Two Mountain West opponents meet in the First Addition of the Nova Home Loans Arizona Bowl on December 29th, 2015 in Tucson. While the game will be televised on the teams’ local stations of the teams involved, it will also be available via live stream through Campus Insiders.
Nevada (6-6) and Colorado State (7-5) did not play each other during the regular season due to the conference’s unbalanced schedule rotation. They will get their chance on Tuesday. There should be plenty of offense in this one, which isn’t a bad thing when you’re trying to get a bowl game over for the people.
Bowl: Nova Home Loans Arizona Bowl
Teams: Nevada Wolfpack vs Colorado State Rams
Date/Time: December 29, 2015 – 7:30 EST
Location: Arizona Stadium, Tucson, AZ
Vegas Line/Total: Rams -3.5 / O/U 55.5
Written by: Erik the Hun
6 – 6 Record – 7 – 4 – 1 Vs Spread Over – Under: 4 – 8 11/28/15 @ San Diego State L 14-31 P 17 U 48.5 |
7 – 5 Record – 6 – 5 – 1 Vs Spread Over – Under: 7 – 5 11/28/15 @ Fresno State W 34-31 L -10.5 O 60.5 |
December 24, 2009 – Hawaiʻi Bowl – Nevada 10 – 45 SMU January 9, 2011 – Fight Hunger Bowl – Nevada 20 – 13 Boston College December 24, 2011 – Hawaiʻi Bowl – Nevada 17 – 24 Southern Miss December 15, 2012 – New Mexico Bowl – Nevada 48 – 49 Arizona December 20, 2014 – New Orleans Bowl – Nevada 3 – 16 LA–Lafayette |
December 20, 2014 – Las Vegas Bowl – Rams 10 – 45 Utah December 21, 2013 – New Mexico Bowl – Rams 48 – 45 Wash St. December 20, 2008 – New Mexico Bowl – Rams 40 – 35 Fresno St. December 22, 2005 – Poinsettia Bowl – Rams 30 – 51 Navy December 31, 2003 – San Francisco Bowl – Rams 21 – 35 BC |
Nevada Outlook:
Nick Rolovich accepted the head coaching position at Hawaii, so wide receivers’ coach Jim Hofer will be taking over duties in his place.
Things can only improve this year as Nevada ranks 87th in the nation, scoring only 26.1 points a game. Inconsistent play at the quarterback position has plagued the Wolf Pack throughout the year. QB Tyler Stewart only completed 180 passes for 2064 yards with 15 touchdowns and seven interceptions.
In any success that they did have, they counted on their running game. Two 1000-yard rushers, tailbacks James Butler and Don Jackson, were absolute workhorses for the Wolf Pack offense. Butler tallied 1156 yards on 184 carries and found the end zone eight times, while senior Don Jackson ran for 1026 yards on 220 carries for another eight touchdowns.
While the passing game struggled, Hassan Henderson and Jerico Richardson managed to give a little balance to the offense through the air. Henderson recorded 50 catches for 709 yards and four touchdowns. Richardson, the team’s leading receiver, caught 64 passes for 707 yards and five more end zone appearances. Tight end Jarred Gipson had only 19 grabs, but five of those were good for scores.
The Nevada defense is giving up 27.1 points and 188.8 rushing yards a contest. Ian Seau has nine sacks, and Dameon Baber has six interceptions for Nevada. The Wolf Pack are plus eight in turnover margin this year.
Colorado State Outlook:
The Rams finished third in the Mountain West, winning their last four games to get here, and have beaten Nevada in 11 of the last 13 meetings. Offensive coordinator Mike Bobo, who was Georgia’s offensive guru the last eight seasons, has the offense pointed in the right direction and is a big reason why Colorado State hung tough all year.
The major recipient of Bobo’s teachings is quarterback Nick Stevens. Stevens set the program’s sophomore record, passing for 2369 yards and a Mountain-West leading 21 touchdowns. The sophomores 12 interceptions on the year shows there is still room for improvement.
The bulk of Colorado State’s running game was lead by two running backs. Senior Jason Oden ran for 695 yards on 146 carries and five touchdowns and will be playing in his college football finale. Sophomore tailback Dayln Dawkins lead the team with 805 yards and reached pay dirt twice, while freshmen Izzy Mathews also pitched in by scoring five touchdowns on only 85 attempts.
After being banged up through the middle part of the season, big-play wide receiver Rashard Higgins is back to his old ways. Higgins has caught a touchdown in his last four games, pushing his total to eight. The graceful Higgins reeled in 65 catches and 932 yards for the year. His counterpart, senior Joe Hansley, caught 26 balls for 384 yards and eight more scores.
All-Conference middle linebacker Cory James leads a defense that allowed 27.2 points a game, ranking 7th in the Mountain West. The Rams allowed 394.2 yards a game, with the lion share of that yardage coming via the run (208.1 yards a game). If Colorado State wants to keep Nevada on the sidelines, they will have to show improvement against a stout running attack on Tuesday.
Match-up Analysis & Prediction
Analysis:
This game features two teams from the same conference, which is very rare for a non-playoff bowl match-up. Nebraska and Oklahoma squared off in the Orange Bowl in 1979, that was the only other year in bowl history that featured teams from the same conference.
Nevada finished the season with two straight losses and struggled to score consistently. The Wolf Pack struggles to throw the ball, so they will need to get the ground game going early if they hope to stay with the Rams.
Colorado State finished the season on a high note and have a more balanced attack. With the progression of their sophomore quarterback and a sound running game, the Rams will test Nevada’s inconsistent defense all game long.
Both teams played with average defenses this year, so I expect that this game could be close. Colorado State and Nevada need to play mistake-free football and take advantage of field position if they want to come out victorious in the Nova Home Loans Arizona Bowl.
Prediction:
To get further analysis from Ej the Rainmaker and Erik the Hun, check out our audio preview of the Arizona Bowl using the audio file below…
