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FIESTA BOWL
1/3/08
WEST VIRGINIA VS OKLAHOMA
Have you had enough of the Bowls by this point? Wouldn't it make more sense to finish all the Bowls up by New Years Day, and then save the Title game for after the 1st? Enough already. The way they stretch it out kind of takes some of the fun out of it.
I, for one, am glad we don't have to watch West Virginia in the title game. I wasn't impressed with them this year. Aside from struggling against Louisville, and losing to Pitt when all they needed was a win to go to the big game, they were also unimpressive in some wins. Due to careless play, they almost let Cincinnati back in their game with them at the end and they lost to South Florida who was blown out in their Bowl game against Oregon.
The numbers look good for West Virginia, and hey, good numbers are good numbers no matter who you've played I guess. How about averaging almost 300 yards rushing per game???? You'd have done quite well if you took the better rushing teams in all the Bowl games this year. But the big equalizer to that trend may be the coaching situation at WVA (Rodriguez left for Mich). Teams playing without their head coach this Bowl season are winless I believe as of this writing. I guess the "win one for coach" angle doesn't work.
Oklahoma puts up some nice numbers as well. But, like WVA, their dance card isn't exactly loaded either. They lost to Colorado and Texas Tech. That right there should suggest West Virginia has a chance to win this one. To their credit, they did knock off Mizzu twice, blew out Texas A&M and beat Texas.
Without the coaching situation at WVA, we'd probably look to make a small play on WVA. The numbers support a play on WVA, having this game about even, while the strength of schedule is also about even. But without the head man to implement the game plan, to maintain the discipline, going up against an Oklahoma team with all the coaching pieces in place as it's been all year, that may be enough to create a decisive edge for Oklahoma.
2* Oklahoma -7.5