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2015 C-USA Bowl Games Thread

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Rick said

Local Owl said

Any word on the Boca Bowl ?
Posted On: Dec 6th 2015, 4:43 PM #352857

Toledo vs. Temple
Posted On: Dec 6th 2015, 4:47 PM #352859

I hope there are plenty of alumni down there. That doesn't seem to me like a big draw. Please excuse the disrespect.

FAU - THE REAL SLEEPING GIANT
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@Illiniosowl, that was my first thought. My second thought was "dang , I just wasted more of my hard earned money on crappy football." I know they are good teams , but I have zero interest in them. Next year I will buy my tickets after the announcement. Tuesday night. I will probably skip it and just watch on TV
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I'm actually impressed by the teams the Boca Bowl pulled in for only their 2nd game in history.

The choices come from the AAC and the MAC this year.  They got the #2 AAC team (the #1 team is going to a major bowl).

They got the MAC team with the 2nd most wins this year. Both teams have seen the top 25 this year. Not sure what else they can do.

Toledo and Temple will bring more fans to our stadium than WE bring to our own stadium.

Go Owls (Temple, I guess).
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Local Owl said

@Illiniosowl, that was my first thought. My second thought was "dang , I just wasted more of my hard earned money on crappy football." I know they are good teams , but I have zero interest in them. Next year I will buy my tickets after the announcement. Tuesday night. I will probably skip it and just watch on TV

Posted On: Dec 6th 2015, 7:48 PM #352862

I am not sure your expectations are right from a bowl that is fed by the AAC, MAC or C-USA.

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Not a bad matchup - GO TO THE FRIGGIN GAME!
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oc irritant said

Local Owl said

@Illiniosowl, that was my first thought. My second thought was "dang , I just wasted more of my hard earned money on crappy football." I know they are good teams , but I have zero interest in them. Next year I will buy my tickets after the announcement. Tuesday night. I will probably skip it and just watch on TV
Posted On: Dec 6th 2015, 7:48 PM #352862

I am not sure your expectations are right from a bowl that is fed by the AAC, MAC or C-USA.
Posted On: Dec 6th 2015, 9:14 PM #352865

GeorgiaOwl said

Not a bad matchup - GO TO THE FRIGGIN GAME!
Posted On: Dec 6th 2015, 9:25 PM #352866

I have to agree. The only reason Temple isn't playing in a New Year's day bowl is a losses to Notre Dame, USF, and Houston. Toledo shared a division championship but didn't play in the championship game is because of losses to divison opponets northern Illonsis and Western Michigan. This should be a great game.
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Too bad CUSA AND FAU had such a down year. only have 5 Bowl Eligble teams in a year the MAC and Montain West each have EIGHT!

This was a year ALL 6-6 teams got to go bowling! So this is gonna hurt CUSA and FAU in the pocketbook, much less bowl $$$ coming than should have been.

All the more reason Coach P is correct in making the change on O. With a good hire here we start winning more both on the field and in recruiting and in selling seats! A bad hire and Coach P will be gone in two years. MUCH rather have him hired away than fired, don't ya agree!
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Conference USA Football Champion WKU leads five league teams into bowl games, joined in the postseason by Louisiana Tech, Marshall, Middle Tennessee and West Division Champion Southern Miss.

C-USA will face two teams from the American Athletic Conference and one each from the Pac-12, Mid-American and Sun Belt Conferences.

C-USA has produced the best bowl record among all conferences in three of the last four years, including a 4-1 mark last season.


MARSHALL

Marshall returns to the postseason for the fourth time in five years as the Thundering Herd will play Connecticut in the St. Petersburg Bowl, aiming for a third straight postseason victory. Marshall lists 25 players from the state of Florida, where it won the Boca Raton Bowl last season. Senior Deandre Reaves, the C-USA Special Teams Player of the Year, is the first Herd player with multiple kick return TDs in one season since Troy Brown in 1991. Freshman QB Chase Litton threw 22 TD passes on the season, most among true freshmen in the FBS. Sophomore TE Hunter Yurachek grabbed a team-leading nine TDs this season, most among C-USA tight ends.


MIDDLE TENNESSEE

The Blue Raiders will participate in the second annual Popeyes Bahamas Bowl on Thursday, Dec. 24, facing Western Michigan. Middle Tennessee closed the regular season on a four-game winning streak. Freshman QB Brent Stockstill has broken the league's record for passing yards by a freshman with 3,678. He leads the nation's freshmen in yards and touchdown passes (27). Freshman WR Richie James has 100 receptions on the season, the eighth-most in a single season in C-USA history. Senior S Kevin Byard leads all active FBS players with 19 career interceptions. Middle Tennessee has set a school record with 5,504 total offensive yards.


WKU

The C-USA Champion Hilltoppers carry a five-game winning streak into the Miami Beach Bowl against South Florida. Senior QB Brandon Doughty became the first back-to-back MVP in league history after leading the FBS in touchdowns (45), completion percentage (71.8) and points responsible for (286). Doughty was named the Conference USA Championship Game MVP after he threw for 410 yards. Junior WR Taywan Taylor set the single-season mark for receptions in a season at WKU with 79 this year and has caught a school-record 17 TDs (second in the FBS). Senior Tyler Higbee is tied for the most touchdowns among FBS tight ends with eight. Junior RB Anthony Wales has six 100-yard games in the 10 he has played in and needs just 14 more yards for 1,000 on the season.


LOUISIANA TECH

Louisiana Tech will be in a bowl for the second straight season when it faces Sun Belt Conference Champion Arkansas State in the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl. First team All-Conference USA senior RB Kenneth Dixon enters the bowl game with 83 career touchdowns, tied with Montee Ball (Wisconsin, 2009-12) and Keenan Reynolds (Navy, 2012-present) for the NCAA-record. Senior QB Jeff Driskel was named C-USA Newcomer of the Year after passing for 3,575 yards, a number ranked eighth in school history. He ranks in the top 25 nationally in passing touchdowns, passing efficiency (150.2), passing yards per game (292.7) and passing yards per completion (14.12) this season. The Bulldogs offense has recorded more than 400 total yards of offense in 11 out of 12 games this season.


SOUTHERN MISS

West Division Champion Southern Miss returns to postseason play for the first time since 2011 when it plays in the Zaxby's Heart of Dallas Bowl. The Golden Eagles, the most improved team in the FBS at +6 wins, will face Pac-12 member Washington in the first meeting between the schools. Junior QB Nick Mullens became the first Southern Miss player to be named C-USA Offensive Player of the Year. He ranks second in the league in yards (4,145) and touchdown passes (36), both school records, while placing sixth nationally in TD tosses. Senior RB Jalen Richard collected first-team all-league honors by rushing for 1,098 yards and adding 14 TDs on the ground, of which four were of runs of 53 yards or greater. Senior WR Mike Thomas notched a Southern Miss mark for most receiving yards in a season with 1,201 on 62 catches and grabbed at least one touchdown pass in each of his last nine games. On the year, the Golden Eagles have posted 37 TD drives of two minutes or less.
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R+L CARRIERS NEW ORLEANS BOWL

LOUISIANA TECH vs. ARKANSAS STATE

Saturday, Dec. 19 New Orleans, Louisiana
8 p.m. (CST) Mercedes-Benz Superdome (37,792)
All-Time Series: Louisiana Tech leads 25-12
Last Meeting: Louisiana Tech 69, at Arkansas State 21 (Nov. 7, 1998)
Television: ESPN
Announcers: Adam Amin (PxP), Kelly Stouffer (AN), Dr. Jerry Punch (SL)

NOTING THE BULLDOGS: LA Tech will be making back-to-back bowl appearances for just the second time in school history….The Bulldogs enter the game with a school record 10 outings with more than 400 total yards and this year's squad ranks fourth in school history in total yards (5,589) and points scored (441) and fifth in rushing touchdowns (25)….LA Tech has the top rushing defense in C-USA, allowing just 114.4 yards per game on the ground.

NOTING THE RED WOLVES: Arkansas State finished with an unblemished 8-0 Sun Belt Conference mark, and in the process became the only FBS program in the nation to win four league championships over the last five seasons….ASU has posted six consecutive games with at least 400 yards of total offense and nine total in 2015….Senior WR J.D. McKissic is the Sun Belt Conference career record-holder in receptions with 286….Senior QB Fredi Knighten is 9-0 as the starter this season while accounting for 20 total TDs….The Red Wolves defense set a new single-season record and Sun Belt record with 26 passes intercepted.

GAME NOTES: C-USA has participated in 11 of the 15 New Orleans Bowls….Southern Miss defeated Arkansas State in the 2005 New Orleans Bowl, a game played in Lafayette, La., due to Hurricane Katrina….This will mark the 38th meeting between Louisiana Tech and Arkansas State in a series that dates back to 1958, but the first since 1998 when Louisiana Tech, led by current Bulldog assistant coach Tim Rattay, ran past the Red Wolves in a 69-21 win. LA Tech has won nine of the last 10 meetings in the series….The two programs were both members of the Southland Conference from 1971-86 and the Big West Conference from 1993-95.
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Kenneth Dixon had 215 yards from scrimmage and scored four times to become the NCAA's career touchdowns leader, and Louisiana Tech beat Arkansas State 47-28 in the New Orleans Bowl on Saturday night.

Dixon caught six passes for 113 yards and touchdowns of 9 and 59 yards. He carried 21 times for 102 yards, including scoring runs of 8 and 4 yards.

He has 87 touchdowns and 522 points, putting him three TDs and 10 points ahead of Navy quarterback Keenan Reynolds, who plays Monday in the Military Bowl.

Jeff Driskel, a transfer from Florida, closed out his college career by passing for 458 yards and three touchdowns for Louisiana Tech (9-4), which had 687 total yards in finishing a second straight season with a bowl victory.

The loss snapped an eight-game winning streak for Arkansas State (9-4), the Sun Belt Conference champion. Quarterback Fredi Knighten accounted for 179 yards from scrimmage and scored one TD rushing for the Red Wolves.

Taylor Blaise had a 98-yard kickoff return for Arkansas State in the fourth quarter, but by then it was too late to mount a comeback.

Driskel, a transfer from Florida who had passed for 3,575 yards and 24 TDs entering the bowl game, got the Bulldogs off to a fast start, completing 10 of his first 12 passes for 170 yards and two touchdowns. Driskel lofted long, accurate passes to set up each TD - 53-yard connection with Carlos Henderson set up the first and a 45-yarder to Trent Taylor to set up the second, which put Tech up 17-3.

Arkansas State then rallied to tie the score by halftime. Warren Wand's 1-yard scored capped a 14-play, 91-yard drive that cut it to 17-10. Late in the second quarter, Blaise Taylor's 41-yard punt return gave the Red Wolves the ball on the Tech 25. Four plays later, Knighten ran it in from the 1.

Tech took the lead for good Dixon's second TD reception.
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