Holiday Bowl
Background:
The two teams have never met.Texas: 5 Straight Wins through Big 12 competition before a demoralizing loss to Texas A&M
Arizona State: 1 Loss to Arizona
Texas Advantages:
They come out of arguably the toughest conference in the nation, the Big 12.
Both teams are virtually even on offense and defense, but Texas holds the upper hand in talent.
Arizona is closer, but I have no doubt that there's a lot more die-hard Texas fans willing to make the trip.
Colt McCoy is a great Scrambling QB, just the facet they may need to win this game.
Ryan Bailey won't make any All-Kicking lists, but he's pretty solid as far as Kickers go.
Texas Disadvantages:
They lost against arguably sub-par opponents Texas A&M and Kansas State.
The team is largely inconsistent.
Struggled against vastly inferior competition such as UCF, Nebraska, and Oklahoma State.
If one was to write one word about the Texas season, in most peoples minds the word would be underachievement.
Colt McCoy will likely get intercepted more than once by an excellent Arizona State pass defense.
Arizona State Advantages:
Their only two losses were to USC and Oregon, which is not embarassing at all.
They beat all of their opponents quite handily.
Dennis Erickson comes from lowly Idaho to Arizona State. This, after a long ago and successful previous run with Miami. He then turns the Sun Devils from hapless under Dirk Koetter to almost BCS.
With both teams having spicy run defense, it's likely that the game will be decided through the air....and Rudy Carpenter is much less interception-prone than Colt McCoy.
Their kicker, Thomas Weber, is near perfect on the season, having only missed one extra poins and one 30 some yarder on the season. His range caps out at about 50, though.
Arizona State Disadvantages:
They haven't really proven themselves by beaten a really strong team.
They may be dissapointed at their lower bowl positioning.
They have no go to guy in the rushing game, preferring to spread it among 3 players.
I highly doubt this team is very deep. One injury could entirely tilt the game.
Writer Predictions:
Jason Frost: Arizona State. Texas has shown a significant liability with their inability to stop the pass, while their offense has been largly inconcistant. Expect Arizona State to pass the ball and win by a TD.
OKLuschen: Texas. Arizona State led by coach Dennis Erickson is a good story, but Texas has the talent advantage. Colt McCoy and Jamaal Charles should be too much to handle for Arizona State. A traditional shootout in San Diego will result in a Longhorn victory, should be a fun game to watch.
Zorgon: Arizona State. Ah, the bowl of disappointment. Almost every team that ever lands in the Holiday Bowl usually had higher expectations, and is looking for a positive way to finish an otherwise bad season. In this case, Arizona State has the upper hand on a Texas team that could have easily been 6-6 and staring at Poinsettias or nothing at all.
Bottom Line: Texas 1, Arizona State 2
