Rose has 3 Bowl Winners Thu
He ust won his 10* & is rolling. For the last 3 years, Rose has ended the Bowl season on a tear. He just won his 10* Monday and is ready for a PERFECT 3-0 Day Thursday - 3 CFBs Thurs - THE EARLY ONE included - $30 -
Mike Rose
2 Units - North Carolina
CONTINENTAL TIRE BOWL
A little wary of fading the Eagles and HC O’Brien’s tremendous bowl record, but we’re simply playing the hot motivated Tarheels squad looking to get HC Bunting his second career bowl win. We rode UNC’s bus to close out the regular season, and they didn’t disappoint. They went a stellar 4-0 ATS and 3-1 SU knocking off Miami at home and won and covered against two ACC rivals on the road. I’ve been a big fan of “The Gunslinger” Darian Durant throughout his collegiate career and have no problems backing him for his last start as the UNC field general. Man, I still remember way back in 2001 when he came off the bench and rallied UNC to help me cash my 10* over Oklahoma to open the season. Oh, how time flies!!! Anyway, BC literally soiled themselves and their season with their pathetic loss at home to Syracuse that knocked them out of BCS bowl contention. There’s just no way the Eagles will be up for this one, and playing it in UNC’s backyard will make them that much more lackadaisical towards competing. Statistically, BC has the advantage, so you’re probably shaking your head while reading my analysis. However, lack of interest in this particular bowl, motivation, and the fact that I believe UNC has the better athletes in this match-up has me backing the Tarheels as the short home chalk. So get out your old UNC MJ #23 jersey, and start rooting for the men in powder blue.
Mike Rose
3 Units - Northern Illiniois
SILICON VALLEY CLASSIC
It’s been a long time coming for this group from DeKalb, Illinois as the bowl committee snubbed them a year ago. The Huskies have finally been invited to go bowling for the first time since HC Novak took the program over nine years ago. As stated before, it’s been a long time coming as the Huskies have experienced loads of success since the year 2000, and were the only 10 win team a year ago not to go on to the second season. This isn’t the best Husky unit of that time, but they’re still a bit better than their counterpart this evening. Troy St. is a damn good football team that’s given everyone they played a major run for their money. Heck, the went into “Death Valley” and put a major scare into the LSU Tigers. That being said, they just don’t have the offense to win this game. N. ILL has a potent attacking unit led by Sr. QB Josh Haldi whose been dying to go bowling since taking over the reigns three years ago. The Huskies “O” averages a little over 450 YPG and 36 PPG, while the Trojans average a meager 283 YPG and 24 PPG. As you can see, N. ILL outclasses them tremendously in that department. What the Trojans do have is a very stout “D” that only gave up 307 YPG (91 YPG on the ground), and a miniscule 15 PPG. Those numbers are very impressive to say the least, but they never really faced a team with as potent an offensive attack as the Huskies possess. Another thing that benefited the Trojans was their turnover differential. Coming into this game, they’ve got a solid mark of +12, and have picked off opposing QB’s an unheard of 25 times. QB Haldi will have to be careful not to give away valuable field position with an errant pass, because the Trojans will most likely make him pay for his error. The flipside to that coin is the fact that Troy’s offense has turned the ball over themselves 20 times (10 FUM/10 INT), whereas the Huskies only spit it up a total of 12 times (1 fumble). Troy’s other asset in their play is the leg of their punter. Thomas Olmsted punted an ungodly 70 times this season, and has a major leg. The only problem is that WR and solid punt returner Dan Sheldon will be waiting for him, and he averaged close to 17 yards per punt return this season. Bottom line, Troy won’t get away with leaning on its defense to help its “O” put points up on the board. N. Illinois just has too much firepower and an answer to all of Troy’s positives. I fully understand that this is Troy’s first bowl appearance as well, but tonight will be all about the Huskies and finally adding a bowl victory to its programs history in the 21st century.
