The San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl | ||
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Colorado St. (6-5) vs. Navy (7-4) Dec. 22, 9:30 p.m. (ESPN2) Favorite: Navy by 3 |
Nothing says banking in the San Diego area like poinsettias. There are a lot of six win teams in the December bowl games. Some people are complaining that there are too many bowl games, but the problem is that there are way too many crappy bowl games.
Colorado State is a streaky and average football team but has more offensive firepower than most teams that Navy has faced this year. If Ram quarterback Justin Holland avoids throwing the ball to the wrong team (he threw for 20 TD’s versus 15 interceptions during the regular season) he’ll have a chance to put some points on the board.
He’ll need to play well because his defense might be in for a long night against Navy’s triple-option offense. The CSU defense is near the bottom of the country in run defense and all the Midshipmen do is the run the football. Navy is led by QB Lamar Owens and he and his half a dozen backfield mates are going to be pounding the ball on the ground pretty much every play. Owens has only attempted 112 passes the entire season with limited success, so even if things aren’t going their way don’t expect more than 7 or 8 pass attempts from Navy.
I’m not sure why, but I’m feeling the upset.
Players to Watch: CSU QB Justin Holland, Navy QB Lamar Owens
Prediction: Colorado State 34, Navy 28
If Texas was in the Poinsettia Bowl…
With a healthy Jamaal Charles and Ramonce Taylor not behind bars the Longhorns would run all day against the Ram defense. The CSU offense makes too many mistakes to have any success when they have the football. Colorado State lost to Colorado by 3 points to open the season, Texas embarassed the Buffs by 67 to end it. Simple math says… Texas 73, CSU 3.
The Texas A&M threw together an option attack in two weeks and gave the Longhorn defense fits, Navy has been running the triple-option offense for years. Definitely not the best match-up of the early bowl games for the Horns but their far superior depth and talent should allow them to pull away as the game goes nears halftime. Plus, give the Texas defensive coaching staff three weeks to prepare for an offensive gameplan where they know what’s coming and I’m confident that they’d be ready. Texas 56, Navy 20.
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