We’re Going Bowling: Papajohns.com Bowl

Every day (or so) for the next month I will be previewing one of the upcoming college bowl games. I will give my thoughts on the teams playing, players to be on the lookout for, and a general overview of the bowl.

This bowl has definitely earned the right to be called the worst named bowl in history. Honestly, papajohns.com bowl? Papa John’s sucks enough, the fact that a bowl is named after their website is just discouraging. The sad thing is, the game probably won’t be a whole lot better than the name, pitting South Florida v. East Carolina.

South Florida actually finished fourth in the Big East behind Louisville Rutgers and West Virgina. Considering two of those three were their major conference losses (Louisville and Rutgers), I’d venture to say they had a pretty successful year. With the exception of Louisville, they kept it close against the tough teams that they played, which is a good sign. They are lead by freshman quarterback Matt Grothe, who not only is the teams passer, but also leads the team in rush attempts and yards. What does this mean? Shut down Grothe and you shut down South Florida. He is a freshman so he has made a lot of mistakes, notably, his 14 interceptions to go with his 14 touchdowns. If you get to this kid you can really disrupt him, and thus the entire offense of South Florida. That isn’t going to be the only problem. South Florida boasts a defense that has played pretty well all year. They are lead by ball-hawk Trae Williams who has seven interceptions on the year. Even if you can shut down this offense, you have to be aware of the defense, and prepare equally as well for it. South Florida has a win over West Virginia on their resume, which is certainly impressive.
East Carolina certainly lacks the strong schedule that South Florida puts forth, but thats because they play in the weak Conference USA. They are a team that doesn’t really have one star player. Most of their offense is run through quarterback James Pinkney but they also rely heavily on their rushing attack to get them into the end zone. Unfortunately they don’t have a dominant running back, which makes it slightly difficult for their offense to function. Their defense has been decent enough to get them to 7-5, but there really isn’t a whole lot else to say about it. They haven’t played very many tough teams, and they have had a few games where they have given up more points than they should have. Their record isn’t all that impressive, at 7-5 I’m not quite sure how they were good enough to get into a bowl, but now that they’re here they face a tough challenge. Muster up enough offense and have their mediocre defense hold.

South Florida appears to be the better team here, they played in a much tougher conference and played better against those tough teams. If East Carolina’s defense shows up, they definitely have a shot at this game, the question is; will that defense show up? I don’t know if it will but I think even if it does, South Florida will still have the edge because I don’t know if all components of their offense can be shut down.

My prediction: South Florida wins

Tagged as: Bowl Previews, College Football