Hawaii Bowl Preview
Over last five years, Conference USA teams are 3-1 in bowls vs WAC teams, with average total in those games 82.0. Southern Miss lost coach Fedora to North Carolina, but he's coaching this game, 10th bowl game in row for USM, but first time in last six years they've left south for bowl. Nevada lost four of last five bowls, losing this game 45-10 (1-2) to SMU two years ago; they also lost last three visits here to play Hawai'i, by 7-7-6 points. Golden Eagles are 11-2 but lost to Marshall/UAB, with loss to hideous Blazers a red flag. Nevada is 1-2 in games where pointspread is single digits, with those games decided by total of 11 points. Average total in last eight Hawaii Bowls is 83, as teams try to impress recruits with wide-open play on Christmas Eve; underdogs are 5-3 vs spread in those eight games. Senior QB Davis is starting his 45th career game for Southern Miss squad that cost C-USA $10M by knocking off Houston in conference championship game.
Hawaii Bowl Preview
By Jim Feist
The running team against the all-passing one! Nevada (7-5) is tough to defend with that Pistol/Option attack for Coach Chris Ault, averaging 32.9 points, 271 yards passing and 251 yards rushing (8th in the nation) behind redshirt freshman QBs Tyler Lantrip (10 TDs, 6 INTs) and Cody Fajardo (6 TDs, 5 INTs), both excellent runners. Junior RB Mike Ball (704 yds, 5.2 ypc) and senior RB Mark Lampford (728 yds, 5.6 ypc) have carried the load in the backfield. The defense allows 25.3 ppg. They lost to Oregon (69-20), Texas Tech (35-34) and Boise (30-10). The Wolf Pack is 0-4 ATS in their last 4 Bowl games.
Southern Miss (11-2 SU, 8-4 ATS) is off a terrific 49-28 upset of Houston in the Conference USA title game. Coach Larry Fedora runs a wide-open spread offense he helped run at Oklahoma State. The Golden Eagles average 37.8 points, 263 yards passing and 207.8 rushing behind senior QB Austin Davis (28 TDs, 11 INTs, 3,331 yards) plus speedy senior WR Ryan Balentime (742 yds) and freshman RB Jamaal Woodyard (683 yards, 6.4 ypc). The defense is allowing 21.1 ppg and hasn't faced many strong offenses. They also held on for a 30-24 victory against Virginia.