Champs Sports Bowl: West Virginia (9-3) vs. NC State (8-4)

The No. 2 bowl in the Big East pecking order is also the second-earliest bowl for the league. West Virginia gets back to action after a few weeks of wild coaching news. Here's a quick preview of Tuesday night's Champs Sports Bowl:

WHO TO WATCH: West Virginia running back Noel Devine. It's the final college game for Devine, who has amassed over 4,000 rushing yards in his career. He hasn't been the same player this year ever since a foot injury against LSU, which was later exacerbated by an ankle problem in the Louisville game. But now he's had a few weeks to heal, and perhaps he's ready to deliver a fitting swan song. When he's right, there's no more explosive player in the country. If he's not himself, then the Mountaineers may turn to Shawne Alston and Ryan Clarke for the bulk of the carries.

WHAT TO WATCH: West Virginia's defense versus NC State quarterback Russell Wilson. The Mountaineers had one of the best defenses in the country this year, not once allowing more than 21 points. That defense will be facing the best quarterback it has seen this year in the dangerous, multi-dimensional Wilson. Add to that the fact that top cornerback Brandon Hogan will miss the game with a torn ACL, and this is arguably the biggest challenge all season for this defense. Defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel's 3-3-5 scheme and a ton of veterans has made West Virginia difficult for any quarterback to solve this year. It will be fun to watch how Wilson fares.

WHY TO WATCH: West Virginia is the highest-ranked team in the Big East, and many people think the Mountaineers would have made a better BCS representative for the league than Connecticut, to whom they lost in overtime on the road. Here is their chance to prove it. It will also be the final game before Dana Holgorsen takes over as offensive coordinator/coach-in-waiting, so this marks the end of an era in some ways. The Big East is looking for respect, and so its top-ranked team needs to take care of business against an ACC also-ran.

PREDICTION: This is a tough one because nobody knows exactly how much of a distraction the coaching situation was for this team. Hogan's loss hurts, too. I think Wilson will help NC State exploit West Virginia's defense more than any other team all season, but in the end Geno Smith and the Mountaineers make one more play. Give me West Virginia by a field goal, 26-23.

Comments that include profanity, or personal attacks, or antisocial behavior such as "spamming" or "trolling," or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. We will take steps to block users who violate any of our terms of use. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.

View the original article here

Champs Sports Bowl: NC State (8-4) vs. WVU (9-3)

NC State is wrapping up one of the program’s most successful seasons since the Philip Rivers era. West Virginia enters the game with an awkward impending coaching transition, and three players who have been suspended for academics. The intangibles favor NC State, but here’s a closer look at NC State’s matchup against West Virginia in the Champs Sports Bowl:

WHO TO WATCH: NC State quarterback Russell Wilson. Not only is he one of the most entertaining quarterbacks in the country, it could be his encore performance. Wilson hasn’t announced yet whether or not he will return next year or join the Colorado Rockies. If this is his final football game, you don’t want to miss it. Just when you think a play is over, Wilson scrambles for the first down. He has thrown for over 300 yards eight times this year, and West Virginia has yet to face a quarterback as talented.

WHAT TO WATCH: NC State’s offensive line against the Mountaineers’ top pass-rushers. Defensive ends Julian Miller (8.0 sacks) and Bruce Irvin (12.0 sacks) have combined for 20 sacks this year. The Mountaineers’ 3.3 sacks per game ranks third nationally, just ahead of NC State, which ranks fourth with 3.25. NC State ranks 104th in the nation for sacks allowed this season, as Wilson has been sacked 34 times. That is the fourth-highest number of opponent sacks at NC State since 1978.

WHY WATCH: Milestones for NC State. In addition to the possibility that this could be Wilson’s last game, NC State is looking for its first bowl win under coach Tom O’Brien, who needs one more to reach 100 career wins. A ninth win would tie for the second-most victories in the program’s history. It’s not a bad consolation prize for a team that was one win away from playing in the ACC championship game. It’s the most wins the program has seen since 2003, when NC State finished 8-5. Since 1993, only two Wolfpack squads have posted more than seven regular-season victories -- the 1994 squad and the 2002 team, which played 13 regular-season contests. The record for wins was 11 in 2002.

PREDICTION: NC State 35, West Virginia 21. There have been too many off-field distractions for the Mountaineers, and losing their starting center will be a factor. So will the injury to standout cornerback Brandon Hogan. NC State’s passing offense should be the difference in this game.

Comments that include profanity, or personal attacks, or antisocial behavior such as "spamming" or "trolling," or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. We will take steps to block users who violate any of our terms of use. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.

View the original article here

Miami (Ohio), your 2010 MAC champs

If there is a more incredible story among the non-AQs this season, please show it to me.

Miami (Ohio) pulled off a stunner Friday night in Detroit, upsetting the heavily favored Northern Illinois Huskies to win the MAC championship -- one season removed from a 1-11 record.

Where do we start handing out the credit? First of course is MAC Coach of the Year Mike Haywood, who has engineered the biggest turnaround in college football this season. Miami won nine games, and he has completely changed the culture in the program, laying down tough rules and expecting nothing but hard work and discipline. His team also won with games on the line -- Miami is 7-0 in games decided by seven points or fewer.

Many might question his decision to go for a fake field goal midway through the third quarter, with the RedHawks up 20-14. When you are the underdog, conventional wisdom calls for you to try to take as many points as you can get. Maybe Haywood was skittish because his special teams had been shaky -- with an extra point and field goal blocked already in the game.

But the fake field goal was less than inspired. Holder Mike Scherpenberg took the ball up the middle and came up short. After Northern Illinois scored late in the fourth quarter to go up 21-20, you thought those special-teams miscues would come back to cost the RedHawks.

[+] Enlarge Steven King/Icon SMIChris Givens came down with a 31-yard pass on fourth-and-20 to keep the game-winning drive alive.But redshirt freshman quarterback Austin Boucher would not be denied. On fourth-and-20 with time ticking down, he completed a 31-yard pass to Chris Givens. Northern Illinois got its hands on the ball and tipped it, and Givens was right there for the catch. After a sack, Northern Illinois sent the house at Boucher. Making a terrific read, he spotted a wide open Armand Robinson running loose, and hit him for the 33-yard touchdown reception with 33 seconds left, and the improbable 26-21 win.

Where else does the credit go? The Miami defense, which did an incredible job slowing down the top-rated Northern Illinois rushing attack. The RedHawks loaded the box and limited MAC Offensive Player of the Year Chad Spann to 54 yards on the ground. Northern Illinois had just 92 total yards rushing. With the running game taken away, Chandler Harnish was not nearly as effective, and that ended up costing the Huskies.

Boucher deserves his share of credit, too. He was making his third career start, filling in for starter Zac Dysert, out with a lacerated spleen. But Boucher showed the calm and poise of a veteran, throwing for 333 yards and not wilting under the intense pressure late in the game. How often do we see freshmen making the plays he made to win the game?

"I've imagined it so many times -- winning the game in the last minute," Boucher said.

For Northern Illinois, it was another heartbreaker in the MAC title game. In its last appearance in this contest in 2005, Akron beat the Huskies 31-30 with a 36-yard touchdown pass with 10 seconds remaining.

In a strange twist, Northern Illinois had one shot to win with the ball at the RedHawks' 32-yard line with 10 seconds left. But Harnish, scrambling to find an open receiver, never felt the pass rush coming at him and was sacked to end the game.

The Huskies had won nine straight, and garnered their first Top 25 ranking since 2003. “We’ll bounce back," coach Jerry Kill said. "They’ll go back to work and learn. This hurts, and it should hurt. That’s part of life -- you don’t win all the time. This is when you find out who you are.”

We know what Miami is -- incredibly, improbably MAC champion.

"What an unbelievable feeling," Robinson said. "You'd never think something like this would happen after a 1-11 season."

Comments that include profanity, or personal attacks, or antisocial behavior such as "spamming" or "trolling," or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. We will take steps to block users who violate any of our terms of use. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.

View the original article here