These bowl names are totally classic. 

Last night

LA Tech 51, SMU 10

Rough start for new SMU coach Sonny Dykes in Frisco. It was painful. Sorry Bama and Walter, I missed this one badly. LA Tech coach Skip Holtz is super solid. The Bulldogs were awesome on both sides of the ball. C-USA is on fire at 4-2 in the bowl games. Crafty O’Neal is a happy guy right now. He’ll be even happier if his Blazers come through tomorrow against Ohio in the Bahamas Bowl. Nice trip for the Blazers. 

Tonight

Bad Boys Mowers Gaspirilla Bowl

Florida International Panthers (8-4, 5-3 CUSA) vs. Temple Owls (6-6, 4-4 American Athletic)

Tropicana Field, St. Pete, FL. (42,735)

7 CT

ESPN

Anish Shroff, Mike Golic Jr., Roddy Jones

Whistles: MAC, Tim O’Dey, Aladdin Lead Lauderer

Temple by 7

The Panthers

Butch Davis has done a superb job with his FIU football team. He’s quite a coach. They defeated Marshall, 41-30, on Oct. 28th which is an impressive victory considering Marshall just upset Colorado State in the New Mexico Bowl, 31-28, last Saturday in Albuquerque and  looked very solid in the process. The Panthers lost to UCF in their season opener, 61-17, lost to Camellia Bowl winner Middle Tennessee, 37-17, and lost to Florida Atlantic, 52-24 on Nov. 18th, but finished the season with impressive victories over Western Kentucky, 41-17, and UMass, 63-45. Western Ky lost last Saturday in the Cure Bowl to Georgia State, 27-17. Middle Tennessee defeated Arkansas State in the Camellia Bowl last Saturday in Montgomery, 35-30.

But I watched the UMass victory in which the Panthers lit up the scoreboard with some major offense. Quarterback Alex McGough has completed 231-of-354 passes, 65%, for 2,791 yards and 17 TDs against 8 ints. Running back Alex Gardner has rushed for 765 yards and 6 TDs. Their leading wide receiver, Thomas Owens, who hauled in 59 passes for 887 yards and 6 TDs, has been out with an injury and will miss this game. But freshman Bryce Singleton had a massive game against UMass catching 6 passes for 111 yards and 3 TDs. McGough completed 20-of-25 passes for 295 yards and 3 TDs and 1 int vs UMass, and Garnder rushed for 108 yards and 2 TDs. This is offense is high octane.

On defense, linebacker Treyvon Williams leads the team in tackles with 82. Williams has 6 tackles for loss and 2 sacks. Defensive end Fermin Silva is dominant off the edge with 14 1/2 tackles for loss and 6 sacks. Cornerback Brad Muhammed has 4 interceptions on the season. He’s taken 1 back to the house. 

The Owls

Temple is led by Coach Geoff Collins who has SEC roots as a defensive coordinator under former MS. State coach and now Florida coach Dan Mullen, and as a d coordinator under former Florida coach Jim McElwain. The Owls have been a solid team also. 

Frank Nutile has taken over at quarterback from the injured Logan Marchi, and has done a stellar job for the most part, completing 104-of-171 passes, 61%, for 1,346 yard and 11 TDs. He has thrown 7 interceptions in 7 games though. The Owls leading rusher is Ryquell Armstead , who has for 553 yards on 141 carries, only 3.9 per carry with 4 TDs. Keith Kirkwood is the Owls leading receiver with 39 receptions for 575 yards and 7 TDs. 

On defense, the Owls are tied for 13th nationally in tackles for loss with 78 for a loss of 360 yards. Northern Illinois, “are you kiddin me?”, leads the country with 91 for -418 yards. Defensive end Sharif Finch, leads the defense in tackles for loss with 12 1/2 and has added 7 1/2 sacks. The other bookend, Jacob Martin, has posted 11 1/2 tackles for loss and is the team leader in sacks with 8. Defensive tackle Jullian Martin has added 10 tackles for loss. Linebacker Shaun Bradley leads the team in tackles with 81 and has posted 10 for loss. Strong safety Delvon Randall is the team leader in interceptions with 4. 

Temple lost to Notre Dame in game one, 49-10, at South Bend, and has losses to South Florida, 43-7, on the road, Houston, 20-13, at home, UConn, 28-24, at home, Army, 31-28, at West Point, and UCF, 45-19, at home. But they were victorious in their last game of the season at Tulsa, 43-22, and captured a huge victory over Navy, 34-26, at home on Oct. 21st in which Nutile and the team were super impressive.

Verdict

I like both of these teams, but I’m bullish on Butch Davis and this explosive Panthers’ offense. I like the Panthers in an upset. C-USA keeps on cookin.  

FIU 38, Temple 31