2011 R & L Carriers New Orleans Bowl Preview
The 2011-12 college football bowl season starts in full force December 17, with Albuquerque, N.M., being the venue for this celebration with the Gildan New Mexico Bowl. This game features a pair of eight-win schools Temple from the MAC and Wyoming from the Mountain West.
These two squads have faced each other just once before on the football field; with the Cowboys racking up a 38-23 victory at home in the 1990 season opener for both squads. This is the Cowboys’s 13th bowl game and second New Mexico game in three years, while Temple is making its fourth bowl game ever and second in three seasons (2009 EagleBank Bowl).
Our live college football bowl lines list the Owls as a 6.5-point favorite, while the over/under sits at 47 points.
The Temple Owls
Temple finished a stellar second in the MAC East Division this year, ending up just a single game behind front-runner Ohio. The team won its last three games and three of its four losses this season were by a sum of 11 points (including 35-31 at Ohio and 14-10 vs. Penn State). Temple was 3-2 away from home this season, but hasn’t won a road game since Oct. 8 at Ball State (42-0).
The Owls rank a tough third in the country in scoring defense (14 points per contest), allowing 316 yards per game (193 through the air, 123 via the run), while recording 32 sacks and forcing 18 turnovers.
Stephen Johnson leads this under appreciated unit with 113 stops (42 more than anyone else on the team), adding three forced fumbles and two sacks. Adrian Robinson has a team-best six sacks to go with 47 stops and interception and a blocked kick, while Justin Gildea has three interceptions, 46 stops and three sacks. Tahir Whitehead has four forced fumbles, three recoveries, 59 stops and five sacks.
On Offense, The Temple Owls ranks 45th in the nation in scoring (30 ppg) while compiling 380 yards per contest (257 rushing, 123 passing). Bernard Pierce leads this strong running game with 1,381 yards and 25 touchdowns on 5.6 yards per tote, while Matt Brown chips in 867 yards and five scores on 6.1 yards per tote.
Chester Stewart and Mike Gerardi have combined to hit 58 percent of their throws this season for 1,185 yards and five touchdowns with four interceptions. The offensive line has allowed 21 sacks. The top receiving threats for the Owls are Evan Rodriguez and Joe Jones with a combined 60 grabs for 7233 yards and five touchdowns.
The Wyoming Cowboys
The Cowboys won three of their last four contests, including a year-ending 22-19 win at Colorado State. Three of the four losses this season came against current BCS top-25 schools (Nebraska, TCU and Boise State) but they finished third in the conference at 5-2. The Wyoming Cowboys is 4-2 away from home this season.
The Cowboy offense ranks 60th in the nation in scoring (27 ppg) while compiling 399 yards per game (214 through the air, 185 on the ground). Brett Smith leads this unit by completing 60 percent of his passes for 2,495 yards and 18 touchdowns with eight INTs. The offensive line has allowed just 11 sacks.
Five players have 32 or more receptions, paced by Chris McNeill with 42 catches for 504 yards and four scores and Robert Herron with 40 catches for 348 yards and three scores. The running contest is led by Al Alexander with 678 yards and six scores on 4.7 yards per tote, while Smith has 645 yards and 10 scores on 5.2 yards per attempt.
Defensively, The Wyoming Cowboys ranks just 66th in the country in points allowed (27 ppg), allowing 432 yards per contest (230 on the ground, 202 passing) while recording 22 sacks and forcing 31 turnovers four of which were converted to touchdowns (Marqueston Huff and James Caraway, three fumbles; Luke Anderson, interception).
Luke Ruff leads this unit with 97 tackles, adding a forced fumble and a recovery, while Brian Hendricks adds 92 tackles with two forced fumbles, a sack and a fumble recovery. Gabe Knapton has 6.5 sacks, 74 tackles, two fumble recoveries and a blocked kick, while Blair Burns has four picks, 48 tackles and a fumble recovery. Josh Biezuns adds five forced fumbles, 60 stops, five sacks and two fumble recoveries.
If you desire overviews on other games then visit our college bowl predictions page at BetFirms. We cover every single school in order to give you the information you need to make winning college football bowl picks this winter.
