Picking Every Bowl: Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, Kent State vs. Wyoming

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl
Kent State (7-6) vs. Wyoming (6-6), Albertsons Stadium, Boise, Idaho, 3:30 p.m., ESPN
Wyoming -3.5 – O/U 59

The lesser bowl games often match up teams with similar records, but those records don’t tell a true story until you look a little more closely. These two teams, for example, finished their seasons heading in different directions. Kent State, for example, started 1-3, but the Golden Flashes won six of their last eight to claim the MAC Eastern Division title. (They then lost handily to a superior Northern Illinois squad in the MAC Championship.) Wyoming, on the other hand, started 4-0, including a win over Northern Illinois. The Cowboys lost six of their last eight games, including three losses to teams that missed out on the bowl parade. Both teams rely heavily on the run, though Kent State also has a decent passing attack to balance things. The problem for the Flashes is that they also have one of the worst defenses in the nation, while Wyoming has the nation’s 32nd ranked defense. If the Flashes succeed in forcing the Cowboys into a few turnovers (and they were good at that in the regular season), it could be the difference in the game. Look for QB Dustin Crum and RB Marquez Cooper to spark Kent State on a late drive to seal the win.
Prediction: Kent State 31-27
Result: Wyoming 52-38
Note to self: If one of the teams has a truly terrible defense, don’t pick that team. Kent State outgained Wyoming 656-531 and didn’t turn the ball over, yet lost by two touchdowns. Why? The Flashes couldn’t finish drives … AND they couldn’t stop Wyoming from finishing drives. The Cowboys scored the first time they had the ball, then punted three times. After that? Wyoming scored every time it had the ball. Fantasy players will wish they had QB Levi Williams on their team. The freshman only passed for 127 yards and one touchdown, but that’s because he also ran for 200 yards and scored four times on the ground.

Record:
Bowl season: SU – 6-5; ATS – 3-8-0; O/U – 5-6-0
Overall: SU – 600-187; ATS – 372-329-6; O/U – 338-357-12

About Douglas Blaine

Capnpen is a writer who was a newspaper and magazine journalist in a previous life. A college journalism major, he now works as an English teacher, but gets his writing fix by blogging about a variety of topics, including politics, religion, movies and television. When he's not working or blogging, Capnpen spends time with his family, plays a little golf (badly) and loves to learn about virtually anything.

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