AdvoCare (noun) -- A health and wellness company that offers “world-class energy, weight-loss, nutrition and sports performance products.”
2013 AdvoCare ‘Independence’ Bowl, Arizona vs. Boston College: TV time, team profiles and more
It’s not officially the Independence Bowl this year, but that’s what everybody’s going to call it. More importantly: this game stars the country’s two best running backs, per a report by ESPN’s Brett McMurphy.
Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports
AdvoCare V100 Bowl (noun) -- A newly reminted bowl game normally played by an SEC bowl-eligible team and an ACC one. Formerly known as the Independence Bowl. Sadly, the first and last of its kind, as AdvoCare announced earlier this year it would drop sponsorship after 2013. Just call it what you’ve always called it.
Date and time, ET: Tuesday, Dec. 31, 12:30 p.m ET
TV channel: ESPN
Location: Shreveport, La.
Stadium: Independence Stadium (49,427 capacity)
Tickets: Find available seats here.
Last year’s score: Ohio 45, Louisiana-Monroe 14
Last year’s attendance: 41,853
Last year’s TV rating: 1.7 million viewers
Last year’s payout for each school: $1.1 million each
Team with the most all-time appearances: Ole Miss, with five. Louisiana Tech is second with four, followed by Air Force, Alabama, Missouri, McNeese State -- yes, McNeese State -- and Texas A&M with three.
Team with the most all-time wins: Ole Miss, with four. Air Force has three.
Arizona (7-5, 4-5 Pac-12)
Year two of the Rich Rodriguez era in Tucson was an up-and-down ride, though the team is still in contention to win eight games for the second season in a row. After a promising 3-0 start, the Wildcats dropped four of their next seven games. They bounced back in a huge way, though, blowing out No. 5 Oregon by 26 points in late November. Arizona ended the season with a bad loss to in-state rival Arizona State.
After losing Matt Scott to the NFL, Rodriguez and his staff were left scrambling for a quarterback. B.J. Denker almost won the job by default over the summer with no real competition on the roster. Denker’s final numbers this season weren’t horrible – he threw for 2,241 yards, carried the ball for 898 yards and accounted for 26 total touchdowns – though he doesn’t really have the arm strength to burn defenses down the field.
The Wildcats’ biggest weapon is junior running back Ka’Deem Carey, who may be the best in the country. Despite missing the first game of the season due to a suspension, Carey bulldozed opposing defenses for 1,716 yards and 17 touchdowns. He’s a horse out of the backfield, and no one has really been able to slow him down over the last two seasons since he became the starter.
Arizona’s defense remains a work in progress under veteran coordinator Jeff Casteel. The unit was one of the worst in college football last year, and while the Wildcats still lack size and depth this year, they’ve improved by leaps and bounds. Other than Carey, not a single Wildcat was named to the Pac-12’s first or second teams. It’s a true team effort in Tucson.
Last bowl game: 2012 vs. Nevada, 49-48 win
Last year without a bowl: 2011
All-time bowl record: 7-9-1
Head coach’s bowl record: Rich Rodriguez, 3-4
Boston College (7-5, 4-4 ACC)
Our Boston College blog
Our Boston College blog
It was not so long ago that Steve Addazio was better known as the architect of the Florida offense that sputtered through Urban Meyer’s final season in Gainesville. Three years later, Addazio has revitalized the Boston College football program and, just one year after a last-place finish in the ACC Atlantic division, has the Eagles going bowling.
Headlining BC’s stunning turnaround has been the emergence of running back Andre Williams onto the national scene. Williams needed just 11 regular season games to eclipse the 2,000-yard rushing mark and was briefly on the Heisman Trophy radar before exiting the Eagles’ 34-31 loss to Syracuse with a shoulder injury. He’s expected to be healthy by the bowl game, which would do a lot to bail out Boston College’s defense, which finished last in the ACC in yards per pass attempt.
Last bowl game: 2011 Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl vs. Nevada, 20-13 loss
All-time bowl record: 13-9
Head coach’s bowl record: Steve Addazio, 1-0
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