Two of the most explosive offenses in college football will help to decide this GoDaddy Bowl as the Georgia Southern Eagles take on the Bowling Green Falcons. Bowling Green (10-3) has won four of its last five, while Georgia Southern (8-4) has been defeated in two of its last three. The game starts at 8:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Dec 23 and will be available on ESPN.
Bowling Green routed Northern Illinois 34-14 in the MAC Championship game. Travis Greene had a big game on the ground in the victory, gaining 183 yards and two TDs on 29 attempts. Roger Lewis had a great game as well, adding 75 receiving yards and a TD on six receptions. Georgia Southern didn’t have the same success as Bowling Green, losing big to Georgia State 34-7. LA Ramsby had a solid outing running the ball for the Eagles, rushing 15 times for 65 yards and one TD. BJ Johnson added 57 receiving yards on four catches.
Bowling Green is an eight-point favorite in this game and the Over/Under (O/U) is sitting at 64 points.
The Falcons enter the game with a record of 10-3 Straight Up (SU) and Against The Spread (ATS) this season. Over their last five games, the Falcons have records of 4-1 for both SU and ATS. Bowling Green’s offense is averaging 506.2 total yards over the last five games. Turning to the Falcons defense, there are several areas to keep an eye on. The Eagles will be matching up against a stout Bowling Green pass defense, which only allowed 208.0 passing yards over their last five matchups. It is critical for the Eagles to prepare for Bowling Green’s big-play defense, which ranks 17th in the nation with 2.1 turnovers per game. Keep an eye on Bowling Green to turn it up a notch during the third quarter, when they average 11.5 points per game.
Over on the other sideline, the Eagles head into this bowl game with records of 7-4 ATS and 8-4 SU. The Eagles went 3-2 SU and 4-1 ATS over the last five games. If earlier games are any indication, the Eagles will run the ball aggressively. They average 355.6 rushing yards per game, good enough for first in Division I. The Eagles defense has trended upward in the past five games. They lowered their points allowed per game to 23.2 by giving up an average of 19 points during that five-game span. The Falcons are matching up with Georgia Southern’s pass defense at an inopportune time. Over the last five games, opponents only averaged 164.4 yards through the air, lower than Georgia Southern’s season average of 201.8 yards. The Falcons defense usually doesn’t head in the right direction in the third quarter. They allow 7.7 points heading out of the break this year, one of the worst in the nation. Georgia Southern has put in some strong special teams performances this season. The team has averaged 127.2 return yards per game, ranking them eighth in the nation.
Predictions: SU Winner – Georgia Southern, ATS Winner – Georgia Southern, O/U – Under
Notes
Bowling Green is 9-1 SU in its last 10 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Bowling Green’s last 6 games.
Each team is 8-0 SU when leading after three quarters.
Remarkably, Bowling Green is only 1-2 SU in games where it wins the turnover battle, yet undefeated (9-0 SU) when losing the turnover battle.
Based on overall FBS ratings, Bowling Green holds the upper hand in the passing game. Its passing attack (ranked third in the nation) will face the 35th-ranked pass defense of Georgia Southern, while its 94th-ranked pass defense will look to limit the 128th-ranked passing game of the Eagles.
