Every team in today’s bowl games with the exception of Mississippi State has a 6-6 record. Miami (OH) v. Mississippi State -15 in the St. Petersburg Bowl: Despite winning six in a row to get to this game, I like Mississippi State over Miami of Ohio in this one. The Bulldogs are the better team. -15 is a big number for a 5-7 team to be favored but Miami can’t match…
Storyline: The Patriots will host the New York Jets on Christmas Eve at Gillette Stadium. With a win, the Patriots would lock up the number one overall seed in the AFC. The Patriots were in the same spot at this time a year ago but season ending losses to the Jets and Dolphins cost them the number one seed in the conference. The Patriots cannot allow that to happen this…
Old Dominion -6 v. Eastern Michigan, in the Popeyes Bahamas Bowl: Neither program has much Bowl experience so it will take both programs some time earlyto get acclimated to playing in a big game. Eastern Michigan has had a great turn around season at 7-5 but the Eagles don’t match up with Old Dominion who is a more athletic team. I’m going to take the Monarchs to win by two scores….
Colorado State -13 at Idaho, in the Potato Bowl: Colorado State has been playing some good football over the course of the past month. Head coach Mike Bobo has the Rams offense humming and the Colorado State defense has been opportunistic and generating turnovers. The Rams are heavily favored in this game, as they should be. They are the better team but don’t sleep on the Vandals. Idaho had the…
By Michael Vallee -That Was Then, This is Now: What a difference a year makes. Yesterday, eleven months removed from suffering a violent beatdown at the hands of the Denver Broncos in last year’s AFC Championship, the Patriots flipped the script, dominating Denver in a 16-3 defensive whitewash. In a mostly one-sided and, let’s face it, incredibly boring game, New England pushed around their opponent for 60 minutes, slowly grinding…
Memphis +5 v. Western Kentucky in the Boca Raton Bowl: I know Western Kentucky is dealing with the loss of head coach Jeff Brohm to Purdue, but the Hilltoppers are going to be fine. Most of Brohm’s staff has stayed behind so the systems will be the same on both sides of the ball and the team will be ready to play. Memphis has enough firepower to hang with the…
The Miami Beach Bowl is known for offense and this year’s game should be no different with the high flying Tulsa Golden Hurricane playing in it. Central Michigan v. Tulsa -11, in the Miami Beach Bowl: This will be a high scoring affair. Both offenses can score, especially Tulsa. The Golden Hurricanes rank 10th in the country in total offense averaging 41.4 points per game. Conversely, Central Michigan is 77th…
Game Rewind: Led by a dominate defense, Tom Brady and the Patriots beat the Broncos 16-3 and in the process won their eighth straight AFC East title. Here are five thoughts on the game. 1. Dominant Defensive Effort: The Patriots absolutely dominated the Broncos offense. Yeah, I know Denver’s offense is putrid but it doesn’t matter. The Patriots got consistent pressure on Broncos quarterback Trevor Siemian and they never allowed…
Storyline: The Patriots travel to Denver to battle the Broncos. The Mile High City has been a house of horrors for Tom Brady and the Patriots. Brady has a career 2-7 record in Denver. The last time the Patriots won in Denver was the end of the 2011 season. Here are five keys for the Patriots in this game. 1. All LeGarrette, All the Time: The Broncos are 29th in…
Alabama announced the hiring of Steve Sarkisian as offensive coordinator yesterday. Nick Saban promoted volunteer offensive assistant Steve Sarkisian to offensive coordinator yesterday. The former Washington and USC head coach will be replacing his good friend Lane Kiffin who is leaving Alabama to take the head coaching job at Florida Atlantic. There will be plenty of criticism regarding this hiring. Sarkisian’s issues with alcohol at USC are well documented but…