Bowl Mania Day 9

Record- 7-4

EagleBank Bowl- UCLA v. Temple.

Don’t look now, but the Temple Owls are relevant again. It’s never a good thing when your most famous alum is comedian Bill Cosby. Temple, which is more famous for jokes then wins, find themselves in a bowl game for the first time in thirty years. How bad has that thirty years been? How about only four winning seasons during that time-span.

After loosing their first two games, the Owls rattled off nine consecutive victories, only to fall to Ohio in the final game of the season. The Ohio loss was the only conference defeat they suffered and kept them out of a MAC championship game match-up with Central Michigan. Not bad for a team that provided more yucks then wins over the last half-century.

Running back Bernard Pierce ran for over 1000 yards and 15 touchdowns this season. Although he suffered a shoulder injury late in the year, Pierce is expected to play in the bowl game. UCLA will have to focus on stopping this dynamic rusher. Before getting hurt, Pierce had ran for over 100 yards six times and over 200 yards twice.

UCLA barely achieved bowl eligibility in the Pac-10. They lost five in a row in the middle of the season, but did defeat a Washington team that beat USC, Arizona, and Cal. UCLA’s offense has struggled this year. They have been held to under 20 points six times. Quarterback Kevin Price has a horrible 6-7 touchdown to interception ratio and completed only 57 percent of his passes.

The Bruins have a good defense, but I don’t think UCLA will be able to keep up with Temple offensively. The Owls have outscored the Bruins by over 100 points this season.

The Pick: Temple

Champs Sports Bowl: #15 Miami v #25 Wisconsin

I’m not quite sure why Miami is ranked so much higher then Wisconsin. Statistically, they have virtually the same defense and Wisconsin outscored Miami over the course of the entire season. They both finished the season at 9-3. Two reasons why I think this happened.

One is that Miami is one of those schools that America loves to see do well. This isn’t 1980 anymore. They aren’t the bad boys who old college football writers loved to shoot down. College football is more intriguing when Miami is relevant, or at least that’s what conventional thought appears to be. Two, Wisconsin doesn’t have any standout wins. They lost to the two ranked teams they played and fell to Northwestern in the final conference game of the year.

Despite all this, I like the Badgers. They ran for over 200 yards a game this season, staying true to the schools offensive philosophy. John Clay ran for over 1000 yards and 16 touchdowns.

They key for the Wisconsin is obviously stopping Jacory Harris. The Miami quarterback threw for over 3000 yards this season and 23 touchdowns. But Harris will be playing with a right thumb injury. With not much of a running game to speak of, I think Miami will struggle offensively if Harris isn’t right. He clearly isn’t. Take away your major offensive weapon and Wisconsin is suddenly a much scarier team.

The Pick: Wisconsin

Related posts:

1. Bowl Mania Day 5
2. Bowl Mania Day 6
3. Bowl Mania Day 4
4. Bowl Mania Day 8
5. Week Six Picks!