2015-16 GMS NCAA Football Bowl Season Series ~ Music City Bowl

In this year’s 18th addition of the Music City Bowl at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee, Texas A&M (8-4) will take on the Louisville Cardinals (7-5).

The Aggies started their season by rattling off five straight victories before sliding down the division standings in the back half of the schedule. Louisville fell flat right out of the gate, losing three straight games and forcing coach Bobby Petrino to re-evaluate his teams goals for 2015.

Bowl: Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl

Teams: Texas A&M Aggies vs Louisville Cardinals

Date/Time: December 30, 2015 – 7 PM EST on ESPN

Location: Nissan Stadium, Nashville, TN

Vegas Line/Total: Louisville -4.5 / O/U 47

Written by: Erik the Hun

Texas A&M 8 – 4 Record – 5 – 7 Vs Spread Over – Under: 4 – 8 Season Results 11/28/15 @ Louisiana State L 7-19 L 5.5 U 55 11/21/15 @ Vanderbilt W 25-0 W -4.5 U 44 11/14/15 Western Carolina W 41-17 L -34 U 62 11/07/15 Auburn L 10-26 L -7 U 58.5 10/31/15 South Carolina W 35-28 L -14.5 O 59.5 10/24/15 @ Mississippi L 3-23 L 6 U 65.5 10/17/15 Alabama L 23-41 L 5 O 54.5 10/03/15 Mississippi State W 30-17 W -4 U 62.5 09/26/15 vs Arkansas W 28-21 OT W -6 U 61.5 09/19/15 Nevada W 44-27 L -32 O 65 09/12/15 Ball State W 56-23 W -31 O 64.5 09/05/15 vs Arizona State W 38-17 W -3 U 64.5

Louisville 7 – 5 Record – 6 – 6 Vs Spread Over – Under: 6 – 5 – 1 Season Results 11/28/15 @ Kentucky W 38-24 W -6.5 O 51.5 11/21/15 @ Pittsburgh L 34-45 L -1 O 48.5 11/14/15 Virginia W 38-31 L -13.5 O 48 11/07/15 Syracuse W 41-17 W -17 O 50.5 10/30/15 @ Wake Forest W 20-19 L -11 U 44 10/24/15 Boston College W 17-14 L -7 U 37 10/17/15 @ Florida State L 21-41 L 6.5 O 47 10/03/15 @ N.C State W 20-13 W 2.5 U 47.5 09/26/15 Samford W 45-3 W -29 U 56.5 09/17/15 Clemson L 17-20 W 5 U 54 09/12/15 Houston L 31-34 L -13.5 O 55.5 09/05/15 vs Auburn L 24-31 W 10 P 55

Texas A&M Last 5 Bowl Appearances: December 29, 2014 – Liberty Bowl – Aggies 45 – 37 West Virginia December 31, 2013 -Chick-fil-A Bowl – Aggies 52 – 48 Duke January 4, 2013 – Cotton Bowl – Aggies 41 – 13 Oklahoma December 31, 2011 – Meineke Bowl – Aggies 33 – 22 Northwestern January 7, 2011 – Cotton Bowl – Aggies 24 – 41 LSU

Louisville Last 5 Bowl Appearances: December 30, 2014 – Belk Bowl – Louisville – 14 – 37 Georgia December 28, 2013 – Russell Athletic Bowl – Louisville 36 – 9 Miami January 2, 2013 – Sugar Bowl – Louisville 33 – 23 Florida December 27, 2011 – Belk Bowl – Louisville 24 – 31 N.C State December 21, 2010 – Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl – Louisville 31- 20 Southern Miss

Texas A&M Outlook:

Over the last few years the Aggies have started hot, as was the case in 2015, which made Coach Sumlin appear as if he was a quarterback guru. However, things have changed quite considerably since this year’s fast start. With the transfers of starting quarterbacks Kyle Allen and Kyler Murray, not to mention last year’s starter Kenny Hill, the Aggies now look like a team in complete disarray.

The last man standing in Sumlin’s stable of quarterbacks is sophomore Jake Hubenak, who will be making his first start of his collegiate career. He has one touchdown pass to his resume.

Look for Texas A&M to rely heavily on its senior tailback and 1000-yard rusher, Tra Carson to carry the offensive load. Carson carried the rock 222 times in 2015, for 1059 yards and six touchdowns. He will need to save his best for last if the Aggies have any hope of victory in Nashville.

Freshmen sensation, wide receiver Christian Kirk, will need to find ways to get open and ease the transition for his rookie quarterback. Kirk has tallied 70 catches for 925 yards and six touchdowns. Kirk has made the big play for the Aggies when they’ve needed it most. Josh Reynolds and Ricky Seals-Jones, Texas A&M’s other wideouts, totaled 82 catches for 1272 yards and eight more touchdowns.

The Aggies are led on defense by new coach John Chavis, who was stolen away from LSU to help balance an otherwise offensive team. In Chavis’s first year, he has led the Aggie’s to a top-30 scoring defense. Myles Garrett leads an Aggies’ unit that is third in the nation in tackles for loss. Garrett has racked up an SEC-best 18.5.

Defensively, the real impressive numbers were against the passing game. The Aggies were fourth in the country, giving in to only 161.2 yards a game. Sophomore Donovan Wilson leads this group of defensive backs with five interceptions.

Louisville Outlook:

Louisville has had injuries at the quarterback position, making any offensive consistency difficult for Coach Bobby Petrino. Starter Lamar Jackson is healthy and slated to start, giving the Cardinals their leading passer and rusher to help move the chains.

Louisville relied on the heart of the team, their defense, to get them to the seven wins they needed and ranked 14th in the nation in yards allowed a game (323.4).

Quarterback Lamar Jackson faced some adversity this year, battling an ankle injury as the season wore on. The signal-caller wasn’t outstanding, delivering the ball through the air in 2015, mustering up 1613 yards on 123 completions and 10 touchdowns with eight picks. Jackson did, however, lead the Cardinals in rushing, with 734 yards on 141 attempts for nine more scores.

Ball carriers Brandon Radcliff and Jeremy Smith pitched in 857 yards on 188 attempts for 10 more trips to the end zone.

Leading wide receiver Jamari Staples is questionable for the Music City Bowl with a shoulder injury. Staples collected 36 balls for 610 yards and 3 touchdowns. James Quick and Jalen Smith combined for 62 catches for 932 yards, with Quick finding the end zone on five of the six touchdowns.

Louisville’s defense performed superbly in 2015. This unit ranked 14th in the NCAA Division I standings against the run, yielding only 118.8 yards a match. Passing the football against the Cardinal defense was much easier said than done also. The back half of this unit was 39th in the country, giving way to 204.7 yards a game.

Trumain Washington led the Louisville defensive backs with three interceptions, one of which he returned for a touchdown.

Match-up Analysis & Prediction

Analysis:

Having a little time to prepare quarterback Jake Hubenak can only help Kevin Sumlin’s offense. If Hubenak can find ways to deliver the football to his best athlete, wide receiver Christian Kirk, Louisville may rally enough points to stay within striking distance in the fourth quarter.

The Aggies aggressive defense will be looking to snuff out Louisville’s dual threat quarterback, creating negative plays and putting Lamar Jackson in third and long with limited talent to distribute the rock to.

Louisville will try to move the ball with short passes and a ball control offense, relying on Jackson to find points where they can against a stout Aggie run defense.

Don’t expect an up-and-down affair for the Music City Bowl in Tennessee on December 30th. Points will be at a premium, with both teams hoping to capitalize on the other’s mistakes. Both defenses are the dominate half of each teams whole, so a defensive battle is likely to break-out on the gridiron.

Prediction:

To get further analysis from Ej the Rainmaker and Erik the Hun, check out our audio preview of the Bowl using the audio file below…