Cure Bowl
anybody know what they're actually trying to cure? is it the epidemic of bowl opt-outs? 'cause i'd donate to find a cure. (oh, not an opt-out, but despite all my work on last night's game, i never saw ANYTHING about cook even possibly being out for jax st. that was such a pleasant surprise.)
ok, both teams will be without their starting qb. so that's fun. and in both cases, the qb was also the team's leading rusher. by quite a bit.
ODU - freshman quinn henicle is making the start. i assume his nickname is quinnicle. just makes sense. anyway, he has seen very limited playing time, only attempting 15 passes this year, while rushing 20 times for 102 yards. HOWEVER... he made one start last year, in the season finale, and put up some impressive #s. 9 of 12 for 143 yards, 2 TDs and 0 INTs. oh, and he threw in 206 yards rushing (and 2 TDs) on 19 carries, including a 92-yarder. so despite limited time, i don't think ODU is going to have to change their game plan for the backup qb.
other than qb, the only notable monarch who is sitting this one out is RB maurki james. he only had 56 carries, but was also their primary kickoff returner.
USF - of course, bynum is out. a good chunk of their offensive coaching staff is gone. but really the guy we're going to miss the most... Chas Nimrod. he's been out with an injury since october. it's probably no coincidence that they were 5-1 with him and 4-2 without him. we will miss him... his teammates will miss him... but the announcers are probably pretty glad he's not playing. (side note: you know who else isn't playing? boogsie silvera. on any other team, he'd be a clear candidate for best name. but on the bulls? he's buried behind chas nimrod. sometime life just isn't fair, boogsie. ok, they are missing a few other notable guys, but nobody else who wasn't already missing games due to injury.
alright, as i mentioned earlier, ODU shouldn't have to modify the game plan much, if at all. besides the running of quinnicle, trequan jones averages 7.6 yards/carry. when they have to throw (and i kinda hope they don't), they have 2 WRs (brown & thomas) who average over 17 yards/catch. this is an explosive offense that scores 32.7 points/game (29th in the country) and averages 6.9 yards/play (12th). a lot of that is due to their ground game, which averages 5.7 yards/rush (7th). USF is 37th in the country on defense, allowing 5.2 yards/play. but only 4 teams have had their opponents run more plays, primarily because of USF's quick strike offense. their defense has been on the field a lot this year.
speaking of the USF offense... yeah, it looks like they will need to change some things up due to the qb change. gaston moore is a senior who was a backup at tennessee for 4 years before transferring to USF. in his career, he only has 34 yards on 13 carries, including 7 carries for 12 yards this year. not exactly a "dual-threat" guy. he's thrown 20 passes this year, completing 14 for a grand total of 54 yards. that's 2.7 yards/att. so in the little mop-up duty he's seen, he hasn't exactly had a chance to let it loose downfield. and this may not be the defense to face in your first start. ODU only allows 6 yards/pass att, which is 13th in the country. and they are tied for 11th, with 2.9 sacks/game. so will USF be able to run the ball? their top 2 RBs (davenport and franklin) average 6.6 and 6.4 yards/carry, respectively. ODU is decent stopping the run, allowing 3.8 yards/carry, 50th in the country. the real question mark... without the threat of qb run, and with an entirely new offensive coaching staff... will the bulls be able to find enough rhythm with their ground game to take some pressure off moore? i doubt it.
big edge in the kicking game to USF. they have a gramatica. nico has only missed one fg under 50 yards all year. eichner took over as the ODU kicker the last 4 games. while he's 6-of-8 on fgs, his longest is 32 yards. he only attempted one over 40 yards.
here's a scary stat, and one that often rears its ugly head in bowl games... turnovers. ODU tied for the most fumbles in the country (13). and USF is 5th in the country, recovering 10 fumbles on the year. my guess is the new kick returner for ODU is gonna cough one up.
on the flip side... motivation. this is only ODU's 4th bowl game. and coach rahne is 0-2. so i think the monarchs will be fired up for this one. while USF, after beating boise st and florida to start the year, may have had higher hopes than the cure bowl. hell, they barely got to travel. will the boys from tampa be excited about a trip to orlando? meh.
ODU +4 4X
ODU ML 1 to win 1.6
ODU 1Q +.5 2.5 to win 2
ODU 2H TT Over 12.5 2.6 to win 2. I'm looking for the ODU ground game to wear down USF in the second half, and with that kicking game, i don't think they're going to settle for fgs.
ODU 200+ rushing yards 2 to win 2.4
and let's try another parlay....
ODU +4.5/Under 63.5 1 to win 1.2
anybody know what they're actually trying to cure? is it the epidemic of bowl opt-outs? 'cause i'd donate to find a cure. (oh, not an opt-out, but despite all my work on last night's game, i never saw ANYTHING about cook even possibly being out for jax st. that was such a pleasant surprise.)
ok, both teams will be without their starting qb. so that's fun. and in both cases, the qb was also the team's leading rusher. by quite a bit.
ODU - freshman quinn henicle is making the start. i assume his nickname is quinnicle. just makes sense. anyway, he has seen very limited playing time, only attempting 15 passes this year, while rushing 20 times for 102 yards. HOWEVER... he made one start last year, in the season finale, and put up some impressive #s. 9 of 12 for 143 yards, 2 TDs and 0 INTs. oh, and he threw in 206 yards rushing (and 2 TDs) on 19 carries, including a 92-yarder. so despite limited time, i don't think ODU is going to have to change their game plan for the backup qb.
other than qb, the only notable monarch who is sitting this one out is RB maurki james. he only had 56 carries, but was also their primary kickoff returner.
USF - of course, bynum is out. a good chunk of their offensive coaching staff is gone. but really the guy we're going to miss the most... Chas Nimrod. he's been out with an injury since october. it's probably no coincidence that they were 5-1 with him and 4-2 without him. we will miss him... his teammates will miss him... but the announcers are probably pretty glad he's not playing. (side note: you know who else isn't playing? boogsie silvera. on any other team, he'd be a clear candidate for best name. but on the bulls? he's buried behind chas nimrod. sometime life just isn't fair, boogsie. ok, they are missing a few other notable guys, but nobody else who wasn't already missing games due to injury.
alright, as i mentioned earlier, ODU shouldn't have to modify the game plan much, if at all. besides the running of quinnicle, trequan jones averages 7.6 yards/carry. when they have to throw (and i kinda hope they don't), they have 2 WRs (brown & thomas) who average over 17 yards/catch. this is an explosive offense that scores 32.7 points/game (29th in the country) and averages 6.9 yards/play (12th). a lot of that is due to their ground game, which averages 5.7 yards/rush (7th). USF is 37th in the country on defense, allowing 5.2 yards/play. but only 4 teams have had their opponents run more plays, primarily because of USF's quick strike offense. their defense has been on the field a lot this year.
speaking of the USF offense... yeah, it looks like they will need to change some things up due to the qb change. gaston moore is a senior who was a backup at tennessee for 4 years before transferring to USF. in his career, he only has 34 yards on 13 carries, including 7 carries for 12 yards this year. not exactly a "dual-threat" guy. he's thrown 20 passes this year, completing 14 for a grand total of 54 yards. that's 2.7 yards/att. so in the little mop-up duty he's seen, he hasn't exactly had a chance to let it loose downfield. and this may not be the defense to face in your first start. ODU only allows 6 yards/pass att, which is 13th in the country. and they are tied for 11th, with 2.9 sacks/game. so will USF be able to run the ball? their top 2 RBs (davenport and franklin) average 6.6 and 6.4 yards/carry, respectively. ODU is decent stopping the run, allowing 3.8 yards/carry, 50th in the country. the real question mark... without the threat of qb run, and with an entirely new offensive coaching staff... will the bulls be able to find enough rhythm with their ground game to take some pressure off moore? i doubt it.
big edge in the kicking game to USF. they have a gramatica. nico has only missed one fg under 50 yards all year. eichner took over as the ODU kicker the last 4 games. while he's 6-of-8 on fgs, his longest is 32 yards. he only attempted one over 40 yards.
here's a scary stat, and one that often rears its ugly head in bowl games... turnovers. ODU tied for the most fumbles in the country (13). and USF is 5th in the country, recovering 10 fumbles on the year. my guess is the new kick returner for ODU is gonna cough one up.
on the flip side... motivation. this is only ODU's 4th bowl game. and coach rahne is 0-2. so i think the monarchs will be fired up for this one. while USF, after beating boise st and florida to start the year, may have had higher hopes than the cure bowl. hell, they barely got to travel. will the boys from tampa be excited about a trip to orlando? meh.
ODU +4 4X
ODU ML 1 to win 1.6
ODU 1Q +.5 2.5 to win 2
ODU 2H TT Over 12.5 2.6 to win 2. I'm looking for the ODU ground game to wear down USF in the second half, and with that kicking game, i don't think they're going to settle for fgs.
ODU 200+ rushing yards 2 to win 2.4
and let's try another parlay....
ODU +4.5/Under 63.5 1 to win 1.2
