Your best chance to catch a shirtless Frank Solich on your cell phone camera arrives this Saturday, as the Troy Trojans take on the Ohio Bobcats in the 10th annual R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl in the Louisiana Superdome. The Trojans arrive as the 7-5 holders of a partial Sun Belt title (ouchtown), while the Bobcats finished 8-4 , good for second place behind Miami in the MAC East.
To be frank, the location of the bowl alone is more than Troy deserves. The perennial Sun Belt powerhouse team stumbled badly in 2010, ceding a share of the conference title to Florida International, of all teams, thanks to a 52-35 shootout loss to the Panthers. The Trojans play a tough out-of-conference schedule, to be sure, but where losses to Oklahoma State and South Carolina are forgivable, losses to Louisiana-Monroe most assuredly are not.
Ohio would know from unacceptable defeats. After a three-game September skid that included losses to Marshall and Toledo, the Bobcats reeled off seven straight wins before falling over Thanksgiving weekend to ... Kent State? All right, neither of these outfits really deserves a trip to the French Quarter.
Expect to see some serious passing out of Troy, and none at all out of Ohio, who have a nice enough rushing game but rank 94th nationally in total offense. Perhaps their ninth-ranked punting unit can work some magic in its stead.
The 2010 New Orleans Bowl kicks off at 9 p.m. EST on December 18. Browse our complete 2010 college football postseason schedule, and connect with MAC fans at SB Nation's Hustle Belt.
New Orleans Bowl, Ohio Vs. Troy: Rewards Richer Than Talent
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