| Daily Blog •Tuesday, December 27th |
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LITTLE CASESARS BOWL |
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WESTERN MICHIGAN (7-5) VS PURDUE (6-6) |
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Rushing |
Passing |
Points |
TO’s |
ST |
A.O.R |
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| WESTERN MICHIGAN | 115 | 340 |
36 |
2.6 |
• |
87.0 |
| PURDUE | 225 |
220 |
32 |
2.4 |
- |
99.0 |
| PU leads the series 2-0 winning both at home incl a 28-24 win in the last meeting in ‘02. WM is 6-31 all-time vs B10 tms but has 2 of those wins (Iowa ‘07 and Ill ‘08) under HC Cubit and came up just short vs UI earlier this ssn (23-20). Purdue is 38-9-1 vs MAC tms but lost to Tol 31-20. This is WM’s 5th all-time bowl, but their 3rd under Cubit (0-2). They are 0-4 incl a 38-14 loss to Rice in the ‘08 Texas Bowl. PU is in the postssn for the 1st time S/’07 and this is their 1st time bowling under HC Hope. Under ex-HC Tiller, who Hope served under as an asst in 2 diff stints, the Boilers went 4-6 in bowls usually spotting tms the lead (fell behind 98-0 in L/7). Of the 70 bowl tms, WM is last being outgained by an avg 168 ypg vs the 4 bowl tms they faced but went 1-3 in those gms losing 2 by 3 pts each. PU and bowl officials are hoping for a decent contingent in Black and Gold but keep in mind that PU avg’d just 45,225 fans per home gm TY (72% of stadium capacity) and failed to sell out any of its 7 gms in Ross-Ade Stadium. When you match a B10 vs a MAC team you expect significant edges to the BCS conference. This doesn’t hold true as Western has many players that actually rate higher than Purdue and it’s very obvious by looking at the offensive skill position players. Western showed they can clearly matchup with BCS teams as they were 17-17 FD’s at Michigan, only lost at Illinois 23-20 and beat Conn 38-31. Purdue meanwhile has had losses to MAC teams Toledo and Northern Illinois in recent years. | ||||||
PHIL’S FORECAST: WESTERN MICHIGAN 34 PURDUE 31 |
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BELK BOWL |
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LOUISVILLE (7-5) VS NC STATE (7-5) |
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Rushing |
Passing |
Points |
TO’s |
ST |
A.O.R |
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| LOUISVILLE | 91 | 165 |
23 |
2.6 |
•• |
94.9 |
| NC STATE | 59 |
255 |
22 |
2.2 |
- |
98.6 |
| Fourth meeting between these 2 with UL winning the L/3 incl 19-10 in ‘07. The Belk Bowl (old Car Care) had a record low in attendance LY and brought back NCSt who played here in ‘05 defeating USF, 14-0. NCSt won 3 of L/4 incl an impressive win over ACC Champ Clem 37-13 and one of the biggest comebacks in ACC history scoring 35 pts in the 4Q to beat MD and earn a bowl bid. NCSt is bowling for the 3rd time in 4Y and defeated WV LY in the Champs Sports Bowl 23-7. UL finished in a 3 way tie for the BE Title but lost out on tiebreakers for the BCS berth. HC Strong is in his 2nd consec bowl since taking over here (beat SM 31-28 in Beef O’Brady’s Bowl). State HC O’Brien is 1-1 in bowls at NCSt but 8-2 overall after leading BC to 8 straight. Both teams faced Cincy and UNC with NCSt going 1-1 while UL went 0-2. The Pack faced 7 bowl caliber teams going 3-4 being outscored 26-22 and outgained 364-333 while UL went 2-5 being outscored 21-17 and outgained 352-316. NCSt has 8 Sr st’rs among 18 upperclassmen while UL has just 6 Sr’s st’rs with 10 upperclassmen (8 Fr started finale). Louisville is a defensive oriented tm that has been able to get great pressure on the opposing QB. NCSt has the same philosophy and after losing players throughout the yr they’ll use this time to become healthier. There’s no question NCSt has the off advantage and with a savvy veteran bowl coach like O’Brien I will pick the tm basically playing at home. | ||||||
PHIL’S FORECAST: NC STATE 24 LOUISVILLE 20 |
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