2012 AutoZone Liberty Bowl Preview

Date: December 31, 2012 3:30 PM ET
Stadium: Liberty Bowl, Memphis, Tennessee
Payout: $1,437,500 per team
Played: 1959-present
Former Names: N/A
Broadcasters: Mark Jones, Brock Huard
Sideline Reporter: Jessica Mendoza

Iowa State: Iowa State lost 5 of its last 7 games, going 3-6 in conference games. The Cyclones' 25.2 points per game ranked 84th nationally, but the Cyclones countered with a strong defense that gave up an average of just 23.3 points per game. Iowa State has not been to the Liberty Bowl since 1972, a 31-30 heartbreaking loss to Georgia Tech.

Tulsa: The Golden Hurricane won their first Conference USA title since 2005 by defeating Central Florida 33-27 in overtime. Tulsa is hoping for a different result than the last time they faced Iowa State: a 38-23 loss in the first game of the 2012 season. The Tulsa defensive front tallied the third-most sacks in the country. The Golden Hurricane are 11th nationally in rushing yards per game.

	Iowa State			Tulsa
Overall Record	6-6		Overall Record	10-3
Conference Record	3-6		Conference Record	7-1
Bowl Record	3-8		Bowl Record	8-10
Last Bowl Win	2009 Insight		Last Bowl Win	2010 Hawaii

All Time Series: 2-0 Iowa State
Line: Iowa State by 1.5

2011 Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl Preview

Date: December 30, 2011 12:00 PM ET

Stadium: Gerald J. Ford Stadium, Dallas, Texas

Payout: $600,000

Played: 2003-present

Former Names: Fort Worth Bowl (2003-2005)

Broadcasters: Dave Neal, Andre Ware

Sideline Reporter: Cara Capuano

All Time Series: 6-1 BYU

Line: Tulsa by 1

	Brigham Young			Tulsa
Overall Record	9-3		Overall Record	8-4
Conference Record	N/A		Conference Record	7-1
Bowl Record	11-17-1		Bowl Record	8-9
Last Bowl Win	2010 New Mexico		Last Bowl Win	2010 Hawaii

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.

C-USA Home Attendance Figures

	East Carolina			Houston
Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium			Robertson Stadium
S5 Tulsa	50,010		S4 Texas State	32,119
S11 Memphis	48,123		S10 UTEP	32,119
O16 NC State	50,410		S25 Tulane	32,007
O23 Marshall	50,145		O9 Mississippi State	32,067
N6 Navy	50,191		N5 UCF	32,008
N26 SMU	49,108		N13 Tulsa	30,046
AVERAGE	49,665		AVERAGE	31,728
	Marshall			Memphis
Edwards Stadium			Liberty Bowl
S10 West Virginia	41,382		S18 Middle Tennessee	27,965
S25 Ohio	28,143		O2 Tulsa	22,231
O13 UCF	23,601		O16 Southern Miss	18,848
O30 UTEP	24,740		O30 Houston	19,731
N13 Memphis	25,108		N6 Tennessee	39,742
N27 Tulane	19,302		N27 UCF	14,992
AVERAGE	27,046		AVERAGE	23,918
	Rice			Southern Methodist
Rice Stadium, Reliant Stadium*			Gerald J. Ford Stadium
S4 Texas*	70,445		S11 UAB	16,612
S18 Northwestern	15,562		S18 Washington State	18,184
S25 Baylor	23,395		S24 TCU	35,481
O2 SMU	14,981		O9 Tulsa	19,329
O16 Houston	26,342		O23 Houston	20,741
N20 East Carolina	15,262		N20 Marshall	17,513
N27 UAB	13,007
AVERAGE	25,571		AVERAGE	21,310
	Southern Miss			Tulane
M.M. Roberts Stadium			Louisiana Superdome
S11 Prairie View A&M	27,316		S2 Southeast Louisiana	20,258
S17 Kansas	30,211		S11 Mississippi	36,389
O2 Marshall	27,518		O9 Army	28,756
O9 East Carolina	32,334		O30 SMU	18,636
O30 UAB	26,415		N6 Southern Miss	22,737
N20 Houston	32,606		N13 Rice	16,698
			N20 UCF	19,069
AVERAGE	29,400		AVERAGE	23,220
	Tulsa			UAB
Chapman Stadium			Legion Field
S11 Bowling Green	19,565		S2 Florida Atlantic	25,885
S25 Central Arkansas	21,928		S18 Troy	23,681
O16 Tulane	23,295		O16 UTEP	11,756
N6 Rice	19,036		N6 Marshall	17,860
N20 UTEP	16,547		N11 East Carolina	14,083
N26 Southern Miss	21,901		N20 Memphis	16,177
AVERAGE	20,379		AVERAGE	18,240
	UCF			UTEP
Bright House Networks Stadium			Sun Bowl
S4 South Dakota	34,373		S4 Arkansas-Pine Bluff	30,029
S11 NC State	43,020		S18 New Mexico State	39,214
O6 UAB	40,281		S25 Memphis	29,765
O23 Rice	38,151		O9 Rice	28,955
O30 East Carolina	40,073		O23 Tulane	25,007
N13 Southern Miss	40,358		N6 SMU	23,127
D4 SMU	41,045
AVERAGE	39,614		AVERAGE	29,350

AVERAGE ATTENDANCE BY SCHOOL

East Carolina	49,665
UCF	39,614
Houston	31,728
Southern Miss	29,400
UTEP	29,350
Marshall	27,046
Rice	25,571
Memphis	23,918
Tulane	23,220
Southern Methodist	21,310
Tulsa	20,379
UAB	18,240