Bowl Thread (Dec 20th -Jan 6th)

[Irish]

Oklahoma (-6.5) over WVU
BIG PLAY
The sooners are playing GREAT football right now. They have a good set of players that remember last years loss to Boise and will be looking to avenge that loss. WVU is going to have a tough time with the running game of Oklahoma and the2 backs for the sooners should has very big tards after contact plays considering how the Pitt o-line handled the WVU defense. The secondary is not the best at tackling and they can be pushed past the hole and cutback running will be huge. Bradford should have all day to throw because WVU has not shown the ability to get pressure on a QB and they have not cooked up any good blitz packages that will confuse the tested sooners. I was worried about a little let down after the big Mizzou win but the sooners showed in that win they can compete defensively with a fast team. Coach Rod leaving might effect a lot of the younger players. Remember that White, Slayton and a host of others are underclassman and should feel he is bailing on them considering they all thought he would be their coach till 2012. This will be a hard faught game which again does not look good for WVU, they have looked poor in ALL big games. They fumble, the play calling is bad and White does not make enough right decisions to change the flow of the game. White is a runner, thats a problem because if all he does is run the ball then Slayton, Devine, Scmidt or Reynaud don't see the ball. It was evident in the Pitt game when Slayton had like 5 carries in the second half and White was not even playing???? Then White comes back in after a thumb injury on his none throwing hand and is still ineffective passing and checking down at the line. This is a team that when the game plan works it works well but if the other team is prepared then it gets tough to get yards and WVU starts to sputter. I think Oklahome will spy White and bring the safeties up to stop the run leaving man coverage that will easily be beat if White throws. Still I just don't think you can expect a huge game from WVU on defense and thats where Oklahoma will make the money. They will blitz and get pressure getting White off his game and the sooner offense will have no problem passing and running on the WVU defense.

Cheers
Irish

 

[Irish]

BYU(-5.5) over UCLA
the bruins come into this game with no head coach, no want to and no reason. BYU is a good football team running and passing and look a lot like Utah with regard to offense. I mention Utah because slapped UCLA in the mouth this year. Injuries were the name of the game all season for the bruins and with all this time off some of those have healed. But honestly, what is there to play for, the bruin faithful crushed after the beating USC gave them. Most of the fan nation have turned to hoops and the promise they have shown on the hard wood. Now Utah beat UCLA and BYU beat Utah so BYU should be a better team then UCLA. I wish it was going to be that easy, nothing will motivate or destroy a team like giving them no chance to be in the game. Still with that being said....UCLA lost to ND this season and that my friends is a gold standard to judge a bad football team. Then there is the fact BYU is the number 19 team in the country...that makes me think they should at least be givin some respect...but yet they lay only 5.5? Perhaps it is because ucla BEAT BYU by 10 this season. A game that started with UCLA opening a 20 point lead by half. However that is a little misleading considering a pick six and a few costly fumbles stopped BYU at key moments during that game. In the first meeting it was Bell that was the big factor for UCLA but the lack of a starting qb will not allow the bruins to establish the run. All the bruin injuried qbs will not be able to shake the rust off before this game. When these teams met before UCLA was home not injured, with a head coach and benefitted from big plays, IMO BYU is playing the better football, its hard to beat a team twice in a season and they found the swagger mid season. the cougars should carry it into the bowl game. The BYU offense should attempt to leave no doubt in UCLA mind they are the better team. Also Walker interm head coach has been pushing his kids hard, they might have a tough time responding to him when he is just after all a sub.

Cheers
Irish

 

[AR182]

irish...

just dropping in to wish you a profitable bowl season....& good holiday cheer to you & your family...

 

[Shifty Mac]

any thoughts on tonights game irish?

 

[Irish]

LSU (-4) over OSU
HUGE play....more than likely I will rehit this.
The key for LSU in this game is time off, this time off will allow this tiger team a chance to get healthy. Am I missing something here, this game is in new orleans, practically a dominate LSU crowd on hand. Ohio st has has a good season BUT they are not a scary team, who have they beaten...penn st, mich st iowa, washington, michigan...hell that came was way too close in my opinion. Then you have the ill shocker in the shoe. Ohio st played well, but LSU lost 2 games and both came down to overtime. IMO the LSU schedule was TWICE as tough as ohio st.....any one to debate that point look at VT, Florida, Tenn, Aub, so.Car, Ark, Kent, Miss st, bama... all teams with above 500 records and all tough ball clubs. Hell six teams they played are still ranked in the top 25. Ohio st played in a conference that had a down year and finished playing 2 teams that finished in the top 25. But I don't want to get into a discussion about conferences I am just looking at how team played, who they played and where everyone finished. %lso ! am looking at how the teams match up, both teams are pretty similar. I'( ! think ohio st has the better run game and more talent at wr but they lack qb ability. Watching Boeckman in his bigger games he just does not have what I think it will take to beat LSU's defense...remember take all the teams ohio st has seen this season and LSU is the best defensive...on the other side LSU has seen VT and flynn moved the ball well against that agressive fast defense. So I think both teams are good, but I believe the tigers have more speed and as florida showed last year speed is very imporant in controling what you allow a team to do. I like the ability for LSU to generate pressure on a first year starter in his biggest game and force him to get into trouble. I like Flynn, hester and a healthy tiger offense to be too fast for a biult to play smash mouth big ten football. Mostly I like the coaching stlye, tressle very calculated and tight against Myles and his risky approach. LSU is the better team in my opinion and will show it in thier back yard.

Cheers
Irish

 

[Irish]

AR......thanks brother, happy holidays to you and yours!

Utah (-7.5) over navy
many folks on the shipmen but this team just losts it coach. Normally I could care less but that coach was responsible for opening up the offense a little and passing more. Without him the middies might go back to just running the ball. That might be a GREaT idea for navy considering the utes have a pretty solid pass defense and navy should try to stay away from it. I like the BIG oline of utah pushing the smaller navy line around. I like johnson undercenter becausehe has been playing better but is no where near the player people expected. After all Utah started pretty badily the ran off 7 straight wins and one loss to byu in a very tough game. yes Navy beat ND....yippie and they also beat the other academys...air force did beat utah early this season......navy has played NO ONE.... I normally think every team has a chance any day but looking over the navy record...rutgers LOSS, wake LOSS....delaware LOSS.... beating pitt, duke, north texas temple army... I mean it is pretty ugly and when the middies win, it is not by defense... gave up 43 to duke, 45 to pitt, 44 to nd, SIXTY TWO to north texas......for those playing along at home thats 62 points to a team the won 2 games all season and did not come close to scoring in the forties the rest of the season. So I see this a utah needing to make plays on offense and generate a few stops on defense. I think Utah and navy could trade off tds all night but if utah gets one or two stops and gets ahead on navy the can just pace themselves to the finish. Navy is going to run the triple option. they will run misdirection,playaction and draws...navy WILL score about 45 points if 3tah does not play well on defense. That being said if Navy can score 45 then Utah can score 55. The offense will be able to move the ball running and passing keeping a bad navy defense off balance....I like the utah offense to score and the defense to play man coverage commit to stopping the run, play assignment football and get enough stops to bother the shipmen who will then turn to a coach not ready for this game with these troops.

Cheers
Irish

 

[tulah]

Like the plays alot.

I actually played the same .

I got LSU-4 super large.

GL this bowl season

 

[D2's]

Agree with you on Utah. Paul Johnson called every single offensive play for Navy. I don't think the new man, Niumaatalo is prepared to do that

 

[Irish]

small play
Navy/Utah OVER (14) 1st quarter
Cheers
Irish

 

[Irish]

UTAH/NAVY UNDER (17.5) 2nd quarter
BIG PLAY
Cheers
Irish

 

[Irish]

UTAH/NAVY OVER (13.5) 3rd quarter
Avg play
Utah should open it up a bit and Navy has moved the ball all half. Both teams should make some adjustments to get some points on the board.

Cheers
Irish

 

[Irish]

58 seconds left in a big cover and the utes give up a 58 pass play....nice defense coach but then again I expected that after a terrible first half of game planning. thnk good for the second quarter play or I would have been really pissed.

Cincy (-11) over so miss
The cats ran hot and cold all season, winning some biggies and dropping a few tough ones.offensively the average 282 passing and 154 rushing per game. This is a pretty balanced offense led by a smart hard nosed senior that really wants to end the season on a high note. Kelly just got a new contract and that helps ease the players mindset before this big game as well. Kelly has been in a few bowls with c.mich and cincy and should know how to get his guys ready for this game. Looking at so miss, they pretty much lost all thier statement games...tenn, boise, ucf, memphis and don't forget so miss was one of rices 3 wins. in fact rice won 3 games 2 against guys so miss beat. that speaks to the toughness of so miss schedule. OK so what we know is so miss is an average football team, that just replaced a long time head coach, have not showed up in big games and rush the ball for about 200 yards per game. So miss is a running football team, very off balenced and the bearcat defense should be able to key on it and slow it down. After all cincy only allows 105 per to rushing teams with Rice, Slayton, Bernard, Mcvey just to name some guys. This will big a big game for cincy, they need a win to top off a very good season and continue to keep thier ranking. Mauk is a good QB and he will lead the cats scrambling and throwing to big plays because I don't see how so miss gets pressure on him or confuses him. So miss plays a react defense and the speed, playcalling and talent will be too much for the eagles to react against. Then the cincy defense can dig in and key on fletcher...stop him and the eagles are done. The game is in bama but if you watched so miss this season they couldn't even get a crowd at home so I think cincy might have that advantage. Cincy is the better team with more options, talent, speed, fan supports and coaching ability....only way ao.miss stays in it is if cincy comes out flat wanting a higher bowl, but I don't think Kelly or Mauk let that happen.

any one else think utahs gadget plays in the first were a little poor....why not step back a just throw...to those wondering how many points coaches account for during the game...that should show you that bad play calling gave navy hope and then kept them alive all game.

Cheers
Irish

 

[Irish]

Fla Atl (-2.5) over memphis
the tigers are hot right now, winning 5 of thier last 6. 2hey seem to be playing good football or are they just playing good enough against poor teams. Rice, Tulane, So. miss, UAB ans SMU are the wins there and ECU is the loss. In fact looking at the memphis sched you have to think they are good enough in a very bad conference. ol miss beat them and the 2 teams they faced from the sun belt beat them...mid tenn and ark st. The 2 sun belt team finished mid level in the belt but they beat memphis. Fla atl lost to okie st, Kentucky, so florida in a close one thy should have won, florida and dropped a heart breaker to la monroe. Fla atl will be VERY happy to be in this game as will memphis but Fla atl is the far better team. The owl defense is +19 in turnover margin, that is huge and shows that they know how to be in the right spot, get lucky and tackle then strip the ball. What I love is the owl offense against the tiger defense. This memphis defense gives up over 200 yard passing and rushing per game. Showing they just cannot stop teams, they will try to outscore them. I am sure considering both teams have allowed over 45 TDs this season the offenses for both teams will do well. But I think fla can take advantage of a problem memphis has had all season and thats turnovers. If you need a little more proof the owls beat troy in the champ game and the trpjans have a very good football team.The owls QB Smith is a solid passer and can beat you all night, but the owls also have Pierre and this kid is a game changer. Both pierre and Rose can mover the ball on the ground setting up huge plays for smith and the passing attack. No one on memphis can cover Gent and once the running game starts going he will make some big plays. Doss will not have the running room because the good secondary of fla can play man and the box will be full. Calhoun is a good reciever but he is not the concern, the taller Singleton might be the player fla atl needs to double only because of how tall he is but the corners will be in good enough position to defend. Memphis will need to pass to stay in this game and they will make mistakes and cause turnovers. a balanced owl offense against no memphis defense will be too much in the end. Fla is not a good defense but they have a good enough secondary to stop memphis while the tigers do not have the defense to make the same big plays. Should be high scoring but the result should be the same as when memphis faced the other poorer sun belt teams

Cheers
Irish.

 

[Irish]

FLAATL/MEM OVER (14) 1st quarter
Cheers
Irish

 

[Irish]

FLAATL/MEM UN DER (20) 2nd quarter
BIG PLAY
Cheers
Irish

 

[Irish]

WOW DEFENSE IS TOUGH
FLAATL/MEM OVER (14.5) 3rd quarter
HUGE :0corn :0corn :SIB
Cheers
Irish

 

[Irish]

GETTING KILLED IN QUARTERS
FLAATL/MEM OVER (14.5) 4th Quarter
PPRETTY LARGE

Cheers
Irish

 

[Irish]

Gonna stay away from the quarters.... they hurt something fierce last night. Nice play calling in the 4th.... down 17 with 7 mins to play and you just call runs and slip screens.

Re-hit
Cincy (-11) over So. Miss
Lookking at Memphis last night, this is a bad conference. I think Cincy will key the running attack and finish them early.

Cheers
Irish

 

[DeadPrez]

gl on the bowls irish

 

[Irish]

Nevada (ML) over New Mex
Its a home game for the lobos but they lose their best player on offense. With an 0-4 record under coach Rocky Long in bowl games and they have not won a bowl since 1961. Nevada has a hall of fame coach and an odd offense that should confuse the Lobo defense. This is a home game for New Mex but that has not helped them in past years. However the Lobos are a better team than years back and should look to get off the winless bowl trend. They will have to look to their kicking game to get them points considering they have an all american kicker and he should be someone that can be a difference maker. Still looking at the Lobos, they have not really been hitting the game preperations hard. They have had only ONE practice over 90 mins which is far from the 2 hour average over the course of the season. Most of the time during that practice they spent a ton of time on the defense. This is odd because losing their best option on offense you would think they would be getting the guys more reps on offense to get them ready. The lobos lose Ferguson and they are getting a running back back from an injury. For the pack it will come down to Kaepernick, he is young but has shown the ability to make big plays. He will control the game but they need Lippencott to be the MVP he has been all season. After all the Pack rusher had 18 total touchdowns this season. Nevada RB Luke Lippincott, the leading rusher in the WAC, against New Mexico State's stingy defense. The Lobos rank 23rd nationally in total defense. The wolfpack have talent but they are young and were rebuilding from the loss of some key personel a year ago. Still they will be very happy to make a bowl, they played some tough hard games against some good teams (Nevada went 3-5 in games decided by eight points or fewer) but they just don't have the talent yet. I just like the coaching match up, remember this Navada team gave Miami (a good miami) team all they wanted in a bowl game a few years ago. The coach is a game planner and he is a proven great college mind. He will add to the ability Nevada has in controling the ball and generating points. The key in my mind is BLITZ... with the best rusher out, you need to blitz, disrupt EVERYTHING in the back field and the lobos will not be able to get it started. Joshua Mauga will return for this game as his last game off an injury in oct he should provide some plays when he is in there. His return will help Butler at LB to disrupt the lobos offense. The pack NEED to play well on defense and thats a stretch, Wolf Pack has rebounded, moving all the way to 79th nationally against the run. Not great, but much better than last in the country, which is where they ranked for a while. The Wolf Pack is 97th nationally in scoring defense, allowing 32.9 points per game. Still the coach will have his boys ready and he will have a good game plan and I just don't think the lobos play well with out furguson and and an offense that is not as explosive as some the WAC pack have seen.

Cheers
Irish