Picking Every Bowl: Guaranteed Rate Bowl, West Virginia vs. Minnesota

Guaranteed Rate Bowl
December 28
West Virginia (6-6) vs. Minnesota (8-4), Chase Field, Phoenix, 10:15 p.m., ESPN
Minnesota -5 – O/U 45

If you get tired of seeing a lot of points being scored in the Liberty and Holiday Bowls, tune in for this game, where the combined score might be less than the winning team has in either of those two games. Both West Virginia and Minnesota average about 26 points on offense (ranked 80th and 85th respectively), and the Mountaineers give up about 24 points on defense. The big difference between the two teams is Minnesota’s defense. It allows about 284 yards per game and 18 points per game (ranked 4th and 9th nationally). West Virginia is decent at passing, but terrible at running the ball. Minnesota will stuff the Mountaineers on the ground and force them to pin all their hopes on the passing game. The Gophers aren’t great at picking off passes, but they are among the best at keeping teams from moving the ball. West Virginia isn’t bad on defense, so it’s likely this could be a grinding game that’s decided by the offense that can get a little more push and/or the defense that gets just enough push. That should be the Gophers, who have held opponents under 20 points in eight out of 12 games. Tonight, make that nine out of 13.
Prediction: Minnesota 24-17
Result: Minnesota 18-6

Record:
Bowl season: SU – 13-8; ATS – 10-11-0; O/U – 10-11-0
Overall: SU – 605-189; ATS – 377-331-6; O/U – 341-361-12

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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