What? 12/30 already? Holy shit.
Independence Bowl
I hadn't even noticed before, but the Independence Bowl has really fallen off a cliff.
Gonna be a beautiful day for football... upper 40s with almost no wind.
Alright, let's try to figure out this nonsense.
Coastal - QB Grayson McCall has opted out. Wait, what? Sorry, when Coastal comes up, I think about McCall. Shit, his sophomore year he was better than a bunch of QBs currently in the NFL. I was surprised to see he's out of football, but then I saw he retired after "6-7 concussions." Ok, HC Beck has been fired. DC Johnson is interim HC until Coach Beard takes over (what, no Ted Lasso fans?). Coastal will be without LT Nick Del Grande. The two guys they have listed on their depth chart (that's right, i found their official depth chart!), McLaughlin and Jones, are both pretty bad.
La Tech - 4 defensive players with over 600 snaps are entering the portal and are not expected to play. As always... who the fuck knows? But this includes their top 2 tackles and 3 members of the secondary. If all 4 (Mason, Fields, Shelby, Richard) actually don't play, that's a hit to their defense.
Coastal is offensively challenged, no matter who is at QB. Tad Hudson started most of the year, and his #s are underwhelming. He completed 56%, averaging 4.6 yards/att (that's terrible. They literally should just run every down.), with 4 TDs and 5 INTs. The Chants, despite almost zero threat of a passing game, actually average 5 yards/carry. La Tech can be run on, as they give up 4.4 yards/rush (81st in the country).
La Tech does a lot of their damage on the ground. They ran the ball 200 more times than they threw it, averaging 5.3/carry. Coastal is 128th against the run, allowing 5.2 yards/carry. QB Baker was hurt late in the year and Trey Kukuk took over. Kukuk is a junior, but this was his first playing time. He played a little earlier in the year, but in his 2 starts the last 2 games he completed 21 of 33 (64%) for 205 yards (6.2/att) with 0 TDs and 0 INTs (and zero sacks). He is most dangerous with his legs. In those 2 games he has 35 carries for 315 yards and 5 TDs. Let that sink in.
Kicking game... La Tech has been a bit of a mess. Freshman Kaegan Kent (son of THE legendary La Tech kicker Marty Kent) has been kicking XPs the last 2 games, but hasn't attempted a fg. Drew Henderson has made 2 of 6 his last 3 games. Oddly, one of the makes was from 51 yards, which is 13 yards longer than his 2nd-longest make of the season. Kian Afrookhteh has been consistent for Coastal, making 15 of 17, but his long is 44 yards. The last 2 games, they've have freshman Philippe Laforge, who is obviously from Chattanooga, TN, attempt 2 50+ yarders. He made one of the two.
Despite recovering only two opponents' fumbles all season, La Tech is 13th in the country in TO Margin, thanks largely to their 20 INTs (tied for 3rd in the country). Jakari Foster, who is still playing, led the country with 7 INTs. Don't know if Tad will be throwing a lot of passes, but if he does... a few may end up in the Bulldogs' hands.
Motivation... eh, not a lot there. La Tech hasn't won a bowl game since 2019. They lost the Independence Bowl last year, sooooo... vengeance?
Even with La Tech possibly (probably) missing all those guys on defense, I don't see Coastal being able to take advantage. And the Bulldogs should be able to run all day. I'm waiting to see a rushing prop. DK may not release those until game day. So for now...
La Tech -9.5 (bought the point) 5.2 to win 4
First Half Under (25.5) 2 units
Independence Bowl
I hadn't even noticed before, but the Independence Bowl has really fallen off a cliff.
Gonna be a beautiful day for football... upper 40s with almost no wind.
Alright, let's try to figure out this nonsense.
Coastal - QB Grayson McCall has opted out. Wait, what? Sorry, when Coastal comes up, I think about McCall. Shit, his sophomore year he was better than a bunch of QBs currently in the NFL. I was surprised to see he's out of football, but then I saw he retired after "6-7 concussions." Ok, HC Beck has been fired. DC Johnson is interim HC until Coach Beard takes over (what, no Ted Lasso fans?). Coastal will be without LT Nick Del Grande. The two guys they have listed on their depth chart (that's right, i found their official depth chart!), McLaughlin and Jones, are both pretty bad.
La Tech - 4 defensive players with over 600 snaps are entering the portal and are not expected to play. As always... who the fuck knows? But this includes their top 2 tackles and 3 members of the secondary. If all 4 (Mason, Fields, Shelby, Richard) actually don't play, that's a hit to their defense.
Coastal is offensively challenged, no matter who is at QB. Tad Hudson started most of the year, and his #s are underwhelming. He completed 56%, averaging 4.6 yards/att (that's terrible. They literally should just run every down.), with 4 TDs and 5 INTs. The Chants, despite almost zero threat of a passing game, actually average 5 yards/carry. La Tech can be run on, as they give up 4.4 yards/rush (81st in the country).
La Tech does a lot of their damage on the ground. They ran the ball 200 more times than they threw it, averaging 5.3/carry. Coastal is 128th against the run, allowing 5.2 yards/carry. QB Baker was hurt late in the year and Trey Kukuk took over. Kukuk is a junior, but this was his first playing time. He played a little earlier in the year, but in his 2 starts the last 2 games he completed 21 of 33 (64%) for 205 yards (6.2/att) with 0 TDs and 0 INTs (and zero sacks). He is most dangerous with his legs. In those 2 games he has 35 carries for 315 yards and 5 TDs. Let that sink in.
Kicking game... La Tech has been a bit of a mess. Freshman Kaegan Kent (son of THE legendary La Tech kicker Marty Kent) has been kicking XPs the last 2 games, but hasn't attempted a fg. Drew Henderson has made 2 of 6 his last 3 games. Oddly, one of the makes was from 51 yards, which is 13 yards longer than his 2nd-longest make of the season. Kian Afrookhteh has been consistent for Coastal, making 15 of 17, but his long is 44 yards. The last 2 games, they've have freshman Philippe Laforge, who is obviously from Chattanooga, TN, attempt 2 50+ yarders. He made one of the two.
Despite recovering only two opponents' fumbles all season, La Tech is 13th in the country in TO Margin, thanks largely to their 20 INTs (tied for 3rd in the country). Jakari Foster, who is still playing, led the country with 7 INTs. Don't know if Tad will be throwing a lot of passes, but if he does... a few may end up in the Bulldogs' hands.
Motivation... eh, not a lot there. La Tech hasn't won a bowl game since 2019. They lost the Independence Bowl last year, sooooo... vengeance?
Even with La Tech possibly (probably) missing all those guys on defense, I don't see Coastal being able to take advantage. And the Bulldogs should be able to run all day. I'm waiting to see a rushing prop. DK may not release those until game day. So for now...
La Tech -9.5 (bought the point) 5.2 to win 4
First Half Under (25.5) 2 units
