Big 12 Bowl Previews: Holiday Bowl
3 comments so far
December 10, 2007 by
When #17 Texas (9-3) takes on #12 Arizona State (10-2), it would appear to be one of the marquee match-ups of the bowl season. But a closer look reveals it may be a match-up of two paper tigers. Neither school beat a team currently ranked in the top 25. ASU’s best win was over 8-4 Oregon State at home early in the year. The best win for Texas was a home win over 8-4 Texas Tech.
Neither school finished particularly strong either. The Longhorns lost their season finale at Texas A&M and the Sun Devils lost two of their last four (albeit to a pair of quality teams).
Still, there are definitely some intriguing aspects of this matchup. Arizona State was one of the two-loss teams left out of the BCS. They may be looking to make a statement that they belonged on a bigger stage. Texas will want to show that the losses to Kansas State and Texas A&M were flukes and that they are still one of the big boys of college football.
The Longhorn offense is potent (as Husker fans well know) and the Sun Devils were remarkably consistent on offense as well. Defensively, both teams had lapses which sets this up to be a classic Holiday Bowl shootout. It will be the steady passing of Rudy Carpenter against the multifaceted attack of passer Colt McCoy and rusher Jamaal Charles.
Jamaal Charles looks like a Heisman candidate for next season if he chooses to return for his senior year. And he appears to be the big difference between these teams and the reason that Texas should prevail. As the first bowl game of the season for Big 12 teams, this one should be fun to watch. If the Longhorns can avoid the big mistakes, they should put one in the win column for the conference.
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doombob Dec 11 07
I see the Big 12 going around 4-4 this year in bowls. We could have one surprise win or loss that swings it one either way. Bowl games are always tough to predict because of interesting conference vs. conference match ups. I've got to say that the Big 12 South should be the winners. I don't see North faring very well against their tougher opponents.
Scott Dec 11 07
I say Texas is the more physical team here and I think that is why they win this game. Rudy Carpenter is a good, consistent QB and could be a big factor in this game as well. I think Charles has a big game also.
Greg Morrow Dec 12 07
I think the Texas "D" gets "boat raced" by an offensive team Nebraska tried (for 4 years) to emulate.
Possibly a score for score untill AZ state scores more.