GoDaddy.com Bowl, Arkansas State (10-2) vs. Northern Illinois (10-3), Mobile, Alabama Ladd Peebles Stadium- Kickoff 2100 ET (9pm)
Arkansas State
Sun Belt offensive player of the year Ryan Aplin is a dual threat QB passing for 3,235 yards with 18 touchdowns and running for a team-high 605 with nine scores for the Red Wolves. ASU has averaged over 38-points per game over the past six contests.
Aplin’s favorite target is senior Dwayne Frampton, who set a school record with 1,125 receiving yards on 90 catches.
Sun Belt defensive player of the year Brandon Joiner ranks among the national leaders with 12 sacks. The senior defensive end paces a unit that gives up 19.3 points per game.
The Red Wolves hope to continue their success without coach Hugh Freeze who left to take the head coaching job at Mississippi. While former Auburn offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn was named Arkansas State’s next coach last month current assistant coach David Gunn will guide the team in Mobile.
Northern Illinois
NIU features versatile QB Chandler Harnish, the MAC offensive player of the year who owns 20 school records. Harnish completed 63% of his passes for a career-high 2,942 yards while rushing for 1,382 and having his hand in 37 touchdowns – 11 rushing and 26 passing.
The Huskies rank 10th nationally with 481.8 yards per game and ninth with an average of 247.6 rushing yards.
Three Huskies receivers have caught at least 39 passes, led by senior Nathan Palmer, who set career highs with 46 receptions, 683 yards and seven TDs.
The Huskie defense has had its share of problems ranking in the bottom third of the nation allowing 31.1 points per game. However, they did not give up a second-half point in rallying from 20 down to beat Ohio 23-20 in the MAC championship game
NIU has a 4-7 bowl record while ASU is 0-1; these teams have met seven times with NIU holding a 6-1 edge winning most recently in 1996 31-30.
Comment: This will be a fun game to watch after the low-scoring NFL Playoffs. Considering their recent ASU coach change give the edge to NIU and pushing the MAC to an unprecedented 4-1 bowl record this year.
Now that we are firmly in the SunBelt portion of the SunBelt schedule (as opposed to the ‘paycheck’ games), some starts are really beginning to emerge in the conference.
QB Logan Kilgore, MTSU vs Florida Atlantic — Kilgore is tracking at close to a 4,000-pace in conference games, going for just under 1,000 and 11 TDs his last 3 games, but they face a surprisingly stiff pass D in Florida Atlantic this week.
Blaine Gautier, Louisiana vs Western Kentucky — Gautier is tracking close to a 3,200-pace, but facing an even bigger surprise D in the Hilltoppers, who have my #2 rated pass-D in conference. Read the rest of this entry →
QB
Normally facing TCU D would spell a must sit, but the Frogs havent quite been themselves on defense yet this season. They have been fine in spurts but against balanced offenses with a star WR and a QB that can get them the ball, they havent fared so well. RGIII to Kendal Wright was THE story of opening weekend vs TCU, and last week vs the Mustangs, SMU’s Johnson torched the Froggies for 152 yards on 12 catches to go along with 2 scores. All the while, Baylor hammered away with the ground game and likewise SMU’s Zach Line steadily wore down TCU’s D, extending drives late in the game.
All this back story is to make you feel comfortable starting SDSU’s Ryan Lindley vs TCU this week. Sure, there are probbaly plays with more upside, but SDSU put quite a scare into TCU last season, they wont be bat an eyelash this time, plus TCU is worse then they were 12 months ago while the Aztecs are on the rise. Sure SDSU doesnt exactly have the ‘star’ power at WR like they did a season ago, but they are solid-to-good, plus add in the pass catching prowess of RB Ronnie Hillman and it all should mean a nice stat like for QB Lindley. Read the rest of this entry →
Moore. start him. duh. in all seriousness, if you dont have Moore and think you can trade for him, that might be wise. Boise has always had the potential to score however many points in whatever fashion they chose. Soooooo many games it seems like Moore could have finished with 600/6 only to have Moore pulled at halftime with only 300/3. Well, maybe this is the year. If Boise cant play in the national title game they at least can get themselves a Heisman winner, and maybe having the Heisman winner will help them get in the title game. So I think the gloves are off for Mr. Moore, expect a balls-to-the-wall stat line every week because no one can stop him in this conference. This week: REVENGE vs Nevada. blow out!
Elsewhere: yeesh….picking are slim. Tim Jefferson vs Navy this week maybe. Colorado State seems like they are a year away…again…Pete Thomas is a talent but the offense hasnt given you much reason to keep him.
New mexico might have a brimming QB battle on their hands, best to stay away unless you are desperate. Read the rest of this entry →
MT Qb Dwight Dasher can close out his career on a high note in the 2011 goDaddy.com Bowl (Icon SMI)
Kickoff: 8:00 pm EST Thu Jan 6, 2011
Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders vs. Miami (OH) Redhawks
Notes:
By winning their last three games, the Blue Raiders (6-6) earned a second consecutive bowl berth for the first time since joining the FBS in 1999. MTSU did it in thrilling fashion rallying past Sun Belt Conference co-champion FIU on a late touchdown run for a 28-27 win December 4 making them bowl eligible.
The Blue Raiders are headed to their third bowl game in five seasons despite being tied for most turnovers in the nation with 33.
Miami had the nation’s best turnaround going from 1-11 in 2009 to 9-4 and MAC Champions in 2010. The difference between Miami’s 1-7 conference record last year and the team’s 7-1 mark in 2010 is the greatest in the MAC’s 64-year history.
Michael Haywood will not coach Miami in the bowl game after he was hired to replace Dave Wannstedt at Pitt and then dismissed from Pitt based on a domestic violence charge; DB coach Lance Guidry will serve as interim coach for the game.
