN
Maryland vs. Marshall
Not much hype to find in this one.

Armed Forces Bowl (December 30, 11:45AM) ESPN
Middle Tennessee vs. Navy
A game you would see on CBS Sports Network in week 2.

AdvoCare V100 Bowl (New Years Eve, 12:30PM) ESPN
Arizona vs. Boston College
At least this game has Andre Williams.

Liberty Bowl (New Years Eve, 4PM) ESPN
Rice vs. Mississippi State
Rice won the Conference USA Title. That's all I got.

Heart of Dallas Bowl (New Years Day, NOON) ESPNU
UNLV vs. North Texas
UNLV has a football team? That wins?

BBVA Compass Bowl (January 4, 2014, 1PM) ESPN
Vanderbilt vs. Houston
For once, Pittsburgh isn't playing in this bowl game. Also, this bowl game should not be played two days before the title game.

GoDaddy.com Bowl (January 5, 2014, 9PM) ESPN
Arkansas State vs. Ball State
Another lousy bowl game to keep you occupied for another 24 hours until Florida State plays Auburn.