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Stephen DeAngelo
How easy was Thursday's complimentary bowl winner on Pitt-Eastern Michigan OVER the total? Let's make it two in a row with bowl-game freebie, as we’ll lay the short price with Air Force against Washington State in the Cheez-It Bowl on Friday night.
This should be a highly entertaining battle between two completely different offenses. While Washington State QB Anthony Gordon (5,228 passing yards) leads a unit that ranks sixth in the nation in total offense (517 total yards per game, including 444 passing ypg), Air Force—as usual—features one of the nation’s top ground attacks, piling up an average of 292.5 rushing ypg (which ranks third in the country).
The big difference between these squads is on the defensive side of the football. While Washington State yields 31.4 points and 457 total yards per contest—including a whopping 170 rushing ypg (4.9 yards per carry)—the Falcons’ stop unit allows just 19.8 ppg and rates 16th nationally in total defense, surrendering just 315.8 total ypg.
After a sputtering to a 3-2 start to the season, Air Force not only flies into this bowl game riding a seven-game winning streak (5-2 ATS), but six of those wins were by double digits. The Falcons’ average victory margin during this run? A whopping 18 ppg. And while the offense has shined throughout the winning streak, scoring 31 points or more in five games and topping 40 points three times, the defense was just as impressive, allowing 22 points or fewer in the final five games.
Obviously, Air Force’s D will face its stiffest test of the season by far tonight, but the Falcons will have had three-plus weeks to prepare for it. And while the Cougars have had an equal amount of time to prep for Air Force’s triple-option offense, the reality is it’s impossible to truly replicate such a tricky attack in practice. The simple fact is Wazu’s shaky defense will have to adjust in-game, and by the time the Cougars figure it out (if they ever do), they very well could be down three scores … if not more.
Finally, get a load of these historical trends, all of which favor the Falcons: Washington State has failed to cover in each of its last three bowl games (all in the last three years); the Cougars are 0-2 ATS in bowl games against non-Power 5 opponents; favorites are 11-2 SU and 9-4 ATS in Air Force’s last 13 lined postseason games; and the Falcons are 3-0 SU and ATS as a bowl-game favorite since 1998.
3* AIR FORCE
How easy was Thursday's complimentary bowl winner on Pitt-Eastern Michigan OVER the total? Let's make it two in a row with bowl-game freebie, as we’ll lay the short price with Air Force against Washington State in the Cheez-It Bowl on Friday night.
This should be a highly entertaining battle between two completely different offenses. While Washington State QB Anthony Gordon (5,228 passing yards) leads a unit that ranks sixth in the nation in total offense (517 total yards per game, including 444 passing ypg), Air Force—as usual—features one of the nation’s top ground attacks, piling up an average of 292.5 rushing ypg (which ranks third in the country).
The big difference between these squads is on the defensive side of the football. While Washington State yields 31.4 points and 457 total yards per contest—including a whopping 170 rushing ypg (4.9 yards per carry)—the Falcons’ stop unit allows just 19.8 ppg and rates 16th nationally in total defense, surrendering just 315.8 total ypg.
After a sputtering to a 3-2 start to the season, Air Force not only flies into this bowl game riding a seven-game winning streak (5-2 ATS), but six of those wins were by double digits. The Falcons’ average victory margin during this run? A whopping 18 ppg. And while the offense has shined throughout the winning streak, scoring 31 points or more in five games and topping 40 points three times, the defense was just as impressive, allowing 22 points or fewer in the final five games.
Obviously, Air Force’s D will face its stiffest test of the season by far tonight, but the Falcons will have had three-plus weeks to prepare for it. And while the Cougars have had an equal amount of time to prep for Air Force’s triple-option offense, the reality is it’s impossible to truly replicate such a tricky attack in practice. The simple fact is Wazu’s shaky defense will have to adjust in-game, and by the time the Cougars figure it out (if they ever do), they very well could be down three scores … if not more.
Finally, get a load of these historical trends, all of which favor the Falcons: Washington State has failed to cover in each of its last three bowl games (all in the last three years); the Cougars are 0-2 ATS in bowl games against non-Power 5 opponents; favorites are 11-2 SU and 9-4 ATS in Air Force’s last 13 lined postseason games; and the Falcons are 3-0 SU and ATS as a bowl-game favorite since 1998.
3* AIR FORCE
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