2013 GoDaddy.com Bowl Preview

Date: January 6, 2013 9:00 PM ET
Stadium: Ladd-Peebles Stadium, Mobile, Alabama
Payout: $750,000 per team
Played: 1999-present
Former Names: Mobile Alabama Bowl (1999-2000), GMAC Bowl (2001-2010)
Broadcasters: Mark Jones, Brock Huard
Sideline Reporter: Jessica Mendoza

Kent State: After a 11-1 season and a 8-0 regular season in the MAC, a double overtime loss to Northern Illinois in the MAC title game kept Kent State out of a BCS bowl. Kent State's backfield tandem of Dri Archer and Trayion Durham accounted for 2,600 rushing yards and 29 touchdowns, while the Golden Flashes' defense was second in the FBS in interceptions. The Golden Flashes are in unfamiliar territory as they play in their first bowl game in 40 years.

Arkansas State: Winning is costly for Sun Belt champion Arkansas State. In 2011, the program won 10 games and head coach Hugh Freeze departed after just one season on the job. This year the program won 9 wins and it lost another first-year coach, Gus Malzahn. The Red Wolves started the season 2-3, before winning their last 7 games. Arkansas State has the nation's 17th-ranked offense. The Red Wolves lost the GoDaddy.com bowl last season to Northern Illinois.

	Kent State			Arkansas State
Overall Record	11-2		Overall Record	9-3
Conference Record	8-0		Conference Record	7-1
Bowl Record	0-1		Bowl Record	0-2
Last Bowl Win	N/A		Last Bowl Win	N/A

All Time Series: 0-0
Line: Arkansas State by 3.5

2012 GoDaddy.com Bowl Preview

Date: January 8, 2012 9:00 PM ET

Stadium: Ladd-Peebles Stadium, Mobile, Alabama

Payout: $750,000

Played: 1999-present

Former Names: Mobile Alabama Bowl (1999-2000), GMAC Bowl (2001-2010)

Broadcasters: Rob Stone, Danny Kanell

Sideline Reporter: Cara Capuano

All Time Series: 6-1 Northern Illinois

Line: Arkansas State by 1.5

	Arkansas State			Northern Illinois
Overall Record	10-2		Overall Record	10-3
Conference Record	8-0		Conference Record	7-1
Bowl Record	0-1		Bowl Record	3-3
Last Bowl Win	N/A		Last Bowl Win	2010 Humanitarian

Helmet Stickers: Week 9

ACC—Georgia Tech gave No. 5 Clemson its first loss of the year with a 31-17 defeat. Yellow Jackets quarterback Tevin Washington led the charge, rushing for 176 yards and a score. Never before has a Georgia Tech quarterback rushed for more than 151 yards in a game. The triple-option offense racked up 383 rushing yards and controlled the ball for 39 minutes in the game. The Yellow Jackets defense recovered two Clemson fumbles and picked off Tajh Boyd twice in the game. Georgia Tech ended a two-game losing streak and ended Clemson’s national title hopes.

Big 10—Minnesota upset Iowa 22-21 at TCF Bank Field to get the Golden Gophers their first conference win of the season. Minnesota lost its first three conference games by an average margin of 38 points. Minnesota quarterback Marqueis Gray passed for 193 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 62 yards and the winning touchdown. Marqueis Gray rushed for the right pylon on fourth-and-goal from the 2-yard line with 2:48 left in the game. Golden Gopher fans stormed the field when time expired. The win allows Minnesota to retain the Floyd of Rosedale Trophy for another year. Minnesota last defeated Iowa in consecutive years in 1999 and 2000.

Big 12—Iowa State upset a No. 19 Texas Tech team that had defeated Oklahoma the week before. Texas Tech was embarrassed 41-7 at home. Iowa State redshirt freshman quarterback Jared Barnett passed for 144 yards and rushed for 92 yards in his first start. The Cyclones rushed for 368 yards and controlled the ball for 40:09. Iowa State had not rushed for over 300 yards in a game since 2001. Texas Tech quarterback Seth Doege accounted for all three of the Red Raiders turnovers. He threw two interceptions and fumbled once. Iowa State’s defense held the Red Raiders to their fewest points at home since a 56-3 Nebraska thumping in 2000.

Big East—Louisville got consecutive Big East wins for the first time since 2006 as it overpowered Syracuse 27-10. Louisville’s defense held the Orange to just 246 yards, their lowest output this season. The Orange only got past Louisville’s 35-yard line twice the whole game. Louisville freshman quarterback Teddy Bridgewater was 17 for 24 with 198 yards and two touchdowns in his fifth start. Louisville tailback Victor Anderson rushed for 93 yards and a score. The Cardinals moved to 2-1 in the Big East and 4-4 overall.

C-USA—On Thursday night, No. 17 Houston thrashed cross-town rival Rice 73-36. Case Keenum threw nine touchdown passes in the game. His fifth touchdown pass broke the all-time FBS record for career touchdown passes, which was 134, set by Graham Harrell in 2008. Houston’s offense racked up 656 yards, 534 of which were threw the air. Wide receiver Patrick Edwards caught five touchdowns and had 318 yards receiving. Wide receiver Tyron Carrier returned the opening kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown, the seventh kickoff he has taken in for a touchdown in his career. Houston is undefeated at 8-0.

MAC—Western Michigan beat Ball State 45-35 to move within one game of bowl eligibility and stay undefeated at Waldo Stadium. The second quarter of the game had seven touchdowns: four consecutive touchdowns for Western Michigan and three touchdowns for Ball State. The Broncos had 610 yards in the game with 465 of them coming through the air. Wide receiver Jordan White caught 9 passes for 172 yards and became Western’s all-time receptions leader. Two other wide receivers had over 100 yards receiving: Chleb Ravenell had 9 catches for 157 yards, while Robert Arnheim had 104 yards on 8 catches.

MWC—Wyoming went into Qualcomm Stadium and defeated San Diego State 30-27 on Saturday night. The Cowboys scored all of their points before halftime, where they led 30-13, and held on in the second half after allowing SDSU to score two more touchdowns. Wyoming freshman quarterback Brett Smith threw two touchdowns and rushed for two touchdowns. Wyoming had no turnovers. The Cowboys forced one turnover; cornerback Tashaun Gipson came up with an interception on the Wyoming 5-yard line, denying the Aztecs from entering the red zone mid-way through the third quarter. The Cowboys are now 2-0 in the Mountain West.

Pac-12—No. 6 Stanford survived No. 20 USC. With a tie game late in the fourth quarter, USC cornerback Nickell Robey intercepted Andrew Luck at the Stanford 33-yard line and ran 33 yards for a pick six. The Trojans led by 7 with 3:08 left in the game. Stanford regrouped and drove 76 yards to tie the game with 38 seconds left. Each team scored a touchdown and a PAT in both the first and second overtime. In triple overtime, Stanford running back Stepfan Taylor rushed for a score, and a two point conversion was made to tight end Coby Fleener. The Trojans tried to answer. A 21-yard pass to freshman wide out Marqise Lee got them to the Stanford 4-yard line. On the next play, USC tailback Curtis McNeal fumbled when Stanford’s Terrence Stephens knocked the ball loose, and Stanford’s A.J. Tarpley recovered the ball in the end zone to get the Cardinal the 56-48 win. The Cardinal have now beat the Trojans three years in a row and are 8-0 for the first time since 1951.

SEC—No. 22 Georgia took down Florida 24-20 in the game dubbed the World’s Largest Cocktail Party. Georgia has now won six straight games, and Florida had lost four straight games for the first time since 1988. The Georgia defense held Florida to just 226 net yards and -19 yards on the ground. The Bulldogs defense only allowed 32 yards and one first down in the second half. Georgia outside linebacker Jarvis Jones had four of the Bulldogs’ six sacks in the game. After leading 17-3, Florida turned the ball over on two fumbles that gave Georgia short fields of 25 and 18 yards that the Bulldogs capitalized on with touchdowns. Georgia’s offense was 3 for 3 on fourth downs.

Sun Belt—The Red Wolves beat the Mean Green 37-14 in Jonesboro Saturday to go 6-2 on the season. Arkansas State has its best record in eight games since 1986. The Red Wolves raced out to 31-0 by halftime. Arkansas State nearly doubled North Texas’s offensive output, 540 yards to 283 yards. In the second quarter, punter and placekick holder Neely Sullivent rushed for a 14-yard touchdown on a fake field goal attempt. Red Wolves quarterback Ryan Aplin passed for 322 yards and was also the team’s leading rusher in the game with 69 yards. The Red Wolves are undefeated in Sun Belt games and are bowl eligible.

WAC—Louisiana Tech beat San Jose State by ten in Ruston Saturday. After losing 14-10 halfway through the second quarter, the Bulldogs rattled off 28 straight points. Wide receiver Quinton Patton had two touchdown catches in the game on Colby Cameron passes, one of which was a 90-yard bomb. Senior running back Lennon Creer added another touchdown and led the team with 112 yards on the ground, including a 15-yard scamper. Louisiana Tech’s defense picked off the Spartans’ Matt Faulkner four times. Linebacker Jay Dudley returned one of those interceptions 36 yards for a score.

Independents—Notre Dame beat Navy 56-14 in the Irish’s best performance of the season. Notre Dame rushed for seven touchdowns in the game and only punted the ball away once. The Fighting Irish’s defense held Navy to its lowest offensive output of the year at 229 yards. Notre Dame has now beat Navy for the second time in 5 years after winning 43 straight games against the Midshipmen from 1964 to 2006. The Fighting Irish move to 5-3.

Firings and Resignations Critique, Part 2

Bill Lynch   19-30 (6-26)
Indiana
Fired 11/28/10

Indiana is probably the hardest place to build a winning program at in the Big Ten. The Hoosiers have to recruit against Purdue, Notre Dame, and Louisville locally and also hold the stigma of being a “basketball school”. Lynch had a .388 winning percentage, the third best winning percentage of the last 12 Indiana head coaches. Only Terry Hoeppner (.391) and Bill Mallory (.463) had better winning percentages than since 1947, and both of those coaches were short of breaking even. Lynch’s players bought into his program and achieved the late Terry Hoeppner’s dream of getting Indiana to a bowl for the first time since 1993. The Hoosiers did seem to be improving as a team, but not winning enough conference games (.188) was Lynch’s downfall. Indiana also had a few games decided by bad officiating, in particular, against Michigan and Iowa during the 2009 season. The icing on the cake was losing to Wisconsin by 63 points on November 13^th. Indiana’s defense appeared inept. In the end, it is time for Indiana to move on and give defensive guru Kevin Wilson a try. Unless Wilson can pull off some upsets, he will be out of a job after four seasons as well.


Rickey Bustle   38-56 (28-31)

UL-Lafayette

Fired 11/29/10

After nine seasons in Lafayette with no bowl appearance and one conference title in 2005, Rickey Bustle needed to be cut loose. Bustle was able to compile 6-6 records in 2008 and 2009, but the team regressed to 3-9 in 2010, finishing sixth in the Sun Belt. Bustle had four six-win seasons, but he was never able to exceed six W’s. In the Sun Belt conference, it is not uncommon to go 0-4 in the nonconference season when playing ragdoll to BCS conference schools. However, the conference standing of a team should indicate how well the program can compete with teams at the same level of talent. During Bustle’s tenure, the Ragin’ Cajuns were below .500 in conference winning percentage.  New energy is needed to reinvigorate Louisiana-Lafayette to a breakthrough season.

Steve Roberts   37-47 (25-22)

Arkansas State
Resigned 11/29/10

After nine seasons in Jonesboro, the athletic department at Arkansas State had decided the football program had become stagnant and needed change. The administration forced Steve Roberts to resign with one year left on his contract. Under Roberts, Arkansas State won the Sun Belt title in 2005 and led the Red Wolves to their first and only bowl appearance, the 2005 New Orleans Bowl. The Red Wolves were bowl-eligible in four of Roberts’ nine seasons. Under Steve Roberts’ tutelage, the program had notable non-conference wins over Tulsa, Army, SMU, Memphis, and Texas A&M. The 2008 win over the Aggies is the Red Wolves first and only win over a BCS automatic qualifying conference opponent since ASU joined the FBS. Roberts last two seasons ended with disappointing 4-8 records. Arkansas State is not an easy place to coach. Losses and injuries build up playing against teams from the big conferences during the nonconference schedule, and the Sun Belt is more competitive than ever. Interestingly, offensive coordinator High Freeze was promoted to take over as head coach of the Red Wolves. I am not so sure they Freeze will be able to do any better at this assignment.

Dave Wannstedt   42-31 (24-18)

Pittsburgh

Resigned 12/7/10

Dave Wannstedt was pressured by the University of Pittsburgh to step down after failing to meet expectations. Wannstedt failed to win the conference outright and get to a BCS bowl game during his six years. The Panthers went 7-5, after the Big East Media Poll predicted them to be the strong favorite to win the Big East Championship during the preseason. Wanny got the Panthers to bowl games in his final three seasons, 2008-2010. In 2009, Wannstedt led Pitt to its first 10-win season since 1981. Wannstedt was popular among his players, most of whom wanted him to remain the head coach. Surely, Pitt saw talent leave early for the NFL with the ouster of Wanny and recruits change their commitments. The University of Pittsburgh needs to realize, that despite a few untimely losses, Dave Wannstedt did far more good than bad for Panther football. It is not the 1980’s anymore. The program could very well bottom out in the coming years.

Ralph Friedgen   75-50 (43-37)

Maryland

Fired 12/20/10

I do not see the point in firing Ralph Friedgen. The Fridge went 9-4 with a Military Bowl victory over East Carolina and has performed admirably over the last ten football seasons at a school that was a doormat in the decade before Friedgen arrived. Friedgen was 5-2 in bowl games and won the ACC title in his first season. He holds is the first Terp head coach to have a winning record since Bobby Ross (1982-1986). Friedgen, a former offensive guard at Maryland, was passionate about his alma mater’s football program; it was his destination job. There is no way Randy Edsall will have the same passion for Terrapin football, and that may become evident to boosters when a better job becomes available. Other than a down season in 2009 (2-10), the Fridge did a great deal with little at a program that is not a national powerhouse in football.

Mike Haywood   0-0 (0-0)

Pittsburgh
Fired 1/1/11

Mike Haywood was rightfully fired from the head coach position at Pittsburgh after only sixteen days on the job. Haywood committed domestic battery on the mother of his child. Before X’s and O’s, a college football coach needs to be a good role model for young men. Felons need not apply. Haywood only had two years of head coach experience at a mid-major, so his hiring as a head coach at a BCS school with little experience was controversial to begin with. The whole Haywood-Pitt episode makes athletic director Steve Pederson’s decision to force out Dave Wannstedt look stupid.


Rich Rodriguez   15-22 (6-18)

Michigan
Fired 1/5/11

Rich Rodriguez was rightfully dismissed from Michigan after taking a once-dominant football program to a new all time low. Rodriguez has the lowest winning percentage of any Wolverine head coach ever at .405. Michigan’s 2008 season (3-9) was its worst in the 131-year history of Michigan football. During his three seasons at Michigan, Rodriguez never beat either of the Wolverines’ chief rivals: Ohio State and Michigan State. A 52-14 massacre at the hands of Mississippi State in the 2011 Gator Bowl was the last straw. Rodriguez and his staff were criticized for offensive language and belittling players, resulting in players transferring out of Michigan and recruits not committing to the school. Michigan committed five major NCAA rule violations and many minor violations during the Rich Rodriguez-era. Prior to Rodriguez’s arrival, Michigan football had never in its history committed major NCAA rule violations. The Josh-Groban-reciting coach could not win on the field and all around lacked class. He had to go.

Sun Belt Home Attendance Figures

	Arkansas State			Florida Atlantic
ASU Stadium			Lockhart Stadium, Ford Field*
S18 UL-Monroe	23,176		S11 Michigan State*	36,124
O2 Louisville	25,219		S25 North Texas	15,143
O23 Florida Atlantic	13,159		O30 FIU	17,543
N2 Middle Tennessee	13,589		N13 UL-Lafayette	12,044
N13 Western Kentucky	11,826		D4 Troy	11,368
AVERAGE	17,394		AVERAGE	18,444
	Florida International			Louisiana-Lafayette
FIU Stadium			Cajun Field
S11 Rutgers	19,872		S11 Arkansas State	15,103
O9 Western Kentucky	14,335		S25 Middle Tennessee	17,249
N6 UL-Monroe	17,301		O8 Oklahoma State	25,881
N27 Arkansas State	14,588		O23 Western Kentucky	15,641
D4 Middle Tennessee	16,628		N20 FIU	13,041
AVERAGE	16,545		AVERAGE	17,383
	Louisiana-Monroe			Middle Tennessee
Malone Stadium, War Memorial Stadium*			Floyd Stadium
S11 Arkansas*	55,705		S2 Minnesota	25,908
S25 SE Louisiana	15,285		S11 Austin Peay	16,806
O9 Florida Atlantic	16,513		O5 Troy	28,010
O30 Troy	19,980		O23 UL-Monroe	19,052
N20 North Texas	8,905		N13 North Texas	14,227
N27 UL-Lafayette	9,215		N27 Florida Atlantic	10,140
AVERAGE	20,934		AVERAGE	19,024
	North Texas			Troy
Fouts Field			Veterans Memorial Stadium
S11 Rice	23,743		S4 Bowling Green	19886
O2 UL-Lafayette	17,015		S25 Arkansas State	16,320
O9 Arkansas State	14,589		O16 UL-Lafayette	22,283
O16 FIU	14,718		N13 FIU	20,243
N6 Troy	14,289		N27 Western Kentucky	16,004
N27 Kansas State	21,952
AVERAGE	17,718		AVERAGE	18,947
	Western Kentucky
Smith Stadium
S18 Indiana	20,772
O16 UL-Monroe	15,142
O30 North Texas	14,373
N6 Florida Atlantic	10,275
N20 Middle Tennessee	12,322
AVERAGE	14,577

AVERAGE ATTENDANCE BY SCHOOL

Louisiana-Monroe	20,934
Middle Tennessee	19,024
Troy	18,947
Florida Atlantic	18,444
North Texas	17,718
Arkansas State	17,394
Louisiana-Lafayette	17,383
Florida International	16,545
Western Kentucky	14,577