The prime time 2015-16 NCAA Football Bowl Games for Thursday the 31st of Decembers. New Year’s Eve brings us the 1st of 3 Bowl Games which is the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl with the 12-1 No.18 Houston Cougars (1st AAC-West) playing the 10-2 No. 9 Florida State Seminoles (ACC-Atlantic) with the game being played at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia with kick-off scheduled for 12:05 PM ET and seen on ESPN TV.
The early odds for those that Bet on College football have the Florida State Seminoles favored at -7, -105 with the Over/under at 55 ½ and -270 on the Money Line, while the Houston Cougars are listed as the underdogs at +7, -115 and +230 on the ML. Yes this Holiday season for football fans is about the upcoming and exciting football Peach Bowl Game match-ups! Both teams are seeking a victory to end their 2015 season in a high note and adding to their win column.
Continue reading and we will try to preview the AAC as well as the ACC teams that are matched-up for the Peach Bowl game.
The fans of the 12-1 Houston Cougars, now know that their teams tough loss to UConn in late November was not the true Cougars, as their team’s offense for the season averaged 476 total offensive yards and 39.8 points each game. That was a result of their QB G. Ward Jr. a junior passed for some 16 touchdowns and 2,592 yards on the season with just 5 intercepts.
Their offensive running game was their strongest sector as they averaged some 238 yards per game rushing, which ranked 14 in the FBS. This can also be attributed to their QB Ward Jr. as he rushed for 1,042 yards and 19 touchdowns on the season. Close behind was RB K. Farrow who had 12 touchdowns on the season and 950 yards rushing? The 2 will find the going tough against a Seminoles defense that has only allowed opponents some 139.8 yards rushing this season.
QB Ward will therefore have to seek out his favorite target in WR D. Ayers to bring back their passing game which averages some 240 yard each game via the airways. WR Ayers on the season had 89 receptions, 6 touchdowns and 1,142 yards on receptions and has averages some 12.7 yards on each of his receptions.
Defensively the Cougars need to at their best, as the FSU RB D. Cook ranks 6th in the FBS with 18 touchdowns and 1,660 yards rushing for the season, and therefore they need their defensive front 7 who this season has only allowed opponents some 122.4 yards passing per game to continue their efforts. The Cougars in their last 5 games have 4 wins and 1 loss, and haven’t played against FSU since back in the 1978 season.
For the fans of the 10-2 Florida State Seminoles, the team has had a good year with a handful of players stepping up their performances to make it a winning season. One of those players was RB D. Cook a sophomore who made believers of the fans as he rushed for 1,660 yards leading the ACC, and scored 18 touchdowns. That was after his rookie season when he rushed for 1,008 yards and 8 touchdowns in that his freshman year. In his game against South Florida he rushed for 268 yards and 3 touchdowns, and to date had 4 straight 100 plus yard games.
RB Cook is great, but he can’t handle the feat alone since the Cougars defense has only allowed this season an average of 20.4 points each game. Their QB S. Maguire took over the helm with 7 games remaining, and he passed for 9 touchdowns and 1,130 yards with a passing percent of 90% over those 7 games, and he will need to connect with his receivers trio of K. Whitfield, J. Wilson and T. Rudolph. Whitfield led the team with 742 yards of receptions followed by Rudolph with 715 reception yards and each scored 6 touchdowns on the season, while Wilson had 554 yards on receptions and 2 touchdowns. These 3 receivers certainly will let the Cougars defensive secondary know who they are, since the Houston defense has allowed opponents some 262 yards passing each game.
Defense is the Seminoles best weapon which they describe as their breathtaking defense of 2015. This season the Seminole defense has only allowed opponents some 16 points each game and total offensive yardage of 333 yards per game, and they will need to be at their best against the powerful, high scoring Cougars offense. In their ultimate 10 games the Seminoles are with 9 wins and 1 loss straight up.
The online sportsbook prediction in the Peach Bowl game is that the Seminole of FSU will not cover the spread of -7, but they will beat the Houston Cougars with the final score being predicted with FSU 30 and Houston 27.