Picking Every Bowl: Liberty Bowl, Mississippi State vs. Texas Tech

AutoZone Liberty Bowl
December 28
Mississippi State (7-5) vs. Texas Tech (6-6), Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium, Memphis, Tenn., 6:45 p.m., ESPN
Mississippi State -10 – O/U 58.5

Sometime bowl matchups look unfair on the surface. Like this one. Take one of the game’s most potent passing attacks and match it up against one of college’s worst passing defenses. What do we expect to happen? Tune in tonight at 6:45 p.m. and find out. When the Bulldogs have the ball, they won’t have it for long, not because the Red Raiders stop them, but because they won’t be able to slow them down. Remember this name — Archer Trafford. That’s Mississippi State’s punter, and you won’t see much of him tonight. When the Raiders have the ball, they can move it against teams that don’t have good defenses — but Mississippi State has a decent defense. Texas Tech won’t be running the ball against a team that gives up only about 100 yards per game on the ground, so the Raiders will depend on moving through the air — and the Bulldogs are pretty good there, too. Mississippi State has been honed on SEC competition, so it will be ready for a Big 12 team that struggles in a league known for poor defense. That disparity will be on full display in this game.
Prediction: Mississippi State 45-24
Result: Texas Tech 31-7

Record:
Bowl season: SU – 12-8; ATS – 9-11-0; O/U – 9-11-0
Overall: SU – 604-189; ATS – 376-331-6; O/U – 340-361-12

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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