| Daily Blog • Friday, December 30th |
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ARMED FORCES BOWL |
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TULSA (8-4) VS BYU (9-3) |
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Rushing |
Passing |
Points |
TO’s |
ST |
A.O.R |
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| TULSA | 168 | 230 |
29 |
2.9 |
- |
90.4 |
| BYU | 142 |
270 |
31 |
2.8 |
• |
96.1 |
| Tulsa is 1-6 vs BYU but won the last gm in ‘07, 55-47. This will be the 1st meeting in a bowl/neutral site. TU HC Blankenship has guided the Hurricane to a bowl in his 1st ssn at the helm but has been on staff for the L/3 bowls (3-0). BYU HC Mendenhall has led the Cougars to a 7th str bowl in his 7th yr (4-2). Tulsa was 2-4 vs bowl tms being outscored 37-30 and outgained 480-440. BYU was 1-3 vs bowl squads also being outscored 33-20 and outgained 365-349 and beat only one schl with a winning record. Both ply’d UCF TY and ironically won by the same exact 24-17 score but BYU was outgained 399-260 while Tulsa outgained UCF 454-381. On the road TY BYU was 3-2 while Tulsa went 4-2. BYU has 9 Sr st’rs among their 16 upperclassmen. TU has 9 Sr st’rs but 18 upperclassmen. Tulsa is the smallest school that competes in DI but should have the crowd edge as the are just 260 miles away. BYU is 1,225 and was hoping that Houston would fall to this bowl after their CUSA Champ loss, so fans may be disappointed but Cougs normally travel well. TU also has played in this venue every other yr S/’96 (CUSA started) but is 1-7 while BYU won their last and only trip in ‘97. LY BYU rolled down the stretch winning their final 4 regular season games and then put up 52 in the bowl. This year they’ve won final 6 games, and in that stretch have avg’d 41 ppg, I'll take the Cougars here in what should be a great bowl game. | ||||||
PHIL’S FORECAST: BYU 31 TULSA 28 |
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PINSTRIPE BOWL |
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RUTGERS (8-4) VS IOWA ST (6-6) |
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Rushing |
Passing |
Points |
TO’s |
ST |
A.O.R |
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| RUTGERS | 121 | 215 |
16 |
3.2 |
• |
96.1 |
| IOWA ST | 154 |
165 |
16 |
2.9 |
- |
102.0 |
| First meeting between these 2 schools who return to a bowl here after a year away from the postseason. The Knights have been to 5 bowls under HC Schiano going 4-1 while this is the 2nd bowl for ISU HC Rhoads who pulled the 14-13 upset over Minnesota in the ‘09 Insight Bowl. The HC’s are familiar with one another as Rhoads was Pitt’s DC from ‘00-’07 with the Panthers 5-3 (lost L/3). Iowa St has a large sked edge (#3-85) and these two had a common opp in Conn as the Cyclones came back from a HT deficit to pull out the win while the Knights were blasted 40-22 as they turned the ball over 6x’s. The Knights have also made a trip to Yankee Stadium TY as they beat Army 27-12 on Nov 12. Rutgers has ply’d 6 bowl squads going 4-2 but while they outscored those opp by a 27-20 clip, they were only outgained by 13 ypg. ISU was 2-6 vs bowl foes being outscored by 37-23 and outgained 484-389. The Knights did struggle away from home going just 2-3. ISU went 2-4 on the road. Rutgers has 7 Sr st’rs among 15 upperclassmen while ISU has 10 Sr’s and 17 upperclassmen. As you can see from my computer's projection, these two tms are very close but I'll go with the home-state Knights in this one as they have exp in the stadium and I have been impressed with Schiano's bowl prep in the past. | ||||||
PHIL’S FORECAST: RUTGERS 24 IOWA ST 23 |
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MUSIC CITY BOWL |
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WAKE FOREST (6-6) VS MISSISSIPPI ST (6-6) |
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Rushing |
Passing |
Points |
TO’s |
ST |
A.O.R |
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| WAKE FOREST | 145 | 215 |
18 |
1.6 |
- |
100.2 |
| MISSISSIPPI ST | 195 |
200 |
26 |
1.1 |
- |
101.3 |
| First meeting. WF is bowl eligible for the 1st time S/’08, a 29-19 win over Navy. The Deacons broke a 3 game losing streak which include leading ND 17-10 1H and Clem 28-14 in 3Q. They finally clinched with a 38-10 win over MD but then were crushed by SEC Vandy 41-7 in their home finale (Vandy was 5-6 coming in). TY marks the 4th time WF has 5 wins in ACC play. This is MSU’s 1st appearance here selling thru their ticket allotment in just a day and their famous cowbells have already been approved by the bowl. It is the 1st time MSU has been in B2B bowls S/’99-’00 and it is Mullen’s 2nd bowl gm as a HC. LY they had a dominating 52-14 win over Mich. Wake is 6-3 all-time in bowls. This is HC Grobe’s 11th year at Wake and his 5th bowl (3-1). WF faced 7 bowl caliber tms being outscored 34-23 and outgained 461-346 going 2-5. The Bulldogs were 3-3 on the road TY outscoring their bowl foes 28-24 and outgaining them 402-370. MSU went 1-6 vs bowl tms getting outscored 27-16 and outgained 376-274. The Deacs have 10 Sr st’rs among 16 upperclassmen while the Bulldogs have 10 Sr starters among 18 upperclassmen. When comparing the teams numbers, MSU has played 4 tms which I rank in my Top 10 in defense and they avg’d under 10 ppg, as they also rushed for under 100 yds. Against weaker D’s, when they rushed for 150+ yds, they avg’d 38 ppg and they’ll be able to do that vs the smallish WF def front that’s all’g 4.4 ypc. | ||||||
PHIL’S FORECAST: MISSISSIPPI ST 30 WAKE FOREST 20 |
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INSIGHT BOWL |
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IOWA (7-5) VS OKLAHOMA (9-3) |
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Rushing |
Passing |
Points |
TO’s |
ST |
A.O.R |
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| IOWA | 115 | 190 |
16 |
2.3 |
- |
97.1 |
| OKLAHOMA | 150 |
325 |
27 |
2.8 |
• |
100.7 |
| Only 1 prior meeting, a 21-6 Sooners win in 1979 when the current OU HC was on the field in a Hawks uniform. Stoops is an Iowa alum who was a candidate for the HC job 13Y ago before Ferentz was hired. Ferentz is 6-3 in bowls and the Hawks are 4-1 vs current B12 squads in bowls incl LY’s upset of Missouri in the Insight Bowl with Stoops in the stands wearing Black and Gold. The OU boss is 6-6 in bowls. This is the Sooners first trip to the Insight though they’ve been to its sister Fiesta Bowl in 3 of the L/5 and it’s only the 2nd time they’ve faced a B10 tm in a bowl (14-6 win over Mich ‘75 Orange). Iowa has struggled on the road the L2Y including 1-4 TY (outscored by 3 ppg and outgained by 33 ypg). OU went 3-2 on the road TY outscoring foes by 8 ppg and outgaining them by 142 ypg. Iowa has 9 Sr’s among 16 upperclassmen st’rs while the Sooners have just 5 Sr’s among 14 upperclassmen st’rs. Lineup the teams on Oct 1 and I’m picking the Sooners in a big blowout. However, after attrition has hit both their top RB and WR I was thinking Iowa might have the chance at the upset two weeks ago but now that Iowa RB Marcus Coker will be out and with no backup of his caliber, I'll call for the Sooners here. | ||||||
PHIL’S FORECAST: OKLAHOMA 33 IOWA 23 |
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