2011 GoDaddy.com Bowl Preview

January 6, 2011 8:00 PM ET

Stadium: Ladd Peebles Stadium, Mobile, Alabama

Payout: $750,000

Played: 1999-present

Once known as: Mobile Alabama Bowl (1999-2000), GMAC Bowl (2001-2010)

Broadcasters: Carter Blackburn, Mike Bellotti, Brock Huard

Sideline Reporter: Eamon McAnaney

Storyline: Middle Tennessee State had to win its final three games to get to 6-6 and be bowl-eligible. Now the Blue Raiders will appear in their third bowl ever. Middle Tennessee got its first and only bowl win last postseason with a 42-32 win over Southern Mississippi in the 2009 edition of the New Orleans Bowl. Quarterback Dwight Dasher set a bowl record for rushing yards by a quarterback with 201 yards. The Blue Raiders are tied for most turnovers with 33 this season. If Middle Tennessee can win the GoDaddy.com Bowl the Sun Belt will be 3-0 against the MAC in bowls during the 2010-2011 postseason. Miami of Ohio is making its first bowl appearance since the 2004 Independence Bowl. After going 1-11 in 2009, Miami did an about-face and went 9-4 in 2010. The RedHawks’ season culminated in a 26-21 victory over Northern Illinois in the MAC title game. During the downtime, head coach Mike Haywood was hired to be the skipper at Pitt only to be fired when he was arrested for domestic battery December 31^st. Miami’s defensive backs coach, Lance Guidry, will serve as interim head coach for the bowl game. If the RedHawks can beat the Blue Raiders, they will tie the FBS record for largest single-season turnaround with a gain of nine victories between consecutive seasons.

All-time Series: 0-0

Line: Middle Tennessee by 2

	Middle Tennessee			Miami (OH)
Overall Record	6-6		Overall Record	9-4
Conference Record	5-3		Conference Record	7-1
Bowl Record	1-1		Bowl Record	6-2
Last Bowl Win	2009 New Orleans		Last Bowl Win	2003 GMAC

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

Helmet Stickers: Week 14

ACC—After starting 0-2, Virginia Tech won eleven straight games, including Saturday’s Atlantic Coast Conference championship game against Florida State. Virginia Tech prevailed 44-33. The Hokies’ 44 points was the most ever scored in an ACC title game. Virginia Tech was 13 for 18 on third downs and put up 101 more yards than Florida State. Hokies quarterback Tyrod Taylor threw three touchdowns and ran for another. Hokies wide receiver Danny Coale exploited a weak Seminole secondary for a career-high 143 yards. Virginia Tech has won three ACC titles in the last four years.
 

Big 12—Nebraska opened the Big 12 title game 17-0 over Oklahoma. The Sooners battled back to be down 17-20 at the half. The Sooner defense regrouped during halftime and Nebraska was held scoreless in the second half of the game. Oklahoma added two field goals to become Big 12 Champion in a 23-20 win. Although Oklahoma was only 1 for 16 on third downs, they did win the turnover battle 4 to 1. Sooner linebacker Travis Lewis accounted for three of those turnovers: an interception and two fumble recoveries.

Big East—Connecticut clinched the Big East title and a BCS bowl bid by beating South Florida 19-16 on Saturday. The Huskies’ points came off of a pick six from senior linebacker Lawrence Wilson and four field goals by kicker Dave Teggart. With 1:16 left in the game, South Florida tied the game at 16-16. UConn drove 25 yards from its own 40 yard line to get to South Florida’s 35 yard line. On 4th and 3 with 17 seconds left, Dave Teggart hit a 52-yard field goal to put the Huskies up by 3 points and shortly thereafter win the game.

C-USA—Central Florida won its second Conference USA title by defeating Southern Methodist University by a score of 17-7. Central Florida’s true freshman quarterback Jeff Godfrey went 15 for 19 passing. His 78.9 percent completion percentage was a record for a C-USA championship game. The Knights defense tallied five sacks on the afternoon. Central Florida has won its second conference championship in the last four seasons. George O’Leary has this program rolling.

MAC—Miami (OH) upset Northern Illinois in the Mid-American Conference championship game on Friday night in Detroit by a score of 26-21. Wide receiver Armand Robinson had fourteen receptions for 176 yards. The RedHawks offense was led by freshman Austin Boucher, who was making only his third start of the year, filling in for an injured Zac Dysert. Miami went 10-3 this season after going 1-11 last season. That’s quite a turnaround. This was the first time Miami has won the conference title since 2003.

Pac-10—Arizona State capped their season by defeating in-state rival Arizona for the Territorial Cup. Arizona could have won the game if it had hit an extra point, but Arizona State defensive end James Brooks blocked it. Instead the game went into two overtimes. Both schools hit field goals in the first overtime. In the second overtime Arizona State scored a touchdown and extra point. Arizona responded with a touchdown but James Brooks blocked another Alex Zendejas extra point to win the game for the Sun Devils 30-29. A blocked point-after-touchdown to force overtime and another blocked PAT to win the game in double overtime over your in-state rival. That's big.

SEC—Auburn absolutely destroyed South Carolina in the Southeastern Conference championship game 56-17. Cam Newton locked up the Heisman with a performance that included four passing touchdowns and two rushing touchdowns. Auburn wideout Darvin Adams was also spectacular, catching seven passes for 217 yards. Auburn's 56 points is the most scored in an SEC title game and the 39-point margin of victory was the largest in an SEC championship game. Auburn finished the season a perfect 13-0 and will now have an opportunity to win the BCS National Championship.

Sun Belt—In its final game of the season, Middle Tennessee State became bowl-eligible. The Blue Raiders beat a formidable Florida International team 28-27. Middle Tennessee was able to put the game away after linebacker Corey Carmichael recovered a fumble on the Blue Raiders’ 35 yard line with FIU moving into field goal range and 3:43 left in the fourth quarter. Blue Raiders quarterback Dwight Dasher hit nine different targets for 244 yards on the day.

WAC—Fresno State upset Illinois 25-23 on Friday night at Bulldog Stadium. Bulldogs quarterback Ryan Colburn threw for 304 yards and three touchdowns. The climax of the game came in the fourth quarter when Fresno State was trying to run out the clock. Pat Hill ordered his offense to go for it on 4th and 1 in his own territory. Running back A.J. Ellis barely converted, but the success of the call allowed Fresno State to finish draining the clock out and win the game. Fresno State moves to 8-4 and has claimed yet another automatic-qualifying-conference victim. Pat Hill is not afraid of “BCS schools”.

Bowl Bound

After thirteen weeks of football, and one more to go:

-70 teams are eligible to play in bowls

-46 teams are ineligible to play in bowls

-4 teams are on the bubble (Oregon State, Washington, Middle Tennessee State, Louisiana Tech)

Bowl tie-ins by conference:

ACC: 8 (9 eligible)

Big East: 6 (6 eligible)

Big Ten: 8 (8 eligible)

Big 12: 8 (8 eligible)

C-USA: 6 (6 eligible)

MAC: 3 (6 eligible)

MWC: 5 (5 eligible)

Pac-10: 6 (3 eligible)

SEC: 9 (10 eligible)

Sun Belt: 2 (2 eligible)

WAC: 4 (4 eligible)

Navy: Poinsettia Bowl (eligible)

Army: At-large (eligible)

Notre Dame: At-large (eligible)

There are enough bowl-eligible teams for all 70 bowl spots, with the possibility of 4 more bowl-eligible teams after this coming Saturday, December 4^th. Here are the games with teams playing for postseason eligibility:

Oregon State at home against No. 2 Oregon

Washington at Washington State

Middle Tennessee State at Florida International

Louisiana Tech at home against No. 17 Nevada

I don’t like to make predictions on this blog, but it is possible Washington might be the only school of the four bubble teams to get its sixth win based on the matchups. So I am thinking there will be 71 bowl-eligible teams for 70 slots. At the beginning of the season, I was worried there would not be enough bowl-eligible teams based on the number of upsets taken by FCS schools over FBS schools. If there are more than 70 bowl-eligible teams after next weekend, some teams will get left out. The most likely team to get the cold shoulder is 6-6 Western Michigan since the WAC and Sun Belt do not exceed their tie-ins.