The first five Bowl games from the 2018 season are now in the history books and they pretty much went as expected. Only one game was close but there was still plenty of points racked up and some outstanding individual performances.
LAS VEGAS BOWL Fresno State 31 – Arizona State 20 Attendance 37,146
Sophomore running back Ronnie Rivers stole the show rushing for 212 yards and two touchdowns as No. 19 Fresno State got the Group of Fives opening win over a Power Five team. At 12-2 Fresno can look back with pride on the Schools most successful season ever. The Sun Devils are on the up but couldn’t capitalise on getting three turnovers in consecutive drives. However, they are improving and could be a force in the PAC-12 next season providing they get a decent QB to replace Wilkins.
We tipped Arizona for the win which was our only losing selection of the night
CURE BOWL Tulane 41 – Louisiana 24
This was a strange game in which Tulane dominated time of possession & yardage, however with 10 Minutes to play they only had a 3 point lead. It was pretty entertaining for the neutral and after the Cajuns took an early lead Tulane racked up a 21-7 halftime lead. However, the Cajuns didn’t roll over and it took a turnover on Downs in their own half late in the game to finally let Tulane put this one to bed.
CAMELLIA BOWL Georgia Southern 23- East Michigan 21
As expected this was a close game and quite exciting, with Tyler Bass kicking the winning Field Goal as time expired. Not surprisingly Georgia Southern relied on their ground offence almost exclusively racking up 331 yards rushing and only 33 yards passing!
East Michigan threw the ball a whole lot more but struggled to convert on 3rd down and although they did briefly take the lead with less than 4 minutes left, Tyler Bass’s third field goal clinched the win which Georgia Southern just about deserved. Bass looks like an NFL kicker in the making and his 50 yarder as time expired in the first half was probably the key play of the game. Despite defences largely being on top there were no fumbles or interceptions.
We predicted a Georgia Southern win in a close hard fought game.
NEW ORLEANS BOWL Appalachian State 45 – Mid Tennessee 13 Attendance: 23,942
We along with most tipsters we expected this to be a bit of a blowout and that’s how it turned out, but not before Mid Tennesee took a shock lead which lasted for the 1st Quarter. Then Appalachian State racked up 24 unanswered points. Although Mid Tenessee made it 24-6 at the half the result was never in doubt from that point. Although Mid Tennessee managed to rack up yards they struggled when it mattered only converting 5 out of 15 3rd & 4th down attempts. They couldn’t even capitalise on 3 turnovers and the Mountaineers even threw a few trick plays in to add to what was a bit of a carnival atmosphere towards the end. It now remains to be seen whether interim head coach Mark Ivey gets the job full time.
Our prediction was for an easy Appalachian State win.
NEW MEXICO BOWL Utah State 52 – North Texas 13
Utah State came into the game minus their head coach who likes so many this year is heading for pastures new. However, as we expected they had little trouble seeing off North Texas routing them thanks to a blistering first-half performance which saw them go in leading 38-7. Surprisingly NT had the bulk of the possession but just couldn’t move the ball. The final yardage stats were 556 -295 with Utah State passing for 353. Ok, this was a beat down but considering North Texas were 1-11 in 2015 the coaching staff has done well and they will be bringing the bulk of the team back in 2019 so hopefully, they can make it fourth time lucky (this was their third consecutive Bowl Loss).
We predicted an easy Utah win.
So that’s 5 down and 35 to go and the scores on the doors so far are:
Mountain West 2 Wins
Sun Belt 2 Wins
American 1 Win
