Just one short week after the annual classic between the nation’s two oldest FBS football-playing service academies, Bowl Season finally is kicking off. There are five games on the opening day of Bowl Season 2014, featuring some very entertaining matchups, two of which are previewed below. If you’d like to see Yesh Ginsburg’s take on the other three bowl games played on 12/20/2014, you can find it here.
LWOS Bowl Preview – Group One, Part Two
R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl, 11:00 a.m., Saturday, December 20th, ESPN: Nevada vs. Louisiana-Lafayette
The 2014 Bowl Season gets underway in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, with Nevada travelling to take on the Rajin’ Cajuns in their own backyard. Dual-threat QB Terrance Broadway was the MVP of this same bowl in the same location in 2013 for Louisiana-Lafayette, and he’ll look for a repeat performance on Saturday.
Nevada is led into the game by Senior QB Cody Fajardo, whose first year of eligibility coincided with the last year of prohibition. Not really, but it does seem as if he’s been wearing Wolf Pack silver and blue forever. Fajardo led Nevada in both rushing and passing in 2014, so as he goes, so go the ‘Pack.
It is very safe to assume that this game will be quite run-heavy, as both rush offenses rank within the top 35 nationally. Neither team is known for its defense, although Nevada’s has been very impressive in creating turnovers all season long.
At the end of the day, though, this is almost a home game for Louisiana-Lafayette. Expect them to play inspired football, and to keep the ball out of Cody Fajardo’s pistol-totin’ hands just long enough to get the win.
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, 5:45 p.m., Saturday, December 20th, ESPN: Western Michigan vs. Air Force
This game features two of the most stunning turn-arounds in all of college football during the 2014 season. 8-4 Western Michigan won just one game in 2013, which was half of the win total that 9-3 Air Force managed during its 2013 campaign.
The outstanding job done by P.J. Fleck earned him Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year honors this year. If Western Michigan is to have a chance to win this game, however, it’ll need a huge day out of star freshman running back Jarvion Franklin, who put up 1,525 yards rushing and 24 touchdowns this year. The challenge? Air Force yielded just 140.3 yards-per-game rushing in 2014, which ranked the Falcons’ defense second-best in the Mountain West Conference against the run.
On offense, there is no mystery to Troy Calhoun’s attack. Funny that the Air Force mascot is a Falcon, since the team’s attack will be all but glued to the blue smurf turf in Boise. The Air Force ground game is keyed by RB Jacobi Owens, but the second-leading rusher is the triggerman, QB Kale Pearson. Nevada’s defense should be well practiced against the read-option concept, but the USAFA rushing attack was ranked 8th in all of FBS at the end of the 2014 regular season.
The weakness of the Air Force defense is its pass defense, which was the second-worst in the MWC. For Western Michigan to have a chance, it’ll need production against that porous secondary out of quarterback Zach Terrell. Air Force should be favored in this game, though, and with wins this season over not one, but two 10-2 teams (Boise State, Colorado State), the smart money is on the Cadets from Colorado Springs.
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