Thursday's Bowl Games

Thursday again has two bowl games scheduled. At 5:30 PM there’s the Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando, Florida with #25 Florida State squaring off against Notre Dame and at 9 PM we have the Alamo Bowl from San Antonio, Texas in which #15 Baylor faces Washington. Both games will be broadcast on ESPN.

First, let’s look at the Champs Sports Bowl:

The Seminoles (8-4 overall and 5-2 in conference) finished second in the ACC Atlantic Division behind Clemson. They also finished the year strong, winning six of their last seven games. The only loss was a 14-13 affair with Virginia. Their strength is their defense. They are 19th in the nation in Pass defense giving up just 192.8 ypg and they are 2nd in the nation in rush defense yield a stingy 81.8 ypg. The Seminole defense is ranked 6th overall.

The Fighting Irish (8-4) lost their first two games of the year but then went on to win 8 of their last ten with losses to USC at home (31-17) and Stanford on the road (28-14). No particular facet of their game is exceptional (33rd in pass offense, 48th in rush offense, 32nd in pass defense, and 53rd in rush defense) but they are strong on both sides of the ball and do enough in most games to win.

If Notre Dame is to win this they will have to get some sort of running game going or their QB will get hammered. And they very much need to protect their quarterback. It’s not likely to happen against Florida State, however. Therefore, this one should be a comfortable win for the Seminoles, 31-14.

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Moving on to the Alamo Bowl:

Washington (7-5, 5-4, 3rd in the PAC 12 North) faces a tough challenge in Baylor (9-3, 6-3, 3rd in the Big 12). Not only is this basically a home game for Baylor—and the Bears are 8-0 in Texas this year, but the Huskies pass defense ranks just 114th in the nation and must come up with a way to stop the prolific pass game of Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III. Griffin and the Bears passing attack are rated 5th in the nation with 356.2 ypg. And Baylor’s rush offense isn’t too shabby either. It’s 18th in the nation with 215.1 ypg. RG3 got that award as much for his feet as his arm.

Baylor’s weakness lies on the defensive side of the ball. They are 110th in pass defense and 96th in rush defense. Still, they should more than hold their own against the Huskies (51st in pass offense, 64th in rush offense).

The Huskies are flat out out matched. The best they could have hoped for was rain and lots of it, but that’s not going to happen this Friday in San Antonio. Unless Baylor stops itself, this could be over in the first half. Look for a blowout with the Bears winning 55-27.