traveling to the exotic resort locations of Albuquerque, NM and Boise, ID for:
New Mexico Bowl: Arizona (7-5) vs Nevada (7-5): Saturday forecast partly cloudy with a chance of rain/snow high's in the mid 40's, 4,900 ft above sea level, Albuquerque metro population near 900,000
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl: Toledo (9-3) vs Utah State (10-2): Saturday forecast 20% chance of precipitation high's 38-43 degrees F, 2,833 ft above sea level, Boise population 211,000
I've only seen Toledo and Arizona play this year, and have no idea what Nevada or Utah St bring to the table. I can see if Arizona or Toledo play well, they both could win their games.
my only thought is that Utah State may have an advantage over Toledo due to traveling concerns.
Utah State should defeat Toledo.
Utah State finished its season strong and boasts a strong defense. Gary Andersen's squad is surrendering just 15.4 points per game on the season.
Toledo also put together a nice resume as the Rockets went 9-3 in a very deep Mid-American Conference this season. While the Aggies were excellent on defense, Toledo excelled on the offensive side of the ball. Led by running back David Fluellen, the Rockets averaged 456 yards of total offense per game—ranking them 29th nationally.
Toledo's offense may be good, but Utah State's defense is the real deal. Unless Toledo's defense can match the impressive Aggies unit, Utah State holds the advantage.
Arizone should handle Nevada
The Nevada Wolfpack enter the New Mexico Bowl as a representative of the WAC coming off of a 7-5 season. As usual, Chris Ault's squad had a terrific season offensively. The pistol offense racked up over 3,000 yards rushing, led by running back Stefphon Jefferson.
Rich Rodriguez's first season with the Arizona Wildcats resulted in plenty of scoring and a bowl bid, as they will try to get the Pac-12 off to a good start with a win over Nevada. Quarterback Matt Scott has flourished in Rodriguez's version of the spread offense, totaling over 3,000 yards as a passer with 24 touchdowns.
These teams both know how to put points on the board as each team averaged 37 points per game. The biggest difference should be Arizona running back Ka'Deem Carey. The explosive back has over 1,700 yards on the season. Arizona's experience with a Pac-12 schedule should be an advantage.
Hope this helps you going into the 2 bowls games you are planning on attending. Have fun!
I'll only be traveling to these games, via channel surfing..... lol
hey down-vote troll..... show yourself...lol.
You do realize this is football discussion, on a football thread, in a football forum? And you tagged GENESTARWIND, step out of the shadows and "Say hello to my little friend!!!!"
I got Nevada and Utah State
/Duff'd It
I think Terrance Owens QB for Toledo is pretty good: 2,677yds passing 62% completion 14 tds and 8 ints plus 381 yards rushing with 5 tds.
IMO, Toledo made a mistake in 2011 vs OSU, when they took Owens out and played Austin Dantin the majority of the game. I thought Owens was playing well vs the Buckeye defense and Dantin had a hard time adjusting to the OSU defensive speed.
In a side note, former Cleveland Glenville Tarblooder Cordale Scott, former 4 star 6' 3" 200lb. WR, who went to Illinois and Ron Zook over Ohio St., before transferring to Toledo will play his last college football game. For the year, Scott has 10 catches for 136 yards and 2 tds, plus numerous potential big play dropped passes.