Oregon State (6-6) vs. Boise State (8-4)

Where: Aloha Stadium, Honolulu (50,000)

8 PM ET/ 7 CT

ESPN

Steve Levy, Looooou Holtz, and May Day; Maria Taylor on the sidelines

Weather: Hawaii, are you kiddin me? 80, perfect

Maybe a Barack Obama sighting possible if he’s come over for his 17 day vacation

Stripes: ACC, Gary Patterson, head ref

Line: Oregon State by 3

Oregon State is led by Coach Mike Riley while Boise State will be coached by Bob Gregory for this game before Bryan Harsin takes over in 2014. Harsin is coming from Arkansas State after being offensive coordinator at Boise State under Chris Peterson before taking the revolving door that is the Arkansas State job last year. Peterson is now at Washington.

Oregon State:

Quarterback Sean Mannion has completed 376-of-570 passes (66%) for 4,403 yards and 36 touchdowns against 14 interceptions. His favorite target is wide receiver Brandin Cooks, who won the Biletnikoff Award as the nation’s top receiver. Cooks caught 120 passes for 1,670 yards and 15 TDs. Terron Ward is OSU’s leading rusher with 467 yards on 104 carries and four  TDs. Storm Woods has rushed for 37o yards and five TDs. OSU’s leading tackler is junior safety Tyrequek Zimmerman, who has 93 tackles on the season. Cornerbacks Rashaad Reynolds and Steven Nelson lead the team and are tied for the PAC 12 lead for interceptions with six. Nelson, Ryan Murphy and Sean Martin all have returned an interception for a TD this season. OSU is tied for fifth in the country in interceptions with 19. OSU scores 34.5 points per game and allows 32.1, 95th in FBS.

Boise State:

Boise State suspended starting quarterback Joe Southwick for a violation of team rules at the hotel they were staying at. Southwick contested the suspension, but it looks like it held up. So junior Grant Hedrick will get the start and he’s been good. Hedrick is 135-of-198 (68.2%) for 1,443 yards, 15 TDs and five ints. The Broncos have a good starting running back in Jay Ajayi, who has rushed for 1,328 yards and 17 TDs.  Matt Miller is an excellent receiver with 77 receptions for 934 yards and 11 TDs. On defense, junior defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence is a beast at 6’3″, 245. Lawrence has 19.5 tackles for loss of 98 yards and 10.5 sacks.

Final Analysis:

Boise State is always  competitive. They had it really going a couple of years ago, but slipped off a little bit this year, but I still like their program a lot. They’ll be charged up and this backup quarterback, Grant Hedrick, has some good numbers. But I like the Pac 12 in this one. I looked at some comparative scores and they both lost to Washington; Boise State in the first game of the season, 38-6, and OSU, on Nov.23rd, 69-27. Oregon State did beat San Diego State, 34-30, on Sept. 21, and Boise State lost to San Diego State, 34-31, on Nov.23. I’ll just have to go with the better offense here because both defenses are OK and have some good players, but I expect Oregon State to throw it around a little better. Plus, OSU is really battle tested having played in the ultra competitive Pac 12 this season. They took Oregon to the wire and almost knocked them off @ Oregon, losing 36-35 on Nov.29th. So I’ll go with Mike Riley and his Oregon State team here. But not by a lot. Should be a really good game.

Oregon State 38, Boise 34

Bowl record: 4-1; Overall: 129-44 (75%)