Texas -2 vs Arizona State : o/u 62.5
#12 Arizona State (10-2)
Pac-10
sos: 58
6-6 ATS
#17 Texas (9-3)
Big-12
sos: 79
6-6 ATS
In the holiday bowl we have a team that began the season at #7 and had dreams of a bcs championship, against a team that was in the pac-10 title hunt until the final 2 weeks of the season. From the first week, we knew this wasnt Vince Youngs version of the longhorns. In week one Texas held on to beat ark state by 8 and the season seemed to be off on the wrong foot, even with a win. Back to back losses, in the middle of the season, to kansas state and ou pretty much sealed this teams fate as one that would be on the outside looking in at the bcs. ASU started off a bit differently, truly dominating through their first 8 games before they ran into Dennis Dixon and the Oregon Ducks. ASU still controlled their own destiny late into november, but a blow out loss at the hands of usc ended their dreams of a pac-10 title. ASU really finished the season poorly going 2-2 with very close wins over UCLA and instate rival Arizona.
Texas:
The longhorns proved to be tough upfront, as usual, and ended up ranked 25th in the nation rushing the football. the Horns managed almost exactly 200 yards a game and 4.90 yards a carry. 2005 hs all-american, Jamaal Charles is the big play guy in the backfield, he averages over 6.2 a carry and had 16 rushing touchdowns. Jamaal is pretty much a one man show at tailback, QB Colt mccoy finished the season as the teams 2nd leading rusher. Through the air QB colt Mccoy leads the 36th ranked passing attack in the nation. After an amazing freshman year, the young signal caller had his struggles in 2007. Mccoy through for over 3100 yards and 21 tds, but he also tossed 18 picks which really cost the burnt orange a few times this season. On the outside, Jones and Cosby give texas a couple play makers, but there is no one that teams have to truly gameplan for in this group of wideouts. Texas does have a good weapon over the middle in TE, J Finely, but he hasnt found many scoring chances this season. As talented as he is, its a bit surprising the texas hasnt found a way to get the ball in the hands of jamaal charles more in the passing game, but he only has 15 catches on the year and none for scores. The horns offense really missed having Sweed all year.
On defense texas is strong as always against the run where they rank 10th nationally. Many of us saw what a nasty front 7 can do vs the weak asu offensive line when we wacted the Sun devils plays USC. The Longhorns front isnt as talented, but they're still one of the nations elite. One thing that this front doesnt do is get after the qb all that well. Texas is 60th in the country in sacks with 24. Now we come to the pass defense. If you're a horns fan you know where this is going, the texas longhorns rank a ridiculous 109th in the nation vs the pass, giving up 275 yards a game through the air. And ive got to tell ya, the big-12 offenses are not That good or That wide open. This group just cant seem to get the job done. Mr Rudy Carpenter is licking his chops watching the horns secondary on film.
ASU:
The Sun devils have an awful offensive line and they only manage 3.37 ypc on the year. That doesnt figure to improve in the Holiday bowl, but it may not need to. the thing about that is in college football sacks go into a teams rushing statistics and rudy Carpenter has been sacked about 300 times. Truly, the sun devils have a couple of very talented backs Torain and herring. Keegan Herring is the feature back and he averages 5.4 a carry on 152 attempts. Under Erickson, Asu runs a pro style offense and they'll be patient with their run game so as to keep the longhorns from pinning their ears back and rushing Carpenter on every down. When its time to through, asu does so with some decent success. asu finished 38th in passing this season. Carpenter is a guy a lot of pro scouts like and im sure he'll be projected as a first day guy in the 2009 nfl draft. he gets a lot of pressure and he takes a lot of sacks, but hes a tough kid and hes got a great arm. Chris McGaha is their possession guy and you'll likely hear him compared to wes welker or b stokely because hes white. you'll also likely hear someone compliment the routes he runs. 6-4 Wr Michael Jones is their big play guy, hes got 8 tds on the season. Jones wasnt someone that was real highly recruited out of hs, but hes plenty good and he'll be playing on sundays in a couple years. the longhorns are sure to double him when they can and try to make asu beat them on the other side of the field and on the ground.
The defense; When most people think of the pac-10 they dont think of defense, but asu has had a nice year on that side of the ball. the sun devils are in the top 15 in the country vs the run allowing only 3.4 a carry and 7 tds on the season. Arizona states defense is lead by soph dexter davis who has 10 and a half sacks and never quits on a play. overall this front plays hard and they'll make charles earn what he gets. defending the pass is something asu has struggled with a bit in 2007. they rank 69th, allowing 233 yards a game. If they can get a rush on texas, they can force mccoy into some mistakes. typically the longhorns dont allow many sacks, but they've allowed 23 this season and being able to get pressure on mccoy will make life easier on this secondary.
play makers:
asu db troy nolan. 6 picks on the season and two have been taken in for scores.
asu punt returner kyle williams is 24 in the nation
asu kicker thomas weber was the best kicker in the country in 2007
texas kicker ryan bailey is one of the best in the country.
stats of note:
texas is 10th in the nation in converting on 3rd downs
asu is 66th in the nation in converting on 3rd downs
texas is 66th in the nation in holding on 3rd down when on defense
asu is 10th in the nation in holding on 3rd down when on defense
i realize its 10 vs 66 and 10 vs 66 in those catagories.
my play: ASU +2
(mofome)
the line sits at 2.5 now. i realize that ASU has an awful offensive line, but texas doesnt have anyone in the top 100 in sacks this season. we'll see whos weakness proves to be more costly; the asu oline or the texas defensive backfield.
gl guys
#12 Arizona State (10-2)
Pac-10
sos: 58
6-6 ATS
#17 Texas (9-3)
Big-12
sos: 79
6-6 ATS
In the holiday bowl we have a team that began the season at #7 and had dreams of a bcs championship, against a team that was in the pac-10 title hunt until the final 2 weeks of the season. From the first week, we knew this wasnt Vince Youngs version of the longhorns. In week one Texas held on to beat ark state by 8 and the season seemed to be off on the wrong foot, even with a win. Back to back losses, in the middle of the season, to kansas state and ou pretty much sealed this teams fate as one that would be on the outside looking in at the bcs. ASU started off a bit differently, truly dominating through their first 8 games before they ran into Dennis Dixon and the Oregon Ducks. ASU still controlled their own destiny late into november, but a blow out loss at the hands of usc ended their dreams of a pac-10 title. ASU really finished the season poorly going 2-2 with very close wins over UCLA and instate rival Arizona.
Texas:
The longhorns proved to be tough upfront, as usual, and ended up ranked 25th in the nation rushing the football. the Horns managed almost exactly 200 yards a game and 4.90 yards a carry. 2005 hs all-american, Jamaal Charles is the big play guy in the backfield, he averages over 6.2 a carry and had 16 rushing touchdowns. Jamaal is pretty much a one man show at tailback, QB Colt mccoy finished the season as the teams 2nd leading rusher. Through the air QB colt Mccoy leads the 36th ranked passing attack in the nation. After an amazing freshman year, the young signal caller had his struggles in 2007. Mccoy through for over 3100 yards and 21 tds, but he also tossed 18 picks which really cost the burnt orange a few times this season. On the outside, Jones and Cosby give texas a couple play makers, but there is no one that teams have to truly gameplan for in this group of wideouts. Texas does have a good weapon over the middle in TE, J Finely, but he hasnt found many scoring chances this season. As talented as he is, its a bit surprising the texas hasnt found a way to get the ball in the hands of jamaal charles more in the passing game, but he only has 15 catches on the year and none for scores. The horns offense really missed having Sweed all year.
On defense texas is strong as always against the run where they rank 10th nationally. Many of us saw what a nasty front 7 can do vs the weak asu offensive line when we wacted the Sun devils plays USC. The Longhorns front isnt as talented, but they're still one of the nations elite. One thing that this front doesnt do is get after the qb all that well. Texas is 60th in the country in sacks with 24. Now we come to the pass defense. If you're a horns fan you know where this is going, the texas longhorns rank a ridiculous 109th in the nation vs the pass, giving up 275 yards a game through the air. And ive got to tell ya, the big-12 offenses are not That good or That wide open. This group just cant seem to get the job done. Mr Rudy Carpenter is licking his chops watching the horns secondary on film.
ASU:
The Sun devils have an awful offensive line and they only manage 3.37 ypc on the year. That doesnt figure to improve in the Holiday bowl, but it may not need to. the thing about that is in college football sacks go into a teams rushing statistics and rudy Carpenter has been sacked about 300 times. Truly, the sun devils have a couple of very talented backs Torain and herring. Keegan Herring is the feature back and he averages 5.4 a carry on 152 attempts. Under Erickson, Asu runs a pro style offense and they'll be patient with their run game so as to keep the longhorns from pinning their ears back and rushing Carpenter on every down. When its time to through, asu does so with some decent success. asu finished 38th in passing this season. Carpenter is a guy a lot of pro scouts like and im sure he'll be projected as a first day guy in the 2009 nfl draft. he gets a lot of pressure and he takes a lot of sacks, but hes a tough kid and hes got a great arm. Chris McGaha is their possession guy and you'll likely hear him compared to wes welker or b stokely because hes white. you'll also likely hear someone compliment the routes he runs. 6-4 Wr Michael Jones is their big play guy, hes got 8 tds on the season. Jones wasnt someone that was real highly recruited out of hs, but hes plenty good and he'll be playing on sundays in a couple years. the longhorns are sure to double him when they can and try to make asu beat them on the other side of the field and on the ground.
The defense; When most people think of the pac-10 they dont think of defense, but asu has had a nice year on that side of the ball. the sun devils are in the top 15 in the country vs the run allowing only 3.4 a carry and 7 tds on the season. Arizona states defense is lead by soph dexter davis who has 10 and a half sacks and never quits on a play. overall this front plays hard and they'll make charles earn what he gets. defending the pass is something asu has struggled with a bit in 2007. they rank 69th, allowing 233 yards a game. If they can get a rush on texas, they can force mccoy into some mistakes. typically the longhorns dont allow many sacks, but they've allowed 23 this season and being able to get pressure on mccoy will make life easier on this secondary.
play makers:
asu db troy nolan. 6 picks on the season and two have been taken in for scores.
asu punt returner kyle williams is 24 in the nation
asu kicker thomas weber was the best kicker in the country in 2007
texas kicker ryan bailey is one of the best in the country.
stats of note:
texas is 10th in the nation in converting on 3rd downs
asu is 66th in the nation in converting on 3rd downs
texas is 66th in the nation in holding on 3rd down when on defense
asu is 10th in the nation in holding on 3rd down when on defense
i realize its 10 vs 66 and 10 vs 66 in those catagories.
my play: ASU +2
(mofome)
the line sits at 2.5 now. i realize that ASU has an awful offensive line, but texas doesnt have anyone in the top 100 in sacks this season. we'll see whos weakness proves to be more costly; the asu oline or the texas defensive backfield.
gl guys
