When: Saturday, December 21, at 5:30 p.m. ET
Where: Bronco Stadium Boise, ID
Watch: ESPN
Over/Under: 50 points
Spread: San Diego State (-2)
The 16th Famous Idaho Potato bowl puts the 8-4 Buffalo Bulls out of the MAC going up against the 7-5 San Diego State Aztecs out of the MWC.
History
The bulls started the season off going 0-2 losing at Ohio State 40-20 and losing at Baylor 70-13 they would eventually going on a 7 game winning streak finishing the season 8-4. As for the Aztecs they are the only team this year to start o-3 and still make it to a bowl game, they also lost to Ohio State on the road 42-7. This is only the second time the Bulls have gone bowling in program history the only other bowl they have played was in 2009 against Connecticut in the International Bowl which the Bulls lost 38-20. This is the Aztecs 8th bowl in program history, their overall record in bowl games is 2-6 only getting wins over Boston University in 1969 and against Navy in 2010.
Impact Players
The top player from both teams are RB Branden Oliver Buffalo, and QB Quinn Kaehler San Diego State.
Branden Oliver is one of the most underrated RB in college football, this season he has rushed for 1,421 yards with 15 touchdowns. As a senior he is going to enter the draft at the end of the season, I currently have him coming off the board late in the 3rd round.
Quinn Kaehler didn’t start the season as he was going through an injury the first week when the Aztecs were upset by Eastern Illinois 40-19. Even though he missed the first week he still managed to gather more than 2,700 yards passing and 17 touchdowns.
Another player to watch in this bowl game is Khalil Mack OLB Buffalo he has been the leader on the defensive side of the ball. All he did this season was dominate again with 10.5 sacks and he is now tied with Jason Babin for most career tackles for loss record with 75 over his career. Mack also holds the record for forced fumbles with 16 and should break Babin’s career record if he can manage to get in the Aztecs’ backfield.
As a team the Bulls and the Aztecs are both on the lower end of FBS rankings. The Aztecs come in with the 62nd ranked offense only averaging 422 yards per game, but they are going against the 38th ranked defense in FBS as the Bulls only allow 376.3 yards per game.
Predictions
I think the Bulls are going to over power the Aztecs and get the win 28-20 and become 1-1 in the bowl season as the Aztecs lose again becoming 2-7. Bold predictions of the game is that OLB Khalil Mack records a turnover and Branden Oliver rushes for more than 175 yards.
Buffalo: 28-20