| Daily Blog • Thursday, December 29th |
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CHAMPS SPORTS BOWL |
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NOTRE DAME (8-4) VS FLORIDA ST (8-4) |
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Rushing |
Passing |
Points |
TO’s |
ST |
A.O.R |
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| NOTRE DAME | 107 | 200 |
19 |
2.7 |
- |
100.6 |
| FLORIDA ST | 68 |
200 |
19 |
1.4 |
••• |
100.9 |
| This will be the 7th meeting for these 2 storied programs with FSU winning 4 of 6 incl 37-0 in ‘03 at South Bend. In ‘93 #1 FSU met #2 ND in the “Game of the Century” with the Irish pulling the 31-24 upset but the Noles went on to win the Nat’l Title as both finished with 1 loss. Their last bowl meeting was in ‘95 as FSU defeated ND 31-26 in the Orange Bowl. After an NCAA rec’d 9 gm bowl losing streak, ND has won their L/2 postssn appearances by a comb 44 pts and Kelly is 3-1 in bowls. The Noles have been to 30 consec bowls (FBS best) and this is Fisher’s 2nd bowl game winning the Chick-fil-A LY 26-17 over SC. The Irish went 5-3 vs bowl opp outscoring them 29-22 and outgaining them 402-386. FSU went 3-4 vs 7 bowl tms but outscored them 23-19 and outgained 317-313. ND played an ACC stretch of Wake, MD and BC going 3-0 outscoring them 28-17 and outgaining them 422-304. FSU went 2-1 vs same 3 opp’s with 23-16 score and 404-310 yardage edges. FSU went 2-2 on the road while ND was 4-2 away from South Bend. The Irish have 10 Sr st’rs and 17 upperclassmen while the Noles have 6 Sr’s among 16 upperclassmen. By looking at the teams, few gms besides the Nat’l Champ gm can match the talent on the field. The advantage FSU has is that they have a dominant Top 5 defense and is capable of shutting down even this ND offense. FSU’s offensive numbers are lower than expected but remember QB Manuel missed a few gms. ND has yet to face this type of spd on D and with the Noles having a big ST's edge I'll call for them to get the win here. | ||||||
PHIL’S FORECAST: FLORIDA ST 27 NOTRE DAME 20 |
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ALAMO BOWL |
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WASHINGTON (7-5) VS BAYLOR (9-3) |
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Rushing |
Passing |
Points |
TO’s |
ST |
A.O.R |
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| WASHINGTON | 181 | 275 |
35 |
2.6 |
••• |
107.4 |
| BAYLOR | 209 |
365 |
48 |
2.4 |
- |
99.2 |
| The two squads met 4 times in 1950’s and 60’s with Baylor coming out victorious in all but one. The Bears have appeared in this gm once in their history, in ‘94 a 10-3 loss to Wash St as while the Huskies have never played in San Antonio. Both tms are in their 2nd consec bowl appearances after long layoffs with BU losing LY’s Texas Bowl 38-14 to IL after a 15 yr bowl drought while UW upset Neb 19-7 in Sarkisian’s bowl HC debut. Briles is 0-4 in the postseason. The Bears were slightly disappointed to end up a little over a 3 hr drive from home after finishing with their most wins since ‘86 and in the BCS’s top 15 after wins over OU and Texas. Their goal is to win a bowl for the 1st time S/’92 and they sold out their 12,500 allotment. The Huskies faced 6 bowl caliber tms in ‘11 going 2-4 while being outscored (38-26) and outgained (444-365) by substantial margins. The Bears were 5-3 vs bowl squads despite being outscored by 4 pts overall although they outgained those foes by 32 ypg. The Huskies struggled on the road with a 1-4 and the Bears did as well (1-3). UW has 8 Sr st’rs among 12 upperclassmen while BU has 7 Sr’s and 13 upperclassmen. While Washington limped to the finish losing 3 of their L/4, two of those were to Top 10 tm’s in Oregon and USC. They also are now in B2B bowls for the first time S/’01-’02. Baylor finished the year winning 5 straight but against the top 2 foes they faced, both Okla and Texas had attrition on the offensive side of the ball. I do not think this will be a blowout like what many are predicting but while the Heisman could be a distraction for RGIII, I don't think the Huskies have enough on the defensive side of the ball to stop him completely. | ||||||
PHIL’S FORECAST: BAYLOR 45 washington 38 |
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