The first bowl game of college football’s 2011 postseason kicks off at 2 p.m.
Eastern on Saturday from Albuquerque, New Mexico, as MAC team Temple faces
Wyoming from the Mountain West. The Owls opened as 7-point favorites on Bovada’s
NCAA football betting odds.
Temple is playing in a
bowl game for just the fourth time in program history and its first since 2009
when the Owls took on UCLA in the EagleBank Bowl. The Owls (8-4), under
first-year head coach Steve Addazio, finished second in the MAC
East this season. Temple’s star is All-MAC running back Bernard
Pierce. The junior ranks No. 2 in the nation in rushing touchdowns with
25 and sixth in yards per game at nearly 126.0 per game. Over the last three
seasons, Temple is 19-2 when Pierce carries the ball at least 18 times per
game.
Sophomore QB Chris Coyer, who started the last
four games, suffered a sprained shoulder in the regular-season finale but should
start. And the Owls’ defense is excellent, ranking behind only LSU and Alabama
in giving up just 13.8 points per game.
Wyoming (8-4) finished third in
the Mountain West behind superpowers TCU and Boise State – all of the Cowboys’
losses came to bowl teams: Nebraska, Utah State, TCU and Boise. QB Brett
Smith was named the MWC Freshman of the Year, going 233-of-385 for
2,495 yards and 18 touchdowns passing and broke Andy Dalton’s
MWC freshman total offense record. The Wyoming defense could have
problems slowing Pierce as it allowed 230.1 rushing yards per game -- sixth
worst in the nation.
Wyoming makes its 13th bowl appearance (6-6) and
second in this game. The Cowboys captured a 35-28 double overtime win over
Fresno State in the 2009 New Mexico Bowl. Temple and Wyoming have met only once,
in 1990.
THE STAGE IS SET: Bet the bowls now at Bovada
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