R&L Carriers New Orleans Bowl

Memphis
vs
Florida Atlantic
Dec. 21 / 8 p.m.

This is the first ever bowl apperance for Florida Atlantic, which really isn't that bad considering they have only had a team since 2001 and have only been in Division 1A Bowl Division since 2004. Now, the Owls are going to a bowl after winning a share of the Sun Belt title. Veteran coach Howard Schnellenberger has brought this program along quicker than anyone could have imagined. Memphis started out 2-4 and went through the tragic shooting death on campus of one of its players, Taylor Bradford, but have rebounded to win five of their last six games.

On paper these two teams are very evenly matched with neither team holding a significant edge in any statistical category. The two teams are actually the 49th and 50th ranked scoring offenses in the nation (30.1 ppg for FAU, 29.4 ppg for Memphis) while being 91st and 99th in scoring defense (31.25 ppg for Memphis, 33.75ppg for FAU). FAU has played a slightly tougher schedule than Memphis (FAU's OOC slate included a win against Minnesota to go along with games against Oklahoma State, Kentucky, South Florida, and Florida). Memphis had a much easier OOC slate that included losses to Ole Miss, Arkansas State, and Middle Tennessee State (a team FAU beat earlier in the season). Memphis also had D1AA Jacksonville State on their schedule.

This should be one of the most fun games to watch this bowl season with both teams throwing all over the other's suspect defense. The game will come down to the two pass-happy quarterbacks, Memphis senior Martin Hankins and FAU sophomore Rusty Smith. Look for both teams to get close to 400 yards of total offense but I just feel FAU will want this win a little bit more and are a little more battle tested.

Line (wagerline.com): FAU -3.5, Total 66