1. Washington State
The winner today will have a 9 win season. Washington State went 9-2 ATS after the opening day loss to Portland State and at 1 point covered 8 spreads in a row before losing to Washington by 5 TD's in the Apple Cup. The Hurricanes went 6-3-2 ATS{3-1-1 ATS after Golden got fired}Doesn't it seem like the Hurricanes have had 3-4 seasons wrapped into one?
The question with WSU today is will Luke Falk be the qb or Peyton Bender? Falk completed 70.7% of his passes this year for 4266 yards 36 TD's to 8 INT's leading the #1 pass offense in college football and an offense that averages 477 yards a game. 6 guys have 30 catches 4 guys have 40 catches. Weapons galore no matter who the qb is
For the Canes Brad Kaaya has had another solid year completing 62% of his passes 3019 yards 15 TD's to 4 INT's. Suprisingly no Hurricane has 50 catches or 650 receiving yards. And as we all know the big story with Miami is the hire of Mark Richt as HC
I've heard some people talk about the running game for both teams as a factor for the game today. WSU averages 80 yards rushing a game the worst in college football but Miami is 117th in the FBS in rushing yards per game. WSU's rush defense is 101st in the FBS... But Miami's is worse 107th in the country allowing 211 yards a game. You may think i'm crazy but I think WSU will get 100-125 rushing yards today to go with the passing numbers
People also are forgetting about the fact that today is Mike Leach's 1st game he's coached in Texas since he was fired at Texas Tech years ago. I think WSU will have the crowd edge as there will be Texas Tech fans who loved Leach making the trip to El Paso to cheer him on. Miami's 8 wins came this year when they scored 27 or more points and I don't see them scoring 27 points. I think they hang with WSU for a while but in the end I like WSU to come out with a 41-24 type of win
2.Southern Miss
I have to be honest guys this line flat out stunned me. Southern Miss had a huge turnaround in year 3 with Todd Monken as HC they went 9-4 SU 9-3 ATS and won the C-USA West division title. They have the #10 offense in the FBS in yards per game averaging 520 a game, The #12 pass offense averaging 328 pass yards a game and the #13 offense in PPG averaging 40.6. Led by JR QB Nick Mullens who was awesome this year completing 63.4% of his passes for 4145 yards 36 TD's to 12 INT's
Washington was picked to have a "reset button year" after losing 3 1st rd draft picks and qb Cyler Miles{I don't consider Miles a loss myself} They won their last 2 games to finish 6-6[6-5 ATS}What this year showed is why Chris Petersen is 1 of the top 5 or top 10 HC's in college football{Pat Haden nice job hiring Sark over Petersen} They played a freshman at qb in Jake Browning who I really like going forward. completed 62% of his passes for nearly 2700 yards 16 TD's to 10 INT's
I have no problem with Washington being favored but 8.5 is IMO a ridiculous number. Consider this WSH was a favorite of at least 8.5 once this year...That was against Oregon State. I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed by Southern Miss IMO is a tiny bit better than Oregon State. I could very well be wrong
Unlike my 1st play WSU Southern Miss can beat you through the air and on the ground as they have 2 1,000 yard rushers both guys by the way don't even have 200 carriesThey threw the ball 492 times this year and ran it 472 times
Washington may very well win the game as nothing that Chris Petersen does shocks me. But guys I just can't see Washington blowing Southern Miss out unless Southern Miss crapped the bed and I don't see them doing that. I think Southern Miss wins outright but i'm more confident they stay within the number
BOL guys Your thoughts are welcome