By Peyton Wesner
Miami Beach Bowl
8-4 BYU
9-3 Memphis
Is there anything better than two teams first matchup in an inaugural bowl game? I do not think so as the 8-4 BYU Cougars and the 9-3 Memphis Tigers meet in the first ever Miami Beach Bowl at Marlins Park.
The BYU Cougars have had a very different journey to today's game than their opponent. BYU had great promise going into this season with second year starter, and Taysom Hill (JR) as their quarterback. Hill started off the season with a great three touchdown, no interception performance against Connecticut showing the College Football world what the quarterback was made of. The next week Hill and the Cougars went into Austin and absolutely obliterated the Texas Longhorns by the score of 41-7. The Texas victory impressed the AP Poll as the next week BYU was in the top twenty five rankings. The wins continued to pile up for BYU as in the next two weeks they defeated Houston and Virginia. At this point, the Cougars were getting national attention and some analysts thought that they could go undefeated. The real test was coming for as the hardest portion of their schedule was approaching. The first challenge was the defensive-minded Utah State Aggies from the Mountain West Conference. The Aggies jumped out to a small 21-14 lead in the second quarter, that was when the unthinkable happened if you are a BYU fan. Taysom Hill broke his leg. Hill was scrambling to his right when Utah State safety Brian Suite (SR) pulled him down awkwardly on his left leg. Hill was then carted off the field and diagnosed with a leg fracture meaning he would not only miss the rest of the game but the rest of the season. The injury to Hill brought quarterback Christian Stewart (SR) unexpectedly into the game. Stewart struggled as he was thrusted into action by throwing three interceptions while the Cougars' undefeated season was gone in the 35-20 loss. What would BYU do without Hill and a game against 2013 American Athletic Conference Champions, the UCF Knights? They would stay with the Senior Stewart with the hope that the three interception performance was a fluke. It was a fluke. Stewart threw three touchdowns at Orlando againstanother defensively sound team in UCF. The only problem was that the Cougars defense blew a 24-10 lead and lost the game in overtime 31-24. The skid continued for BYU as they lost another close game to Nevada and then was blown out by Jay Ajayi (JR) and the Boise State Broncos on the blue turf. The Cougars 4-0 record was now 4-4 with the liability of the team not making a bowl game. Then how are they playing today? BYU is playing in today's game for one reason, Christian Stewart. Stewart led the Cougars to four straight wins including a 42-35 victory at Berkley against the California Golden Bears in the season finale. Stewart threw fourteen touchdowns in the four game stretch to only one interception. The Senior stepped up but would he be able to keep his streak of good performances going against another defensive minded team, the Memphis Tigers.
Memphis won a share of the American Athletic Conference championship this year under second-year head coach, Justin Fuente. In year one of Fuente's tenure with Memphis, the Tigers went 3-9 and had the hope that this season the team would at least finish .500. The expectations were exceeded as Memphis is 9-3 going into today with two of their losses coming at the hands of number eleven ranked UCLA and number ten ranked Ole Miss. The only non-ranked opponent Memphis was defeated by was a team BYU won against this season. Memphis faced the Houston Cougars as their second conference matchup this season. Going into halftime the Tigers had a 21-14 lead and were taking care of business but in the second half, Houston took the lead and was up 28-24 with 1:52 left in the game. Memphis quarterback Paxton Lynch (SO) was driving his team downfield at ease until he threw his third interception of the day clinching the win for Houston. The loss moved the Tigers to 3-3 and the feeling that maybe they were not going to be better than .500 crept back into mind. Some teams have trouble responding to losses, the Tigers are not one of them. Memphis won the remaining six games of the regular season, which clinched a share of the AAC championship and a bowl berth. Today's game has much importance for Memphis, because with a win the Tigers would achieve thier first ten win season in school history.
Comparsion
Memphis is fifth in points allowed to opponents with the average of giving up only 17.1 points per game. I feel like this will play a factor because BYU has struggled sealing the deal against teams with good defenses (Utah State and UCF). Also, it is not like Memphis cannot score points to support their defense as they average 34.7 points per game, which is only 1.5 points less than BYU's average of 36.2 points per game. Unlike Memphis, the Cougars have an atrocious defense that gives up more than 24 points per game.
Prediction:
Like I previously mentioned, BYU has trouble scoring and moving the ball downfield against good defenses. I feel that this will play a big factor. BYU has a fairly poor defense, which gives me the feeling that the Tigers will tear it to shreds and put up big offesnive numbers. Both BYU and Memphis are coming in on long winning streaks but today the Tigers will want to make school history by achieving their first ten win season in school history.
---Memphis 38, BYU 24
December 23, 2014
Boca Raton Bowl
6:00 PM EST-ESPN
12-1 Marshall
11-2 Northern Illinois
How many inaugural bowl games is there going to be this Bowl Mania? I am not 100% sure how many but I am positive this will be the best inaugural bowl as it features two conference winners in the Conference-USA Champion Marshall Thundering Herd and the MAC Northern Illinois Huskies. The Marshall Thundering Herd thought they would be playing a bigger opponent come late December but a loss against Brandon Doughty's Western Kentucky Hilltoppers cost Marshall from playing in a New Years Eve or New Years Bowl. The game was played in Hunnington, West Virginia, and with a win, Marshall would have been undefeated going into their conference championship game. WKU wasted no time as they jumped out to a 14-0 lead behind two Doughty touchdowns before the eleven minute mark in the first quarter. What is going on in Hunnington?! Down two scores in less than four minutes? Although the deficit early, the Thundering Herd rallied and made the deficit seven with three Rakeem Cato (SR) passing touchdowns making the score a the end of one the score, Western Kentucky 28, Marshall 21. The Hilltoppers started the second quarter just as the first and went on a 14-0 run to increase their lead to 42-21. This cannot be the same Marshall team can it? It was and like WKU, Marshall finished the second as the first and narrowed the deficit to seven at the high score of 49-42. 91 points in 30 minutes of football! That is an offensive fan's dream! The third quarter was boring in comparison to the second as only seven points were scored but in retrospect it was an important score as Marshall tied up the game at 49. Fresh ball game...but not for long as Western Kentucky's Garrett Schwettman (JR) knocked in a 21 yard field goal with an injured ankle to give the Hilltoppers a three point lead. The next drive for Marshall, Cato dropped back in the pocket and was picked off by a Western Kentucky defender.
PW's Bowl Record: 2-3
No comments:
Post a Comment