There is a fine line dividing the people who like the name of this new bowl game, and the people that think it is ridiculous. I fall into the latter category, as I’ve had GoDaddy commercials shoved down my throat for years as a NASCAR fan.
One has to wonder why they didn’t schedule this game earlier in the bowl season. It is really hard to get excited for a Thursday night college football game featuring a MAC school and a Sun Belt school in the first week in January.
Here is my pick for the January 6th bowl game.
GoDaddy.com Bowl
Middle Tennessee State vs. Miami (OH)
When you look at this matchup on paper, it doesn’t look like much of a game. Middle Tennessee State is 6-6, and Miami is 9-4, finishing the season with a MAC Championship game win over heavily favored Northern Illinois. However, I think that this game is going to surprise a lot of people.
Middle Tennessee State has one of the better threats at quarterback in Dwight Dasher. Dasher was able to give Southern Mississippi’s defense lots of trouble last year in the New Orleans Bowl (to help the Blue Raiders win 43-32), and I think that he could do that against the RedHawks tonight.
The game features two totally different offensive game plans. Middle Tennessee State likes to run the ball (189.2 yards per game), but Miami has the third best run defense in the MAC. Miami on the other hand likes to pass on offense, but is going up against the best pass offense in the Sun Belt.
The x-factor in this game may be coaching. Miami lost their head coach Mike Haywood when Haywood decided to take the Pitt job a few weeks ago. However, his firing became highly publicized after he was arrested last week on a domestic-violence charge. MTSU head coach Rick Stockstill is a talented head coach, and has basically built up the Blue Raiders program to what it is today.
Finally, the statistics matter. The Sun Belt is 2-0 against the MAC in bowl games this season.
I think that the winning streak for the Sun Belt against the MAC will continue tonight. I have Middle Tennessee State for 9 points in the College Bowl Mania game.
Final Score: 38-34 Middle Tennessee State
– K. Becks
AroundtheCorn; even though Miami is mostly populated by preppy-pansy-pony-boys, I think the coach drama will further be to their benefit. I think the team has the opportunity to turn inward, say that this coach was a joke, all nine wins were us not him, take a f*** the world mentality and play for each other. That is kind of what the bucks did the other day, when outside adversity was a unifying factor (especially for the defense) that allowed the team to keep going hard.
You called that one. I was impressed with Miami’s resilience in the second half.
I was not, however, impressed with Dwight Dasher. His inability to throw the ball downfield really did the Blue Raiders in. I can’t say that I didn’t see that as a potential issue, but Miami recognized it and exploited it.