Emerald Bowl Preview

On December 27^th the 6^th annual Diamond Walnut Emerald Bowl will take place from San Francisco. The game is played at AT&T Park, the home of the San Francisco Giants. The Emerald Bowl is the only NCAA Division I bowl game held at a stadium used exclusively by a professional baseball team. In last year’s match up, the Florida State Seminoles defeated the UCLA Bruins 44-27. This year’s game features the Maryland Terrapins out the ACC, and the Oregon State Beavers out of the PAC 10. This will be the first meeting between Maryland and Oregon State. The Terrapins haven't faced a Pac-10 team since a 21-20 loss to Washington in the 1982 Aloha Bowl. Let’s take a look at both teams, and how they ended up here.

Scouting the Beavers:

Oregon State finished the regular season with an 8-4 record and a 3^rd place finish in the PAC 10 conference. After a two game losing streak early on in the season, the Beavers stormed back, winning 6 out their last 7 games; including a shocker at then number 2 Cal. This is OSU's seventh bowl appearance in the last nine seasons. The Beavers have outscored their opponents, an outstanding 127-16 in the first quarter this season, allowing a first-quarter touchdown only to Oregon in the "Civil War." Quarterback Sean Canfield and running back Yvenson Bernard were both hurt as the regular season ended. It looks like both of them will be good to go for the game.

Scouting the Terrapins:

If you ever needed proof that the tide could shift either way in a split second, Maryland’s 2007 football season would demonstrate it. After two meaningless wins to open the season, the Terps dropped their next two contests including a heartbreaking overtime loss at Wake Forest. UM would responded with two huge victories against then number ten ranked Rutgers, and Georgia Tech. Maryland looked like they were in good shape sitting at 4-2 with 6 more games to go. But then things went south in hurry for Maryland. The Terrapins lost 4 out of their next 5 games, and Terp fans were worried that they would miss out on a bowl game for the third time in the last four seasons. The Maryland players put that fear to rest with a 37-0 thumping of NC State in their final game of the regular season. Head Coach Ralph Friedgen is 3-1 in bowl games in his 7 years at Maryland. The Maryland defense will be key. They have allowed just less than 22 points per game, and Oregon State has scored under 22 points only 3 times this season. Something’s gotta give!

My call: OSU will definitely have the home crowd advantage, and their offensive fire power will be too much for Maryland’s inconsistent defense. The Terps will get good games from both of their senior running backs, but that’s pretty much all they’re going to get.

Final Score: Oregon State 38, Maryland 28.

Humanitarian Bowl Preview

It is a special and fun time of year, college football fans from all over nation waited all year long, and now its finally here, its bowl time! 8 ACC teams made the cut and are ready to spend their Christmas/New Years at a bowl game. On New Years Eve, the 11^th annual Humanitarian Bowl, (formerly known as the MPC Computers Bowl) will take place in Boise Idaho. The ACC representative is Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets finished the season at 7-5, and 4-4 in the ACC. The Jackets are no stranger to the blue turf in Boise. GT defeated Tulsa 52-10 in the Humanitarian Bowl in 2002. Tech’s opponent is Fresno State, out of the WAC conference. The Bulldogs come in with an identical 7-5 record. State closed the season on a hot streak winning 3 out of their last four. The Bulldogs are also no stranger to this game. Back in 2004, they defeated Virginia 37-34 in overtime. The last time these two teams met was back in 2007 in the Silicon Valley Classic. The Bulldogs got the better of that affair, 31-20. These teams know little about each other; not a single player from the ’02 squads remains for either team. Lucky for you, I know plenty about both of them.

Scouting the Bulldogs:

Fresno State battled injuries all season and a 1-2 start to the year to finish third in the Western Athletic Conference and earn its eighth postseason appearance in nine years. Fresno State went 4-8 last year, but turned it around to 8-4 this season with competitive losses to Hawaii, Boise State and Texas A&M (in triple overtime). Head Coach Pat Hill loves playing against teams from BCS conferences, seeing them as a great opportunity to put his program on the map, and earn some respect.

Scouting the Yellow Jackets:

An 11th consecutive bowl berth wasn't enough to satisfy the Georgia Tech fan base, which resulted in the firing of 6 year head coach, Chan Gailey. Gailey led the Yellow Jackets to bowl games in each of his six seasons, but he never beat Georgia and never won more than nine games in any season. While the search for Gailey's replacement continues, defensive coordinator John Tenuta will coach the Yellow Jackets in the bowl game. The Jackets are lead offensively, by running back Tashard Choice. Choice is the first GT player with back-to-back 1,000-yard rushing seasons. He should be at full strength after a month's rest. This year he has averaged an ACC-best 119 yards per game.

My Call:

Georgia Tech is obviously not thrilled to spend their holiday in Boise. No ACC team would be for that matter. The distractions of not having Chan Gaily on the sidelines will come into play, but not enough for Fresno to pull out the win.

Final score, Georgia Tech 24, Fresno State 17.