With the 2015-16 NCAA Football Bowl Games in play we take a look at the Idaho Potato Bowl Game that is played on Tuesday the 22nd of December 2015 with 7-5 Akron Zips (MAC Conference) playing the 6-6 Utah State Aggiese (Mountain West Conference) with the game being played at Alberstons Stadium in Boise, Idaho with kick-off scheduled for 3:35 PM ET and seen on ESPN TV.
For those that Bet on College football the Vegas odds on this Idaho Potato Bowl have the Utah State Aggiese favored at -7 -105 with the Over/under at 48 and -260 on the Money Line, while the underdog Akron Zips are at +7 -115 and +220 on the ML.
This Bowl game is only the second bowl appearance in the school history for the Akron Zips. Meanwhile the Utah State Aggiese are refreshed after ending their season with a 2 and 4 run to finish. Thus, fans are wondering if the Aggies can comeback or will the Zips continue their winning?
For the fans of the 7-5 Akron Zips the team plans to win with their strong defense, since their defense against the run has been incredible. Plus their pass defense is also very strong and the start 7 seniors on defense. Remember they make few mistakes, and their front seven has held opponents this season to just 89.7 yards rushing each game.
Staring in their defensive line-up is their senior LB J. Brown who was selected as the Defensive Player of the Year for the MAC Conference. He led the Zips defense with 109 tackles, 11 sacks and 18 tackles for a loss this season, and had 3 games with more than 1 sack, and forced three fumbles to date. Brown is accompanied by CB D. Scott in the secondary who to date has 6 interceptions. That’s the defense that they believe can stop the Aggies strong spread attack system, and run down the clock by stopping the Akron RB C. Hundley who this season rushed for 10 touchdowns and 885 yards.
The Zips QB T. Woodson actually is a stronger runner than he is a passer as he rushed for 545 yards and 3 touchdowns, while passing he passed for 2,35 yards and 16 touchdowns but had 10 interceptions this season.
For the fans of the 6-6 Utah State Aggies will be playing in this Idaho Potato Bowl for the 4th time, but on this occasion their QB C. Keeton is returning from a knee injury, but he struggled in the last 2 game this season in which he started. He only completed some 46.2 percent of his pass attempts for a mere 352 yards and 1 TD and 1 interception.
Regardless which QB they choose for the start, he will target WR H. Sharp, as a senior who missed the 1st 2 games was still able to accumulate some 747 yards of receptions and 8 touchdowns. Since the Aggies have WR Sharp they feel they can gain on the Akron defense against the pass which has allowed opponents some 239 yards passing and that ranks 88th in FBS. But we must remember WR Sharp will be going up against Zips CG D. Scott which my decrease his production on receptions.
On defense the Aggies have some talented players that helped to rank them 14th in passing defense for the FBS, as they held opponents to only 181 yards per game via the air passages. Their LB’s in L Fackrell and N. Vigil are the team anchors with Fackrell recovering 5 fumble and had 14 tackles for a loss this season and was selected to the All-Mountain West team, while his compatriot Vigil had 140 tackles this season of which 13 were for a loss to date.
Since 2012 the Utah State Aggiese have won on 3 bowl games that they played in. The online sportsbook prediction for this game is that the Akron Zips will upset the Utah State Aggiese and take the Idaho Bowl Title back to Akron.