Can the triple option keep pace with one of the nation’s highest powered passing offenses? That’s what we’ll find out when Bowling Green and Georgia Southern clash in the 2015 GoDaddy Bowl.
Watch the Georgia Southern vs. Bowling Green GoDaddy Bowl online: Time, TV schedule, live stream, 3 things to know
A prolific running offense meets a prolific passing offense, and neither team has their head coach.
Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports
The Eagles will be making their first bowl appearance after a successful transition from the FCS ranks. The team pieced together a 9-3 record in 2014 that included a perfect 8-0 run through the Sun Belt in their first year as an FBS program. However, they were unable to qualify for a postseason bid since they were not yet full members of the division. An 8-4 record in 2015 landed them in Mobile, but it also cost them a head coach. Willie Fritz went 17-7 as the man behind Georgia Southern’s rise to the top tier of NCAA football, and that earned him a coaching gig at Tulane.
They'll have to summon up the firepower to survive a shootout with a MAC Champion Bowling Green team that has scored nearly 48 points per game in their last eight matchups. Quarterback Matt Johnson has thrown for more yards than anyone else in Division I and tossed 47 touchdowns along the way. He's bolstered by a two-headed running attack that prevents opposing defenses from stacking their secondaries with defensive backs. Travis Greene and Fred Coppet have run for more than 2,000 yards and added 19 touchdowns of their own this year. Of course, that success came with a price. Like GSU, the Falcons had their head coach poached when Syracuse hired away Dino Babers on Dec. 5.
Together, these two teams average more than 78 combined points per game. Expect some fireworks at the 2015 GoDaddy Bowl.
How to watch, stream and listen
TV: Dec. 23, 8 p.m. ET, ESPN, Tom Hart and Andre Ware will have the call.
Radio: Bowling Green, Georgia Southern
Online streaming: WatchESPN
Spread: Bowling Green is favored by 7.5 points
Make friends: Get to SB Nation’s team blog chats for this game at Underdog Dynasty (for Georgia Southern fans) and Hustle Belt (for Bowling Green fans).
Three big things to know
1. Willie Fritz incorporated more elements of the spread offense at Georgia Southern, but his (now former) team didn’t exactly abandon the run. The Eagles gained 355 rushing yards per game in 2015, 33 more than their next closest competitor in the FBS. That’s bad news for a Bowling Green team that ranked just 57th when it came to stopping the run this fall -- and that came against a schedule filled with pass-preferring MAC squads.
2. Matt Johnson was the NCAA's most prolific passer, but he's been significantly overlooked in 2015. Despite 4,700 passing yards and 43 touchdowns for a conference champion, he wasn't even mentioned as a Heisman candidate. His 6'0 frame and the Falcons' spread attack have kept him from shooting up NFL Draft boards, where many pundits don't even rank him as a top 10 QB. A big game in his final college appearance could help boost that stock and lead to some busy Sundays in the future.
3. Oddsmakers have Bowling Green as a 7.5-point favorite, but advanced stats suggest that even a touchdown-plus is a conservative estimate for a Falcon win. S&P+ predicts a 36-26 BGSU win over their Sun Belt competitors. In the end, Bowling Green’s top 10 offense could prove to be just too much for the Eagles.
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