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Central Michigan (6-6) vs. Western Kentucky (7-5)
Dec. 26, 7:30, ESPN
Here’s The Deal … Motivation won’t be an issue.
Western Kentucky might be in a bit of a transitional period as it waits on the certain-to-be-brief Bobby Petrino era to get underway, but this is the program’s first bowl game to mark the end of an interesting and speedy journey after a disastrous few seasons.
After moving up into the FBS level in 2007, WKU beat Middle Tennessee early on, but then went from September 20th, 2007 to October 23rd, 2010 – a span of 38 games – without beating an FBS team. 0-12 in 2009 and 2-10 in 2010, WKU went through the growing pains of rebuilding the team under the guidance of one of the brightest young head coaches in the game, Willie Taggart, who came over from Stanford after making Toby Gerhart and the Cardinal running game shine. With a 7-5 and 2011 and a solid 2012, Taggart made the next step accepting the South Florida job, taking over for the fired Skip Holtz. Defensive coordinator Lance Guidry will fill in the gap until Petrino arrives, and he should be able keep the momentum going having coached Miami University to a 2011 GoDaddy.com win over Middle Tennessee after Mike Haywood left to take over the Pitt job.
The Hilltoppers are coming in limping after losing two of their final five games after starting out 5-1 – with the lone loss coming to Alabama – but the defense is terrific, the offense can run, and again, the team should care in its first ever post-season game.
Central Michigan is back in a bowl after struggling for a few seasons following the terrific run under Brian Kelly and Butch Jones. Head coach Dan Enos has had to completely rebuild and reload the program that dominated for a four season stretch with QB Dan LeFevour leading the way to four straight bowl games. The days of being the powerhouse of the MAC are gone, but Enos is slowly turning things back around after a rocky start and a 2-5 beginning to this year, winning four of the last five games to get the program to its seventh bowl appearance.
Formerly the Motor City Bowl, the Little Caesars has been wildly entertaining over the last five seasons with each one decided by five points or fewer. From Purdue’s 37-32 win over Western Michigan last year, to FIU’s wild 34-32 victory over Toledo in 2010 and Purdue’s 51-48 victory over Central Michigan in 2007, this perennially has been among the season’s best bowl games. Considering CMU’s last bowl game was the best of the 2009-2010 season – a double-overtime 44-41 thriller over Troy in the GMAC, and with their last three bowls decided by a grand total of nine points, this should be an entertaining game.
Players to Watch: Western Kentucky and Willie Taggart have revolved their teams around the running back, and Antonio Andrews has filled the bill in all areas leading the nation in all-purpose yards averaging 248 yards per game as a top kick and punt returner as well as a runner. A workhorse and a slippery 6-0 and 194 pounds, he can do a little of everything, including receiving, but he has been as his best on the ground over the last few games running for 238 yards and two touchdowns on 37 carries in the loss to Louisiana-Lafayette, and running for 230 yards and a touchdown in the win over North Texas to finish the regular season with 1,609 yards and 11 scores, to go along with 34 catches and three touchdowns.
Central Michigan has a terrific workhorse back of its own in Zurlon Tipton, a tough runner who ripped off seven straight 100-yard games including a 243-yard, three-score day against Akron to help spark the run to the bowl. While he’s not quite the receiver that Andrews is, he can be used in a variety of ways, including as a safety-valve for a passing attack efficient and effective enough to balance out the offense.
Trying to get to Tipton and into the CMU backfield on a regular basis is WKU senior Quanterus Smith, the nation’s leader in sacks with 12.5, helped by cranking out five against FIU, to go along with 18.5 tackles for loss and a 75-yard fumble return for a score. The 6-5, 246-pounder is a hybrid of a pass rusher and not just a specialist with a tremendous burst off the ball and decent toughness against the run. This is his final showcase game for the pros.
Central Michigan will win if … it gets the running game going. CMU is 4-1 when getting two or more rushing scores with the lone loss coming in the wild shootout against Western Michigan. With Tipton, the improvement in the running game turned out to be one of the biggest sparks for the second half of the year, while going 0-4 when putting up 107 yards or fewer. On the other side, WKU’s slide coincided with problems against the run getting ripped up for 324 yards and three touchdowns to ULL and giving up two rushing scores or more in each of the last three games and five times on the year.
One of CMU’s biggest weaknesses has been the punting game with little coming from the returners and nothing happening to get the offense out of jams, but WKU is even worse at kicking the ball averaging a paltry 34.5 yards per boot. This should be a tight game with field position playing a big role, so …
Western Kentucky will win if … Andrews makes a big difference as a returner. No, the Hilltoppers can’t punt, but Andrews is a devastating returner averaging 12.8 yards per punt return and 28 yards per kickoff return. CMU isn’t too bad at holding up on kickoffs, but it’s 118th in the nation at covering punts allowing 12.76 yards per try and a score – Andrews should break off at least one big play.
Defensively, Smith and the Hilltopper front will get into the backfield against a shaky CMU offensive line. Yes, the Chippewas have been able to pound away over the second half of the season, but that’s partly because they’ve gone against a who’s who of weak run defenses. CMU doesn’t generate much pressure with little pass rush and few plays behind the line, while WKU is 12th in the nation in tackles for loss and have come up with a Sun Belt-leading 31 sacks on the season. The Hilltoppers can dial it up for a big defensive stop; CMU can’t.
What Will Happen: Will the coaching change matter for Western Kentucky? Will the home cooking give Central Michigan any sort of an advantage? CMU is coming in hot and WKU is coming in cold, and while the Hilltoppers lost to Florida Atlantic at home and hasn’t been playing all that well, the defensive pressure is still going to come to bother the Chippewa backfield. Yes, CMU looked great over the final month, but playing Akron, Eastern Michigan, Miami University and UMass helped. WKU will run without a problem, but it’ll still be a fight down to the finish thanks to a nice day from Tipton.
CFN Prediction: Western Kentucky 31 … Central Michigan 24
Dec. 26, 7:30, ESPN
Here’s The Deal … Motivation won’t be an issue.
Western Kentucky might be in a bit of a transitional period as it waits on the certain-to-be-brief Bobby Petrino era to get underway, but this is the program’s first bowl game to mark the end of an interesting and speedy journey after a disastrous few seasons.
After moving up into the FBS level in 2007, WKU beat Middle Tennessee early on, but then went from September 20th, 2007 to October 23rd, 2010 – a span of 38 games – without beating an FBS team. 0-12 in 2009 and 2-10 in 2010, WKU went through the growing pains of rebuilding the team under the guidance of one of the brightest young head coaches in the game, Willie Taggart, who came over from Stanford after making Toby Gerhart and the Cardinal running game shine. With a 7-5 and 2011 and a solid 2012, Taggart made the next step accepting the South Florida job, taking over for the fired Skip Holtz. Defensive coordinator Lance Guidry will fill in the gap until Petrino arrives, and he should be able keep the momentum going having coached Miami University to a 2011 GoDaddy.com win over Middle Tennessee after Mike Haywood left to take over the Pitt job.
The Hilltoppers are coming in limping after losing two of their final five games after starting out 5-1 – with the lone loss coming to Alabama – but the defense is terrific, the offense can run, and again, the team should care in its first ever post-season game.
Central Michigan is back in a bowl after struggling for a few seasons following the terrific run under Brian Kelly and Butch Jones. Head coach Dan Enos has had to completely rebuild and reload the program that dominated for a four season stretch with QB Dan LeFevour leading the way to four straight bowl games. The days of being the powerhouse of the MAC are gone, but Enos is slowly turning things back around after a rocky start and a 2-5 beginning to this year, winning four of the last five games to get the program to its seventh bowl appearance.
Formerly the Motor City Bowl, the Little Caesars has been wildly entertaining over the last five seasons with each one decided by five points or fewer. From Purdue’s 37-32 win over Western Michigan last year, to FIU’s wild 34-32 victory over Toledo in 2010 and Purdue’s 51-48 victory over Central Michigan in 2007, this perennially has been among the season’s best bowl games. Considering CMU’s last bowl game was the best of the 2009-2010 season – a double-overtime 44-41 thriller over Troy in the GMAC, and with their last three bowls decided by a grand total of nine points, this should be an entertaining game.
Players to Watch: Western Kentucky and Willie Taggart have revolved their teams around the running back, and Antonio Andrews has filled the bill in all areas leading the nation in all-purpose yards averaging 248 yards per game as a top kick and punt returner as well as a runner. A workhorse and a slippery 6-0 and 194 pounds, he can do a little of everything, including receiving, but he has been as his best on the ground over the last few games running for 238 yards and two touchdowns on 37 carries in the loss to Louisiana-Lafayette, and running for 230 yards and a touchdown in the win over North Texas to finish the regular season with 1,609 yards and 11 scores, to go along with 34 catches and three touchdowns.
Central Michigan has a terrific workhorse back of its own in Zurlon Tipton, a tough runner who ripped off seven straight 100-yard games including a 243-yard, three-score day against Akron to help spark the run to the bowl. While he’s not quite the receiver that Andrews is, he can be used in a variety of ways, including as a safety-valve for a passing attack efficient and effective enough to balance out the offense.
Trying to get to Tipton and into the CMU backfield on a regular basis is WKU senior Quanterus Smith, the nation’s leader in sacks with 12.5, helped by cranking out five against FIU, to go along with 18.5 tackles for loss and a 75-yard fumble return for a score. The 6-5, 246-pounder is a hybrid of a pass rusher and not just a specialist with a tremendous burst off the ball and decent toughness against the run. This is his final showcase game for the pros.
Central Michigan will win if … it gets the running game going. CMU is 4-1 when getting two or more rushing scores with the lone loss coming in the wild shootout against Western Michigan. With Tipton, the improvement in the running game turned out to be one of the biggest sparks for the second half of the year, while going 0-4 when putting up 107 yards or fewer. On the other side, WKU’s slide coincided with problems against the run getting ripped up for 324 yards and three touchdowns to ULL and giving up two rushing scores or more in each of the last three games and five times on the year.
One of CMU’s biggest weaknesses has been the punting game with little coming from the returners and nothing happening to get the offense out of jams, but WKU is even worse at kicking the ball averaging a paltry 34.5 yards per boot. This should be a tight game with field position playing a big role, so …
Western Kentucky will win if … Andrews makes a big difference as a returner. No, the Hilltoppers can’t punt, but Andrews is a devastating returner averaging 12.8 yards per punt return and 28 yards per kickoff return. CMU isn’t too bad at holding up on kickoffs, but it’s 118th in the nation at covering punts allowing 12.76 yards per try and a score – Andrews should break off at least one big play.
Defensively, Smith and the Hilltopper front will get into the backfield against a shaky CMU offensive line. Yes, the Chippewas have been able to pound away over the second half of the season, but that’s partly because they’ve gone against a who’s who of weak run defenses. CMU doesn’t generate much pressure with little pass rush and few plays behind the line, while WKU is 12th in the nation in tackles for loss and have come up with a Sun Belt-leading 31 sacks on the season. The Hilltoppers can dial it up for a big defensive stop; CMU can’t.
What Will Happen: Will the coaching change matter for Western Kentucky? Will the home cooking give Central Michigan any sort of an advantage? CMU is coming in hot and WKU is coming in cold, and while the Hilltoppers lost to Florida Atlantic at home and hasn’t been playing all that well, the defensive pressure is still going to come to bother the Chippewa backfield. Yes, CMU looked great over the final month, but playing Akron, Eastern Michigan, Miami University and UMass helped. WKU will run without a problem, but it’ll still be a fight down to the finish thanks to a nice day from Tipton.
CFN Prediction: Western Kentucky 31 … Central Michigan 24
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