2012 Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl Preview

Date: December 31, 2012 12:00 PM ET
Stadium: LP Field, Nashville, Tennessee
Payout: $1,837,500 per team
Played: 1998-present
Former Names: N/A
Broadcasters: Carter Blackburn, Rod Gilmore
Sideline Reporter: Jemele Hill

North Carolina State: Quarterback Mike Glennon accumulated 3,648 passing yards and threw 13 touchdowns, leading the twentieth best passing attack in terms of yards per game. Head coach Tom O'Brien was fired at the end of the season. Offensive coordinator Dana Bible will act as interim head coach for the bowl game.

Vanderbilt: Vanderbilt relied on a stout defense, allowing just 18.3 points per game. Vandy's pass defense held opposing quarterbacks to just 175.8 yards per game. The Commodores will be playing in a default home game. A win in the Music City Bowl will give Vanderbilt their first 9-win season since 1915.

	North Carolina State			Vanderbilt
Overall Record	7-5		Overall Record	8-4
Conference Record	4-4		Conference Record	5-3
Bowl Record	14-11-1		Bowl Record	2-2-1
Last Bowl Win	2011 Belk		Last Bowl Win	2008 Music City

All Time Series: 1-0 Vanderbilt
Line: Vanderbilt by 7.5

Penn State Players Transferring

Seniors
Justin Brown (Starting Wide Receiver) to Oklahoma
Devon Smith (Starting Wide Receiver) to Marshall

Juniors
Robert Bolden (Backup Quarterback) to LSU
Khairi Fortt (Backup Linebacker) to California
Kevin Haplea (Backup Tight End) To Florida State
Silas Redd (Starting Running Back) to USC

RS Juniors
Anthony Fera (Starting Kicker and Punter) to Texas
Derrick Thomas (Backup Cornerback) to Marshall

RS Freshmen
Tim Buckley (Backup Safety) to North Carolina State
Ryan Nowicki (Backup Offensive Tackle) to Illinois

Freshmen
Jamil Pollard (Defensive Tackle) to Rutgers

2011 Belk Bowl Preview

Date: December 27, 2011 8:00 PM ET

Stadium: Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, North Carolina

Payout: $1,700,000

Played: 2002-present

Former Names: Continental Tire Bowl (2002-2004), Meineke Car Care Bowl (2005-2010)

Broadcasters: Bob Wischusen, Brian Griese

Sideline Reporter: Shannon Spake

All Time Series: 3-0 Louisville

Line: Pick

	Louisville			North Carolina State
Overall Record	7-5		Overall Record	7-5
Conference Record	5-2		Conference Record	4-4
Bowl Record	7-7-1		Bowl Record	13-11-1
Last Bowl Win	2010 Beef 'O' Brady's		Last Bowl Win	2010 Champs Sports

Helmet Stickers: Week 10

ACC—NC State beat in-state rival North Carolina for the fifth straight time. The last time NC State beat North Carolina five straight times was 1988-1992.  The Wolfpack defense held the Tarheels to just 3 yards rushing and posted four sacks. North Carolina’s featured back Giovani Bernard back was held to 47 yards on 18 carries. The Wolfpack defense also knocked North Carolina starting quarterback Bryn Renner out of the game. The 13-0 game was the first time NC State has shutout North Carolina since 1960 and North Carolina State’s first shutout of an ACC opponent in a decade.

Big 10—Northwestern upset No. 10 Nebraska 28-25 on Saturday. The Wildcats were 17-point underdogs in Lincoln. Dan Persa left the game early due to a shoulder injury, leaving Kain Colter to play quarterback. Colter rushed for two touchdowns and threw a touchdown early in the fourth quarter. Kain Colter connected with Jeremy Ebert on an 81-yard touchdown pass, the second longest passing play in Northwestern history. The Wildcat defense held Nebraska to a season-low 122 yards rushing. Northwestern got its first win over a top-10 team since beating No. 8 Iowa on the road on November 7, 2009.

Big 12—No. 3 Oklahoma State got by No. 14 Kansas State in Boone Pickens Stadium by a score of 52-45. Brandon Weeden threw for 502 yards in the game, a school passing record. Kansas State had three opportunities to tie the game from the Cowpokes’ 5-yard line in the final 12 seconds of the game, but came up short. Wide receivers Justin Blackmon and Tracy Moore had 205 yards and 146 yards receiving, respectively. Cowboys kicker Quinn Sharp was 3 for 3 on field goal, 5 for 5 on extra points, and averaged 51 yards per punt. Oklahoma State is now 9-0 and off to its best start since 1945 when it went undefeated. Oklahoma keeps its national title hopes alive.

Big East—Louisville went into Morgantown and beat the Mountaineers 38 to 35, ending a four-game losing streak in the series. The Mountaineers outgained the Cardinals 533 to 351 yards, but still lost the game. Louisville cornerback Adrian Bushnell blocked a West Virginia field goal attempt on the first play of the fourth quarter, and cornerback Andrew Johnson returned the ball 82 yards for a Cardinals touchdown. Freshman quarterback Teddy Bridgewater made his sixth start and had his best performance of the season, completing 21 of 27 passes for 246 yards. Louisville is on a three-game winning streak. The Big 12 may have chosen West Virginia over Louisville in conference expansion, but the Cardinals got the last laugh.

C-USA—The Golden Hurricane defeated Central Florida 24-17 in Orlando. The Knights lost at home for the first time this season. The Golden Hurricane rushed for 251 yards on a UCF defense that was only allowing 87 yards on the ground per game. Tulsa quarterback G.J. Kinne completed 15 of 28 passes for 203 yards and a touchdown. Kinne also led Tulsa’s rushing attack with 92 yards. Tulsa did not have a single penalty in the game. Tulsa remains undefeated in C-USA play at 5-0.

MAC—Northern Illinois edged Toledo 63-60 in the Glass Bowl Tuesday night. Northern Illinois’s first two touchdowns were on kickoff returns of 100 and 95 yards by freshman wide receiver Tommylee Lewis.  Huskies quarterback Chandler Harnish threw six touchdown passes in the game. Northern Illinois’s offense was balanced with 265 yards passing and 267 yards rushing. Losing, 60-56 with 4:16 remaining, the Huskies put together a 66 yard touchdown drive and retook the lead with 19 seconds left in the game. The game had 123 total points, the most scored in a game since 2007 when North Texas and Navy combined for 136 points. The game was the second-highest scoring game in the history of the MAC.

MWC—Air Force retained the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy after beating Army 24-14 in Falcon Stadium Saturday afternoon. Air Force beat Navy in overtime in October. Air Force went into the half losing 14-0 to Army. The Falcons regrouped and scored 24 unanswered points in the second half on two touchdowns, one followed with a 2-point conversion, and three field goals. Air Force forced Army to turn the ball over five times and stopped the Black Knights from converting on fourth down three times, including a fourth-and-goal on Air Force’s 1-yard line.

Pac-12—UCLA beat No. 19 Arizona State 29-28 in Pasadena and took control of the Pac-12 South after Arizona State missed a 46-yard field goal on the final play of the game. After blowing a 9-point lead early in the third quarter, the Bruins were able to retake the lead with 49 seconds in the game on a Derrick Coleman 1-yard touchdown run. During the drive, the Bruins converted on third-and-29 with a 33-yard pass to senior wide receiver Nelson Rosario. Rosario had 151 yards off of five catches. Coleman has 119 yards on seventeen carries. The win was Rick Neuheisel’s biggest conference victory in his four years as the UCLA head coach.

SEC—No. 1 LSU defeated No. 2 Alabama 9-6 in overtime in a game billed as The Game of the Century. The defenses of both teams controlled the flow of the game. Neither team scored a touchdown. All points were from field goals. Alabama squandered its opportunities, missing four field goals in the game, including a 52-yarder in overtime, and allowing LSU to get a goal-line interception to prevent a touchdown. The game was 6-6 after regulation, and LSU kicker Drew Alleman only needed to connect on a 25-yard field goal to win the game after Alabama went scoreless in its overtime possession. Alleman was 3 for 3 on field goals, and LSU punter Brad Wing had a 73-yard punt in the game. LSU moves to 9-0 and is the frontrunner for the national championship game, where strangely enough, it could possibly face Alabama again.

Sun Belt—Louisiana-Lafayette got by rival Louisiana-Monroe 36-35 at Cajun Field Saturday. The Warhawks led 35-24 with 3:08 left. The Ragin’ Cajuns scored two touchdowns, separated by a successful onside kick, in the final two minutes to get a 1-point victory: a 16-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Darryl Surgent and a 3-yard run from running back Alonzo Harris. Two-point conversions on both touchdowns were unsuccessful. Quarterback Blaine Gautier had 355 yards passing and four touchdowns. The Ragin’ Cajuns were 50% on third down conversions. UL-Lafayette goes to 8-2 on the season. The last time the program had 8 wins in a season was 1993.

WAC—Utah State was losing to Hawaii 28-7 in Honolulu at halftime. The Aggies rallied in the second half, outscoring the Warriors 28-3, to get a huge 4-point road win on the islands. The Aggies took the lead for the first time in the game on a Robert Turbin 1-yard touchdown run with just 14 seconds left in the game. Running back Robert Turbin averaged 6.4 yards per carry and has scored at least one rushing touchdown in each of his last thirteen games. Utah State only made 15 first downs compared to Hawaii’s 28. The Aggies were 2 for 2 on fourth downs, while the Utah State defense stopped the Warriors on all 3 of their fourth down conversion attempts.

Scheduling Cupcakes

Everybody loves cupcakes, even college football teams. It is commonplace now for most FBS teams to schedule a FCS opponent to get an almost-guaranteed win against an undersized opponent. A few teams even go so far as to schedule two foes from the lower subdivision to pad their schedules with W's. The NCAA allows only one win over an FCS team to count toward bowl eligibility. Sometimes, eating too many cupcakes can backfire. Case in point: Arizona State got six wins last seasons, but two were against FCS teams, so they only had five wins toward bowl eligibility. The Sun Devils got snubbed from playing a thirteenth game. 

Twenty-seven FBS teams will not play an FCS opponent this season, while 93 teams will play at least one. Of those 93 programs, 4 have decided to schedule TWO lower division opponents this season.

• -North Carolina State (Liberty, South Alabama)
• -Eastern Michigan (Howard, Alabama State)
• -Air Force (South Alabama, Tennessee State)
• -Wyoming (Weber State, Texas State)

The first 4 weeks of the season will feature many of these cross-subdivision match-ups. 84 of the 97 of such contests will be in the first month of college pigskin.

• Week 1: 38 of 78 games
• Week 2: 19 of 65 games
• Week 3: 16 of 64 games
• Week 4: 11 of 58 games

BCS conference teams are also notorious for scheduling FBS mid-majors for nonconference games to pad their schedules. Many of these uneven games will also take place during the first month of college football. Despite this, there will be a number of sexy games prior to conference play going into full-swing.

2010 Champs Sports Bowl Preview

December 28, 2010 6:30 PM ET

Stadium: Citrus Bowl, Orlando, Florida

Payout: $2,130,000

Played: 1990-present

Once known as: Blockbuster Bowl (1990-1993), Carquest Bowl (1994-1997), MicronPC Bowl (1998), MicronPC.com Bowl (1999-2000), Tangerine Bowl (2001-2003)

Broadcasters: Joe Tessitore, Rod Gilmore

Sideline Reporter: Rob Stone

Storyline: Despite a 9-3 season that would be considered a success at most programs, the administration at West Virginia does not think that is good enough and has to decided to replace Bill Stewart with Dana Holgorsen after the 2011 season. The Mountaineers will be playing for their head coach in their eighth consecutive bowl appearance. West Virginia is third in the nation in total defense, giving up just 251.3 yards per game. The Mountaineers have won four of their last five bowls. North Carolina State finished the season 8-4, led by dual-threat quarterback Russell Wilson. Wilson had eight 300-yard passing games this season, but he is rumored to be leaving the college football ranks early for baseball. The Wolfpack look to end Wilson’s football career with a win over the most consistent Big East program of the last decade. West Virginia and NC State have not met since 1979, but this will be their third meeting in a bowl game.

All-time Series: 5-4 West Virginia

Line: West Virginia by 2.5

	West Virginia			North Carolina State
Overall Record	9-3		Overall Record	8-4
Conference Record	5-2		Conference Record	5-3
Bowl Record	13-16		Bowl Record	12-11-1
Last Bowl Win	2008 Meineke Car Care		Last Bowl Win	2005 Meineke Car Care

ACC Home Attendance Figures

	Boston College			Clemson
Alumni Stadium			Memorial Stadium
S4 Weber State	34,168		S4 North Texas	75,000
S11 Kent State	35,122		S11 Presbyterian	70,500
S25 Virginia Tech	42,317		O2 Miami	81,500
O2 Notre Dame	44,500		O16 Maryland	71,000
O23 Maryland	36,078		O23 Georgia Tech	75,000
O30 Clemson	37,137		N6 NC State	74,000
N20 Virginia	39,263		N27 South Carolina	81,500
AVERAGE	38,369		AVERAGE	75,500
	Duke			Florida State
Wallace Wade Stadium			Doak Campbell Stadium
S4 Elon	33,941		S4 Samford	68,438
S18 Alabama	39,042		S18 BYU	68,795
S25 Army	27,289		S25 Wake Forest	61,647
O16 Miami	25,911		O16 Boston College	75,301
N6 Virginia	22,741		N6 North Carolina	70,157
N13 Boston College	21,420		N13 Clemson	72,228
N27 North Carolina	30,904		N27 Florida	82,324
AVERAGE	28,750		AVERAGE	71,270
	Georgia Tech			Maryland
Bobby Dodd Stadium			Byrd Stadium
S4 SC State	51,668		S11 Morgan State	40,099
S25 NC State	48,825		S25 FIU	33,254
O9 Virginia	48,016		O2 Duke	39,106
O16 Middle Tennessee	40,652		O30 Wake Forest	39,063
N13 Miami	47,425		N20 Florida State	48,115
N20 Duke	42,110		N27 NC State	35,370
AVERAGE	46,449		AVERAGE	39,168
	Miami			North Carolina
Sun Life Stadium			Kenan Stadium
S2 Florida A&M	53,674		S18 Georgia Tech	58,500
O9 Florida State	75,115		O2 East Carolina	60,000
O23 North Carolina	43,584		O9 Clemson	60,000
N6 Maryland	55,434		O30William & Mary	51,000
N20 Virginia Tech	40,101		N13 Virginia Tech	60,000
N27 South Florida	41,148		N20 NC State	60,000
AVERAGE	51,509		AVERAGE	58,250
	North Carolina State			Virginia
Carter-Finley Stadium			Scott Stadium
S4 Western Carolina	56,417		S4 Richmond	54,146
S16 Cincinnati	55,934		S25 VMI	43,592
O2 Virginia Tech	58,083		O2 Florida State	47,096
O9 Boston College	56,859		O16 North Carolina	50,830
O28 Florida State	56,807		O23 Eastern Michigan	37,386
N13 Wake Forest	57,161		O30 Miami	39,528
			N13 Maryland	45,634
AVERAGE	56,877		AVERAGE	45,459
	Virginia Tech			Wake Forest
Lane Stadium			BB&T Field
S11 James Madison	66,233		S2 Presbyterian	28,205
S18 East Carolina	66,233		S11 Duke	31,673
O9 Central Michigan	66,233		O2 Georgia Tech	30,263
O16 Wake Forest	66,233		O9 Navy	31,454
O23 Duke	66,233		N6 Boston College	29,465
N4 Georgia Tech	66,233		N20 Clemson	31,783
N27 Virginia	66,233
AVERAGE	66,233		AVERAGE	30,474

AVERAGE ATTENDANCE BY SCHOOL

Clemson	75,500
Florida State	71,270
Virginia Tech	66,233
North Carolina	58,250
North Carolina State	56,877
Miami	51,509
Georgia Tech	46,449
Virginia	45,459
Maryland	39,168
Boston College	38,369
Wake Forest	30,474
Duke	28,750