potatoes and gildans

Here we go, the time we've all been waiting for. Bowl games almost everyday. Of course we have to wade through a bunch of crap first, but who cares. It's still college football! And honestly these should be pretty good, close games.


Nevada vs. Arizona (Gildan New Mexico Bowl)

The first thing I like to do anytime I have to talk about a team I don't know anything about is to find out what their "thing" is. Are they primarily a defensive team? A passing or rushing team? What's their identity? With Nevada it seems they're a really good rushing team. In fact both of these team feature top 5 rushers, so there's your reason to watch. Stefphon Jefferson (one 'f' sound wasn't enough?) is the #4 rusher in the country with 1703 yards and 22 touchdowns on the year. He also averages 5 yards per carry which is not too shabby at all. Nevada doesn't really pass the ball that well so we can be safely say they are going to run, run, run the ball.

Arizona has had a pretty decent year. Honestly I'm happy for RichRod because I think he got a pretty raw deal at Michigan. When you factor in a win over less-than-great USC and the fact that their losses were too pretty good teams (went to overtime against Stanford), Arizona has done well under their first year coach.

As I said above Arizona also is extremely good at rushing the ball. Ka'Deem Carey is the 2nd most prolific rusher in college football with 1757 yards, 20 touchdowns, and averaging 6.4 yards per carry. That's pretty good. Arizona also has a pretty competent quarterback in Matt Scott who ranks just two below pre-season Heisman favorite Matt Barkley of USC. To be honest though that says a lot more about how much of a let down Barkley's season was than how good Scott is. Just sayin'.

Similarly to the last game I previewed, Navy vs. Army, this game is going to come down to rush defense where both teams are really bad, but Arizona has a slight edge. Arizona is favored by 9 in this one and I'm inclined to think they will cover. They have the advantage in every category that matters, running back, rush defense, and they actually have a decent quarterback. So factor in all of that and this one is a no brainer.

Toledo vs. #22 Utah State (Famous Idaho Potato Bowl)

Admittedly I will only be watching this game to see what the bowl of potatoes has to say this year. Will it be as insightful as last year? We'll soon find out.

Actually this looks to be a really good game. Toledo has had a very good year going 9-3 and losing in OT to Arizona and playing BCS buster Northern Illinois pretty close. Toledo has a very good running back in David Fluellen who has 1460 yards, 13 touchdowns, and almost 6 yards per rush average. They also have a decent quarterback in Terrance Owens.

Utah State comes in only losing 2 games, one to Wisconsin by 2 points and then a real stinker to BYU 6-3. Utah State is so so in both the passing and rushing game ranking 37th and 39th respectively.

This one feels like a toss up offensively so let's look to the defense. Toledo primarily wants to rush the ball and unfortunately for the Rockets that's one thing the Aggies are very good at, ranking 12th in rushing defense. Toledo is 44th in passing offense while Utah St. is 36th in passing defense so for Toledo to have a chance I feel like they will need to rely on the passing game. As I said before, the Rockets to have a competent quarterback but I feel like relying too heavily on the passing game is not their forte.

Meanwhile Toledo is not very good at either aspect of defense, ranking pretty bad in both especially in passing defense where they rank among the worst of the worst. Like I said above, Utah State isn't great at passing but with a pass defense as bad as Toledo's they should be able to exploit it however they wish. Even if they don't feel comfortable passing the ball, which even I should be able to do they are respectable better at rushing then Toledo is defending against it.

That was quite rambling so let's get to the bottom line. The Aggies are favored by 10 1/2 and I think they will win as they are simply better in basically every category than Toledo. That being said I have a feeling (uh-oh) about this game and I think Toledo can cover and make it a close game. Don't underestimate Toledo because of the MAC thing, they do have some legitimately good athletes on their team, both these teams do. 10 1/2 seems like way too much points and if I was betting on college football (don't do that) I would for sure take to Toledo to cover.