TUESDAY DEC. 22
BOCA RATON BOWL 7PM/ET ESPN
TEMPLE (10-3) vs. TOLEDO (9-2)
Two solid teams, who felt just short of winning their respective conferences will match up in a game likely to be decided on the ground, more so than an aerial circus display. Neither PHILLIP ELY/QB/TOLEDO/#12 nor PJ WALKER/QB/TEMPLE/#11 is likely to light up the scoreboard with their passing skills. Neither of these two QB came even close to completing 60%+ of their passes this season at 54.9% & 57% respectively. Defense and running attacks are more likely to highlight the evening. Lightweight RB/JAHAD THOMAS/#34 at only 170 lbs. is a scatback who will touch the ball in as many variations as the coaching staff can dream up. He’s a big play waiting to happen. He rushed for 1257 yards and 17 TD this season. On the other side a healthy (we hope) RB/KAREEM HUNT/#3 is a legit power runner who may be coming out for the 2106 NFL Draft. HUNT runs mostly between the tackles, but once in the clear can outrun most college defenders. HUNT, in limited playing time, ran for 894 yards, at 5.5 ypc, and 10 TD.
Toledo has a solid defensive front-7 and ranked 10th in the country, allowing only 115 yards per game rushing. But their secondary was flat out horrible. They gave up an average of 263 yards per game passing to rank 103rd nationally. TEMPLE, meanwhile, was a stalwart unit on the defensive side, ranking 18th overall in the country. Their star player is of course TYLER MATAKEVICH, who won the BEDNARIK Award this year. But their front 7 is solid overall and should really present a challenge for Toledo to run against.
Primarily for that reason, I project TEMPLE to win a fairly close, but very low scoring game by today’s offensive standards. If either team gets particularly sloppy and turns over the ball a lot the score could get lopsided quickly. I hate to sound like an old-fashioned football guy, but expect field position to be crucial in deciding this game’s outcome. Prospects to watch:
TEMPLE TOLEDO
#1 TAVON YOUNG/CB 5’10/185 #3 KAREEM HUNT/RB 5’11/225 JR
#8 TYLER MATAKEVICH/LB 6’0/230 #8 ALONZO RUSSELL/WR 6’4/205
#9 MATT IOANNIDIS/DT 6’4/290 #43 TRENT VOSS/E/LB 6’3/220
#19 ROBBY ANDERSON/WR 6’3/190 #97 ORION JONES/DL 6’2/290
#71 ERIC LOFTON/T/G 6’3/300 99 ALLEN COVINGTON/DE 6’3/275
#79 KYLE FRIEND/OC 6’2/305
FAMOUS IDAHO POTATO BOWL
AKRON (7-5) v UTAH STATE (6-6); Boise; 3:30 PM ET; ESPN
If today’s other game is sort of what’s right about the bowls which give deserving second-tier teams a chance at a post-season, this game between a 7-5 MAC club and a .500 Mountain West squad kinda represent what’s wrong with the bowl schedule. In fact, about the only thing that the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl – also know affectionately as the Blue Bowl because that is indeed blue turf on the field – has on the Boca Raton game is that the name kind of rolls off the tongue in an odd sort of way. The Potato Bowl also doesn’t have the same talent as the Boca Raton game, but like that game does feature a pretty good OLB in Utah State’s Kyler Fackrell (#9, 6-4, 250), a prototype 3/4 edge rusher who figures to be a mid-to-late second day prospect. Fackrell, in fact, spent a good part of the season camped out in opposing MWC backfields where he had 14 tackles for loss on the year including 4 sacks. Fackrell, though, is likely the only player from this game to be drafted, although pro teams will at least check out USU QB Chuckie Keeton (#16, 6-2, 210) who at one-time in his career was one of the most productive dual-threat QBs in the country, however, his career has been derailed the past few years by knee injuries. Keeton has a couple of targets who could conceivably get some free agent interest in WRs Hunter Sharp(#4, 5-10, 200) and Brandon Swindall (#11, 6-2, 205). Meanwhile, Akron’s best player is active LB Jatavis Brown (#1, 5-11, 225), who isn’t very big, but makes plays all over the field to the tune of 108 tackles and 10.5 sacks this season.
