The Pinstripe Bowl and Foster Farms Bowl highlight the next set of College Football bowl games
Brett Ludwiczak via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
The Big Ten finally joins the bowl party on Wednesday, as Iowa and Purdue look for wins.
Bowl season ATS: 7-7 (7-7 National, 0-0 B1G)
Season ATS: 100-100-4 (52-47-2 National, 48-53-2 B1G)
The last set of picks saw not much go right, especially with a few bad whiffs on UAB, Central Michigan, and Toledo. Now that Christmas is here, the amount of bowl games will pick up, leaving plenty of winners out there for us to find.
Heart of Dallas Bowl: Utah (-7) v. West Virginia - 12/26 1:30 PM EST - ESPN
This game lost a lot of the shine when it was announced that quarterback
Will Grier wouldn’t be able to play after suffering a finger injury late in the year. Instead Chris Chugunov will take the snaps for West Virginia, and the sophomore didn’t look all that good in his lone start of the season in the regular season finale against Oklahoma.
The good news is that Chugunov has had a bunch of bowl practices to get more comfortable running the offense. Luckily, the Mountaineers not only have
Justin Crawford at running back to go along with wide receivers
Gary Jennings and David Sills V to try and relieve some of the pressure.
Utah running back
Zack Moss should have a huge game against a West Virginia defense that has allowed over 200 yards per game on the ground to opponents this year. The Utes will also have
Tyler Huntley back at quarterback, after the sophomore missed the regular season finale against Colorado due to injury.
Utah should win this game, adding to Kyle Whittingham’s 9-1 record in bowl games, but West Virginia will make the Utes work for it. Utah lost six of eight to close out the regular season, and while the extended time off will help them fix some issues, the Mountaineer offense keeps things close.
Utah 28, West Virginia 24
Quick Lane Bowl: Duke (-5.5) v. Northern Illinois - 12/26 5:15 PM EST - ESPN
Northern Illinois nearly beat Boston College and San Diego State this year, and who can forget the Huskies upset of Nebraska in Lincoln in September? If Northern Illinois doesn’t add Duke to their list of Power 5 conference teams they’ve taken down, they’ll at least put quite a scare into David Cutcliffe’s team, who struggled down the stretch before winning their last two games to become bowl eligible.
Northern Illinois 24, Duke 21
Cactus Bowl: Kansas State (-7) v. UCLA - 12/26 9:00 PM EST - ESPN
I liked Kansas State to win before the news came out that
Josh Rosen wasn’t going to play due to concussion concerns. I like the Wildcats even more now.
Kansas State 31, UCLA 20
Independence Bowl: Southern Miss v. Florida State (-16.5) - 12/27 1:30 PM EST - ESPN
Congrats Florida State, you kept your bowl streak alive, now you get to go to Shreveport! Jimbo Fisher is off to Texas A&M and Willie Taggart is taking over at head coach, but Taggart won’t be coaching the Seminoles on Wednesday.
I’m still trying to figure out why this line is so big. Sure, Florida State has the edge in talent, but what exactly is the motivation for the Seminoles in this game? I think Florida State cared more about extending their bowl streak than the actual bowl game.
Southern Miss has plenty of weapons on offense.
Kwadra Griggs tossed 15 touchdowns and just two interceptions, while
Ito Smith rumbled for over 1,300 yards and 13 touchdowns on the ground this year. I think Southern Miss will pull off the surprise and beat Florida State, and even if they don’t, they’ll at least stay within two touchdowns.
Southern Miss 34, Florida State 31
Pinstripe Bowl: Iowa (-3) v. Boston College - 12/27 5:15 PM EST - ESPN
It would be nice if Iowa could let us know which team they’re going to have show up for this game. Will it be the Iowa team which demolished Ohio State by 31 points, or the Hawkeye team which looked inept at times during the season?
It isn’t rocket science on how to beat Boston College. Stop running back A.J. Dillon and you should have little problem taking down the Eagles. The freshman was a big reason that Boston College closed the season with five wins in their last six games, rushing for 1,432 yards and 13 touchdowns in his freshman year at Chestnut Hill.
Luckily for Iowa, they have somebody up to the task of slowing down Dillon. Linebacker Josey Jewell racked up 121 tackles on his way to winning the Lott Trophy. Nathan Stanley and
Akrum Wadley will do enough to give the Hawkeyes a double-digit win at Yankee Stadium.
Iowa 28, Boston College 17
Foster Farms Bowl: Arizona (-3.5) v. Purdue - 12/27 8:30 PM EST - FOX
Khalil Tate was an absolute monster during the middle of the season, rushing for at least 137 yards in six straight games. The problem is that Tate was bottled up in his last two games, as Arizona lost to Oregon and Arizona State.
At least Purdue already has some experience at trying to slow down a quarterback that is dynamic like Tate. While the stats might not show it, the Boilermakers put a scare into
Lamar Jackson and Louisville in the season opener.
Jeff Brohm has sparked the Purdue program, and there has to be even more excitement when Brohm spurned some of the coaching vacancies that his name was being thrown around for. The Purdue defense is greatly improved this year, and I think they’ll be able to keep Tate in check enough to earn the win.
Purdue 37, Arizona 27
Texas Bowl: Texas v. Missouri (-2.5) - 12/27 9:00 PM EST - ESPN
What a messy first season it has been for Tom Herman in Austin. There wasn’t very many positives for Herman during the 6-6 campaign, and things have only gotten worse with a few suspensions before the Texas Bowl, along with a bit of a quarterback controversy;
Shane Buechele will start for the Longhorns because
Sam Ehlinger has had some turnover problems.
Things were looking pretty ugly for Missouri after six games, with the Tigers only winning their season opener against Missouri State. Then something clicked and Missouri found their rhythm, closing the regular season with six straight wins, scoring at least 45 points in each of those wins. Quarterback Drew Lock put up Playstation numbers, tossing 43 touchdowns.
These are two teams that are heading in opposite directions as the season comes to a close. Herman might be able to turn things around over the next few years, but right now Missouri is a better team.
Missouri 44, Texas 30
Continue reading...
