R-C Sports Notebook: The Holiday lull

I'm entering that two weeks of the school year where very little is going on and the stuff that is going on is doing so far away from here.

So as a result, I have next to nothing to write in this week's notebook. With bowl season kicking into high gear these next few days, the boys' basketball team wrapping up their trip to Las Vegas and the girls' basketball beginning theirs - not to mention the wrestling team taking to the mats at the Sierra Nevada Classic early next week - I'm sure there will be more to say next week.

Plus, I'm planning a little bit of a "decade in review" for next week's notebook. So check back for that.

I needed an extra week to get a better feel for the Northern 4A wrestling landscape, so here are my "preseason" predictions there. We'll revisit these at the end of the season, just like basketball:

High Desert League top 4: 1. Spanish Springs. 2. Reed. 3. Reno. 4. McQueen

Sierra League top 4: 1. Damonte Ranch. 2. Carson. 3. Fallon. 4. Douglas.

Regional Champion: Spanish Springs.

Surprise team: Damonte Ranch.

My thoughts: Some writers around the region are still leaving Damonte Ranch out of the top 10 rankings, but they have some legitimate wrestlers and could have the depth to pull off the ever-hard-to-predict regional title upset.

You'll see more of that Sierra League parity this year, and it's highly possible Douglas can rebound from a tough loss to the Mustangs last week to upend Carson or Fallon along the way. They have the type of roster that will only get better as the year rolls on. Spanish Springs is kind of the wild card right now. They surprised everyone last year, but had a somewhat lackluster showing at the past weekend's Lowry Invitational.

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Here are my picks for week 15:

Titans over Chargers

Falcons over Bills

Bengals over Chiefs

Raiders over Browns

Packers overs Seahawks

Dolphins over Texans

Giants over Panthers

Patriots over Jaguars

Saints over Bucs

Ravens over Steelers

Cardinals over Rams

Niners over Lions

Jets over Colts

Eagles over Broncos

Vikings over Bears

Tiebreaker: Cowboys 21, Redskins 3

Last week: 8-8. Season: 145-79. Season Survivor: Out.

WRONG. New Mexico Bowl: Fresno State over Wyoming

RIGHT. St. Petersburg Bowl: Rutgers over Central Florida

WRONG. R+L Carriers Bowl (These bowl names get lamer by the year: Southern Miss over Middle Tennessee

Las Vegas Bowl: BYU over Oregon State (I know, not likely, but my hope is that the Mountain West can show how under-rated it is)

Poinsettia Bowl: Utah over Cal (Same thinking as above)

Hawaii Bowl: Nevada over SMU

Little Caesars Pizza Bowl (Lest only one pizza place gets its own bowl game: Ohio over Marshall (Seriously, call me the worst football fan in the world, but I totally thought these two were still in the MAC East together. That's how far Marshall's fallen off my radar.)

Meineke Car Care Bowl: Pitt over North Carolina (How can a top-10 caliber team like Pitt be playing in bowl named after the company that takes care of your car's exhaust system?)

Emerald Bowl: Boston College over USC (Hey, they Trojans are hurting right now.)

Music City Bowl: Clemson over Kentucky

Independence Bowl: Georgia over Texas A&M (Still mad at the Aggies for not finishing it off against Texas)

Champs Sports Bowl: Wisconsin over Miami (Call me crazy, but I think the Badgers are really underrated this year)

EagleBank Bowl: UCLA over Temple (I was kind of pulling for Army to make it, because that might have been a better matchup.)

Humanitarian Bowl: Idaho over Bowling Green (Can't pick against the Vandals in their own state).

Holiday Bowl: Nebraska over Arizona (Probably the best defensive matchup of the bowl season)

Armed Forces Bowl: Houston over Air Force

Sun Bowl: Stanford over Oklahoma (Toby Gerhart against the Sooner defense will be great theater)

Texas Bowl: Navy over Missouri (I like the upset here. Navy's rushing attack can throw all kinds of wrinkles at you)

Insight Bowl: Minnesota over Iowa State

Chick-fil-A Bowl: Virginia Tech over Tennessee

Outback Bowl: Northwestern over Auburn (The Wildcats have been quietly building out there. I pick them for a big win)

Capital One Bowl: Penn State over LSU

Gator Bowl: West Virginia over Florida State

International: South Florida over Northern Illinois

Cotton Bowl: Ole' Miss over Oklahoma State

Papajohns.com Bowl (Because we know them much more for their Web site instead of their pizza): UConn over South Carolina

Liberty Bowl: East Carolina over Arkansas (I think the Pirates may have just enough for the huge upset)

Alamo Bowl: Texas Tech over Michigan State

GMAC Bowl: Central Michigan over Troy

Rose Bowl: Oregon over Ohio State

Sugar Bowl Florida over Cincinnati

Fiesta Bowl: TCU over Boise State

Orange Bowl: Georgia Tech over Iowa

BCS Championship: Alabama 35, Texas 13