AutoZone Liberty Bowl

AutoZone Liberty Bowl

Monday December 31st, 14:30 CST (20:30 GMT)
Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium, Memphis, Tennessee
Iowa State Cyclones vs. Tulsa Golden Hurricanes

The Liberty Bowl was first played in 1959 in Philadelphia and despite a one year experiment in Atlantic City in 1964, it has been played in Memphis ever since. It usually features the Conference USA champions against the 8th team from the SEC, though if the SEC cannot provide a team, the 6th team from the Big East is invited, like last year. This year we have C-USA represented by Tulsa and Iowa State were selected as an at-large team, somewhat surprisingly in front of Louisiana Tech. This will be the only rematch from the regular season in this year's Bowl series.

Iowa State finished 6-6 in the Big-12 with impressive wins against Tulsa, TCU and Baylor, but all six of their losses came against very good teams, 3 of them ranked in the top 25. The majority of their success came through their defensive unit, as their offense was woeful at times. Their win against 1-11 Kansas was the only time they put up 40 points and they finished 89th in the country with 372.2 yards per game and 25.2 points. (83rd) QB Steele Jantz put up 1562 yards with 13 TDs but 11 INTs. The running game couldn't produce a 500 yard rusher and only senior wide receiver Josh Lenz who put up 504 yards could reach that plateau through the air. Even when you look at their defensive stats, they look poor, they concede 444.8 yards per game, 279.7 yards passing and 165.2 yards rushing. That just won't get the job done.

Tulsa rebounded from their week 1 defeat to post a 10-3 record in C-USA, winning seven on the bounce before dropping away games to Arkansas and SMU in their 2-2 finish to the regular season. Cody Green has been impressive at times this season since his transfer from Nebraska and totalled 2499 yards for 17 TDs and 10 INTs, his favorite target being Keyarris Garrett who grabbed 9 touchdowns for his 826 yards. Despite those numbers, Tulsa excelled running the ball, with Trey Watts making 959 yards and Ja'Terian Douglas racking up 857 yards this season for the 11th ranked rushing offense in the country. That could be the difference in this year, as I said, Iowa State give up 165.2 yards rushing per game and Tulsa have all the weapons to exploit that, although they have two running backs, that tactic has worked very well for other schools in the country for example a certain Tide in Tuscaloosa.

FOR IOWA STATE TO WIN
Plug the gaps and give the offense as short a field as possible. The Iowa State offense has struggled to sustain drives this season, and if this turns into a shootout, they are in big trouble. They need to stymie the Tulsa running game and force Green to the air. Iowa State have been much better against the pass, and every time the ball is in the air, they have a chance to take it away.

FOR TULSA TO WIN
Run the ball, run the clock, run everything they can find. The strength of the team has been the run, and they need to establish that against a stingy defense in order to give themselves a chance to air it out with their passing attack. They will score points in this, but as always the key is to stop your opponents scoring, and the best way to do that is to keep them off the field with your own running game.

VERDICT
As this is the only rematch of this year's Bowl season, you'd think we have some form to go on. Well yes and no. The game was played in week one, and although Iowa State won that comfortably, I see no such repeat in this one. Tulsa's running game has improved throughout the season and though they were lucky to sneak past UCF in overtime to win the C-USA title, I think their running game will be the difference. Iowa State's offense has been weak and their defense is not good enough to keep out Tulsa in this one.

ADVICE
Tulsa +2
Over 51 points

DRINKING GAME
1 drink: Any reference to farming
2 drinks: Any wind related joke
Finish it: Any mention of professional wrestling