| Daily Blog • Saturday, December 17th |
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NEW MEXICO BOWL |
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temple (8-4) VS WYOMING (8-4) |
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Rushing |
Passing |
Points |
TO’s |
ST |
A.O.R |
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| TEMPLE | 287 | 80 |
24 |
2.1 |
•••• |
90.0 |
| WYOMING | 178 |
215 |
19 |
1.5 |
- |
98.7 |
| Second meeting with UW beating TU in the ‘90 ssn opener. The Owls have reached at least 8 wins for a 3rd str ssn for the 1st time in their hist. However, unlike LY when an 8-4 team sat at home, this 8-4 team is excited to be bowling. WY is thrilled to be here after a 3-9 ssn LY and being picked 6th in the MW. The Pokes finished #3 in the conf, had their most wins S/’98 and the biggest turnaround in the MW TY. This is just the Owls’ 4th all-time bowl but their 2nd in the L/3Y. They are 1-2 in bowls with the win in ‘79. UW is in a bowl for the 2nd time in 3Y under Christensen. In their last visit to the NM Bowl (‘09), Christensen also had a true Fr at the helm and upset Fresno in 2OT. This is Addazio’s 1st bowl as a HC but he went to 6 bowls as an asst at Fla, incl 2 as OC. Of the 70 bowl tms, the Owls faced the fewest bowl tms going 0-3 in those gms. UW went 2-4 vs bowl tms. These two both ply’d BG TY with WY pulling a 28-27 upset on the road with a blk’d PAT (WY outgained 514-396) while TU was upset in a 13-10 loss at BG (TU outgained 318-284). TU is a veteran squad with 13 Sr st’rs among 15 upperclassmen while WY is a young squad with 8 frosh/soph st’rs and 15 others in the 2 deep. While TU rates a little better on D, UW has a slight edge on offense and has the ability to pull the upset here. | ||||||
PHIL’S FORECAST: TEMPLE 24 WYOMING 23 |
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IDAHO POTATO BOWL |
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UTAH ST (7-5) VS OHIO (9-4) |
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Rushing |
Passing |
Points |
TO’s |
ST |
A.O.R |
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| UTAH ST | 258 | 213 |
28 |
2.6 |
- |
97.1 |
| OHIO | 163 |
228 |
27 |
2.2 |
••• |
87.6 |
| Just the 2nd all-time meeting between these teams as Utah St won 5-0 at Ohio in 1994. USU is making its 6th bowl appearance (1-4) and 1st S/’97 (longest bowl draught among TY’s tms). This is Ohio’s 6th all-time bowl and 4th in HC Solich’s 7 ssn’s. Solich is now 2-6 in bowls. The Aggies are 7-1 vs the MAC. USU’s only bowl victory was over Ball St in the ‘93 Vegas Bowl (42-33). The Aggies have played here in Boise twice in the L/4 yrs when Boise St was in the WAC. In TY’s MAC Champ game Ohio led NI 20-0 at half with a 292-77 yd edge but lost on a last second FG 23-20 being outgained 405-372 for the gm. Ohio will look to take their frustrations out here. The Bobcats started the season with a trip out west defeating New Mexico St 44-24 with a 452-368 yd edge. HC Andersen did a great job getting his Aggies here as they experienced heartbreak after heartbreak to open the ssn. In USU’s 1st 7 gms, they entered the 4Q leading in each one but lost 5 of them. However, when things looked at their worst, USU turned its ssn around as they have won their L/5 gms incl 3 wins coming in the final minute and another in OT. Ohio has a slight edge on offense with the defenses being even. Utah St has the familiarity but the deciding factor is the special teams which I rate the Aggies dead last and OU has the ST's POY in the MAC in K Weller. Bobcats pull the upset. | ||||||
PHIL’S FORECAST: OHIO 35 UTAH ST 34 |
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NEW ORLEANS BOWL |
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LOUISIANA (8-4) VS SAN DIEGO ST (8-4) |
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Rushing |
Passing |
Points |
TO’s |
ST |
A.O.R |
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| LOUISISNA | 106 | 270 |
28 |
2.6 |
- |
92.4 |
| SAN DIEGO ST | 184 |
225 |
33 |
1.8 |
- |
92.1 |
| One of the biggest surprises in the FBS TY was the Ragin Cajuns, who were the unanimous choice to finish in the basement of the SBC, but 1st yr HC Hudspeth would have none of that as UL finished undefeated at home for the 1st time S/’87. This will be their 1st bowl gm as an FBS member and while the New Orleans Bowl usually selects the SBC champ, the Cajuns got the nod due to the close proximity as well as setting a school rec’d avg 29,176. UL went 1-3 vs bowl elig tms being outscored 41-29 and outgained 496-398. You have to question SDSt’s motivation here as while they’re excited to make the postssn in B2B yrs for the 1st time in their DI hist, they were passed along by their hometown bowl, as well as with all other MWC bowls and landed here vs an SBC school. While SDSt’s home att avg has increased, it’s hard to judge how many will make the 1,800 mile trip. SDSt has B2B winning ssns for the 1st time S/’95-’96 and did tally their most wins away from home (4) since ‘86. First yr HC Long (DC here LY) has plenty of bowl exp taking his NM tm to 5 postssn appearances his L/7Y there. SDSt went 1-4 vs bowl tms being outscored 33-25 and outgained 455-418. SDSt’s offense has multiple weapons behind the arm of Lindley and the legs of Hillman and they’ve topped 31 pts seven times TY. UL willl no doubt have the crowd edge but the Aztecs are just too talented here. | ||||||
PHIL’S FORECAST: SAN DIEGO ST 31 LOUISIANA 30 |
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FCS Semifinal Playoff Forecast
#3 Georgia Southern at #2 North Dakota St |
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Rushing |
Passing |
Points |
TO’s |
ST |
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| GEORGIA SOUTHERN | 276 | 105 |
25 |
2.1 |
- |
| NORTH DAKOTA ST | 174 |
180 |
28 |
1.7 |
- |
NDSU won the only prior meeting 34-14 at GSU in 2006. Both teams were knocked out of the playoff’s on the road in LY’s playoffs, with Georgia Southern falling to Delaware in the semi-finals. The Bison are 12-1 this year with their only loss to Youngstown St 27-24 in mid-November. Those 12 wins included a 37-24 win over FBS Minnesota. In the playoffs they defeated James Madison 26-14 with a 329-301 yd edge and LW shutout Lehigh 24-0 but only had a 384-356 yd edge despite Lehigh playing without their AA WR (susp). The Eagles are 11-2 this year with their losses being to Appalachian St (24-17) and FBS Alabama (45-21). They defeated a pair of CAA teams in the playoffs. They held off Old Dominion 55-48 with a 607-560 yd edge and LW beat Maine 35-23 with a 476-295 yd edge. Now the Eagles must make a long trek North and will face a capacity crowd (18,700) in the Fargodome. NDSU must switch gears after playing the heavy pass attack of Lehigh and have just 1 week to prepare for GSU’s option offense that put up 341 yds rushing vs #2 Alabama. This looks to be a match-up of even teams which will have us going with the home team. |
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PHIL’S FORECAST: NORTH DAKOTA ST 28 GEORGIA SOUTHERN 27 |
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