Bowl Previews (December 22 Four-Pack)

December 14, 2018 by CFP Staff

Saturday, December 22 will have the feel of a regular season college football Saturday, as long as you keep the TV glued to ESPN. The network offers up a 4-pack games, running from a 12 noon start (ET) of the Birmingham Bowl to a 10:30 p.m. ET kick-off of the Hawaii Bowl.

The Birmingham Bowl pits Memphis (8-5) against Wake Forest (6-6) in their first meeting since 1967, and just the 5th all-time. The schools split a four-game series that ran for 4 consecutive seasons from 1964-1967. Memphis' 4th-ranked offense received a blow on December 12 when RB Darrell Henderson opted out of playing in this game after he declared early for the NFL draft. Henderson was No. 2 in the nation with 1,909 yards rushing and 22 TD's. Patrick Taylor was also a 1,000-yard rusher for Memphis with 1,012 yards and 15 TD's. QB Brady White threw for 3,125 yards with 25 touchdowns and 8 picks. Wake's offense is not nearly as potent but still ranks a respectable 33. The Deacs lost freshman starting QB Sam Hartman to a season-ending leg injury in the Syracuse game on November 3. Sophomore Jamie Newman started the last 3 games and had his most impressive game in the season finale versus Duke when he led his team to a 59-7 win with an 18-of-23, 4 TD performance. Neither team has done much on defense with Memphis ranked 84th and Wake 116th. The oddsmakers favor Memphis while the computer takes Wake by 6.90.

The Armed Forces Bowl (3:30 p.m. ET) features Army (10-2) and Houston (8-4). DT and third-time FWAA All-American Ed Oliver will skip the bowl game to project his NFL draft status. The Cougars ended the season with just 1 win in their last 4 games with Oliver on the sideline (he saw limited action versus Memphis). QB D'Erik King is out with a knee injury, leaving freshman Clayton Tune as the starter. Tune, a widely-recruited prospect out of Carrollton, Texas has seen enough action for any Cougar fan to worry about his accuracy. He was 18-of-41 against Memphis and 38-of-85 on the year. Meanwhile, Army brings the No. 2 rushing offense in the country and Houston ranks 99th at stopping the run. No wonder the computer likes Army, albeit by 0.86 which is under the 3.5-point Vegas spread.

Buffalo (10-3) and Troy (9-3) will tee it up at 7:00 p.m. ET for a quality matchup in the Dollar General Bowl, formerly the GoDaddy Bowl, the GMAC Bowl and the Mobile, Alabama Bowl. The computer takes Buffalo by 1.79, but we look for Troy to win outright in the first meeting between these two schools. The Trojans will travel well to this game which is roughly 145 miles from their campus. Troy's defense, which held Nebraska to 19 points in a 24-19 win, is tied for 12th nationally with 36 sacks and is tied for 10th in tackles for loss. Buffalo is 0-2 all-time in bowl games and is playing in the postseason for the first time since 2013. The Trojans have won 3 straight bowl games to improve their bowl record to 4-3. The Bulls were the favorite to win the MAC Championship but we took Northern Illinois and won. The Sun Belt team has defeated the MAC in 3 straight Dollar General Bowls, and 5 of the last 6.

The day ends with a Hawaii Bowl (10:30 p.m. ET) that features the No. 84 Rainbow Warriors (8-5) at home against the No. 71 Louisiana Tech (7-5). Hawaii is the lowest-ranked school out of all the bowl teams. Hawaii's passing offense was 9th nationally as Cole McDonald ranked 5th with 3,790 yards, 35 TD's and 8 INT's. The Bulldogs were 95th on offense. On defense, Louisiana State ranked 33rd and Hawaii 101st. The computer appears to be more impressed with the defensive stats and takes the visitors by 7.67.