2* - Northwestern Wildcats (+3)
Northwestern has the unenviable distinction of finishing their season with the absolute worst ranked defense in Division 1A. That?s right, although they ended up with a 7-4 record, the Wildcats? defense is ranked below teams like Temple (0-11) and Buffalo (1-10) by allowing a whopping 489 yards per game. In giving up yardage like that week in and week out, you have to wonder how they were able to put together seven wins, particularly if you consider that Northwestern played a very tough Big Ten schedule.
The answer to that question is simple; they outscored seven of their opponents by averaging 493 yards of offense and 32 points per game. The four losses came at the hands of Arizona State, Penn State, Michigan and Ohio State which in of it self is nothing to hang your head about but three of those games were blowouts. In their season finale against Illinois, Wildcat QB Basanez topped 3,200 yards passing on the season making him the third Big Ten quarterback in history to pass for more than 10,000 yards in his career. With the help of freshman RB Tyrrell Sutton, this offense is very balanced and prone to explode at any time.
UCLA has also been a scoring machine this season by producing 38 points and 429 yards per game. The Bruins however, finished with a better record at 9-2 and didn?t lose a game until they went to Arizona on November 5th only to return home as victims of a 52-14 beatdown from a team that was just 2-6 coming into that game. In their defense, they rebounded nicely the next week at home against Arizona State but in their season finale, the Bruins were annihilated by the Trojans in a 66-19 game that was never in question. I am not sure that a team has ever lost their last game by that many points and then be favored in their bowl game and frankly, it doesn?t make any sense to me.
These teams actually appear to be fairly evenly matched as high scoring, poor defensive units but I see on big difference in the comparisons; the quality of the teams they have played against. There is no shame in losing to the best teams in the Big Ten nor in losing to the defending national champs but UCLA?s losses in their last two road games does stand out to me and to lose to Arizona is inexcusable for a team that was ranked in the Top 5 at the time. The defense played in the Pac 10 is collectively, simply not very good and last night?s Holiday Bowl was yet another example of that. UCLA beat up on several mediocre teams to get where they are and I assure you that the Sun Bowl was not what they had in mind at the beginning of November. The cumulative record of the teams that the Bruins beat this season was 45-58 and they did not even have to play Oregon this year. Northwestern beat teams like Northern Illinois, Wisconsin, Purdue, Michigan State and Iowa. Big difference the way I see it.
This is only the sixth bowl appearance in Northwestern?s history and their last win in a bowl game came in the 1949 Rose Bowl over California. El Paso is not a bad destination for a team that has been playing just outside the Windy City all winter so I?ll take my chances with the more tested team getting points in a bowl game that they are thrilled to be playing in.
Northwestern has the unenviable distinction of finishing their season with the absolute worst ranked defense in Division 1A. That?s right, although they ended up with a 7-4 record, the Wildcats? defense is ranked below teams like Temple (0-11) and Buffalo (1-10) by allowing a whopping 489 yards per game. In giving up yardage like that week in and week out, you have to wonder how they were able to put together seven wins, particularly if you consider that Northwestern played a very tough Big Ten schedule.
The answer to that question is simple; they outscored seven of their opponents by averaging 493 yards of offense and 32 points per game. The four losses came at the hands of Arizona State, Penn State, Michigan and Ohio State which in of it self is nothing to hang your head about but three of those games were blowouts. In their season finale against Illinois, Wildcat QB Basanez topped 3,200 yards passing on the season making him the third Big Ten quarterback in history to pass for more than 10,000 yards in his career. With the help of freshman RB Tyrrell Sutton, this offense is very balanced and prone to explode at any time.
UCLA has also been a scoring machine this season by producing 38 points and 429 yards per game. The Bruins however, finished with a better record at 9-2 and didn?t lose a game until they went to Arizona on November 5th only to return home as victims of a 52-14 beatdown from a team that was just 2-6 coming into that game. In their defense, they rebounded nicely the next week at home against Arizona State but in their season finale, the Bruins were annihilated by the Trojans in a 66-19 game that was never in question. I am not sure that a team has ever lost their last game by that many points and then be favored in their bowl game and frankly, it doesn?t make any sense to me.
These teams actually appear to be fairly evenly matched as high scoring, poor defensive units but I see on big difference in the comparisons; the quality of the teams they have played against. There is no shame in losing to the best teams in the Big Ten nor in losing to the defending national champs but UCLA?s losses in their last two road games does stand out to me and to lose to Arizona is inexcusable for a team that was ranked in the Top 5 at the time. The defense played in the Pac 10 is collectively, simply not very good and last night?s Holiday Bowl was yet another example of that. UCLA beat up on several mediocre teams to get where they are and I assure you that the Sun Bowl was not what they had in mind at the beginning of November. The cumulative record of the teams that the Bruins beat this season was 45-58 and they did not even have to play Oregon this year. Northwestern beat teams like Northern Illinois, Wisconsin, Purdue, Michigan State and Iowa. Big difference the way I see it.
This is only the sixth bowl appearance in Northwestern?s history and their last win in a bowl game came in the 1949 Rose Bowl over California. El Paso is not a bad destination for a team that has been playing just outside the Windy City all winter so I?ll take my chances with the more tested team getting points in a bowl game that they are thrilled to be playing in.
