Sun Bowl Pick
Miami Florida
vs.
Washington State
12/26/15
Washington State wasn’t supposed to be much of anything this season, but here they are as a favorite in the Sun Bowl against Miami (FL). They’ll take on a Miami team that has once again disappointed for much of the season, although can’t be too disappointed playing in a bowl Game. The Cougars are currently a -3 point favorite at betonline Sportsbook.
Wazzu has had an improbable season to say the least. After losing to Portland State in the opener, no one expected the Cougars to finish with six wins in Pac-12 play, yet they closed with an 8-4 overall record. Wins at Oregon, Arizona and UCLA highlighted their season, although they fell apart at Washington in the regular season finale. This is still a team that showed its strength between the first and last Games of the year.
Miami has kind of been the same way, also with an 8-4 record. The Hurricanes had chances to compete in the ACC’s Coastal division, but when tasked with better teams in the conference, they didn’t stand a chance. They lost 58-0 to Clemson at home and then 59-21 at North Carolina later in the year. Still, credit has to be given to the ‘Canes for winning Four of their last five Games, with the final one coming at Pittsburgh.
This should be a fun Game for a number of reasons. Neither defense is all that great and both have been in plenty of high scoring, close Games this season.
Miami’s main task will be slowing down Washington State’s passing attack. The ‘Canes are allowing just under 200 passing yards per Game and that’s their strong suit, so that will be a disadvantage for the Cougars coming into this one.
WSU quarterback LUke Falk is back after having a concussion and that’ll be a big boost for this offense. Falk has improved a ton this year with 36 TDs and 8 INTs while completing 70.7% of his passes. In addition, he’s Fourth in the country in passing yards even though he missed the final Game of the year. While Miami has a good pass defense, Falk has shown he can succeed against anyone, throwing for 354 yards and a couple touchdowns against Stanford earlier in the year. But still, considering how bad Miami’s run defense is, it wouldn’t be surprising if RB Gerard Wicks had more carries than usual. Granted, that will still only be in the 10-15 range.
The Cougars defense hasn’t really stopped anyone this year outside of Colorado, which is a reason this Game will have plenty of scoring.
The Hurricanes have a more balanced attack and could start the Game by running the ball more in order to keep Falk off the field. Joseph Yearby is having a good year with 939 yards and 6 TDs, but as a team Miami is only averaging 3.6 yards per carry. Brad Kaaya hasn’t been relied upon as much as last year and that has helped this team. He still has decent numbers with 15 TDs and 4 INTs, but those are a far cry from 2014. But if Miami does fall behind, Kaaya can air it out and has the guys to do it with speedy Stacy Coley and Rashawn SCott out wide.
This one should be a fun Game with scoring on both sides and the spread seems about right as Miami doesn’t have many trends in its favor.
The Cougars have been solid this year and have covered in LUke Falk’s last eight starts, which is pretty significant, while the Hurricanes have failed to cover in five straight neutral-site Games.
Our Pick – Miami Florida +3