It’s another great day of bowl action with four games on the docket for today. Here’s our preview and picks. PITT v. Northwestern -4.5, in the Pinstripe Bowl: Northwestern started strong but faded down the stretch and really struggled defensively in the month of November. The Wildcats are well coached in all three phases but they will have a hard time matching up against a Pitt offense that can run and…
Mike Leach and the Washington State Cougars have their sites on a Holiday Bowl trophy. Army at North Texas +10.5, in the Heart of Dallas Bowl: I like North Texas in this game as a heavy underdog. Army is not good enough to be favored by this many points. Sure, the Black Knights will run the football effectively but I don’t think they’ll score enough points to win by double digits….
Game Rewind: The Boston College offense started strong scoring 29 first half points as the Eagles held on to beat Maryland 36-30 in the Quick Lane Bowl. Here are three thoughts from the game. 1. For Whom the Bell Towles: Fifth year senior quarterback Patrick Towles played one of his better games of the season finishing 10/22 151 yards and two touchdown passes. Towles has put up better numbers this…
Storyline: The 6-6 Eagles will battle the Maryland Terapins in the Quick Lane Bowl in Detroit this afternoon. B.C won their last two games to qualify for this bowl game. Here are three keys for the Eagles in this game. 1. Patrick Towles Must Play Well: Sounds simple but Towles needs to play well today if the Eagles are going to have any chance of winning this game. Towles needs…
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…