Finally some good news. Thursday was my best day of picks so far this bowl season. It looked like it would be a good day when Virginia took the opening kickoff of the Military Bowl back for a touchdown. That optimism quickly evaporated, though, as Virginia went on to allow 49 unanswered points to a team that did not complete a single pass the entire game.

Thankfully I was able to rebound with the three late games all going my way. Even Stanford, who blew a 21-3 lead, held on to cover.

Here are the picks for Friday. Hopefully this bike doesn’t fall apart on me.

Round 5 (3-1) / Overall (8-17) 

BELK BOWL – Wake Forest vs. Texas A&M – 1 p.m. ET WAKE FOREST -3.5

SUN BOWL – No. 24 NC State vs. Arizona State – 2 p.m. ET NC STATE -6.5

MUSIC CITY BOWL – Kentucky vs. No. 21 Northwestern – 4:30 p.m. ET NORTHWESTERN -9.5

ARIZONA BOWL – Utah State vs. New Mexico State – 5:30 p.m. ET NEW MEXICO STATE -4

COTTON BOWL CLASSIC – No. 8 USC vs. No. 5 Ohio State – 8:30 p.m. ET USC +7.5