Bowl game projections 2012 espn

The 49ers have the sort of roster capable of giving any team fits, and they are one of the few organizations with the sort of star-laden core that can match the Cowboys. We just saw Jimmy Garoppolo produce one of the best drives of his career in marching the 49ers down the field for the winning score against the Rams , which helped push San Francisco back into the postseason.

As was the case for the No. Kyle Shanahan's team struggles to stay afloat when it turns the ball over; the 49ers have gone when they turn the ball over two or more times this year and otherwise. They're facing a Cowboys defense that has forced two or more takeaways 12 different times this season, a feat last accomplished by the Steelers and the Legion of Boom Seahawks.

With the 49ers bereft at cornerback against a team with multiple star receivers, they will need a heroic effort on the ground to stick with Dallas, and while that's possible, I don't trust an injured Garoppolo to protect the football, especially with star left tackle Trent Williams questionable to play. Prediction: Cowboys 27, 49ers I'm not sure there are many teams that have seemed less convincing while winning five of six than these Rams. Matthew Stafford has alternated white-hot stretches of passing with halves in which he has made inexplicable decisions with the football.

In Los Angeles' season-ending loss to the 49ers , he went of for yards with two touchdowns in the first half, then threw two picks after halftime, including a game-ender to rookie Ambry Thomas. Facing an inconsistent Seattle offense, the Cardinals looked like they were still working out preseason mistakes. Blown coverages led to long touchdowns for Tyler Lockett and Freddie Swain , while the defense left a gap unfilled on the yard Rashaad Penny touchdown.

Arizona has the roster to overcome the occasional lapse or mental mistake, but the margins are tighter against the league's best teams.

Perhaps more disconcertingly, the Arizona offense has undergone yet another second-half fade. During their run to finish the season, the Cardinals ranked 17th in offensive EPA per play, below the Texans and Lions.

It's hard to believe the Cardinals are suddenly going to turn things around without him. Prediction: Rams 27, Cardinals The reward for the Bengals would be a trip to Nashville to play the top-seeded Titans, who might be the most difficult team in the league to figure out.

Advanced metrics don't just see them as less impressive than their record; they see them as a pretender. Football Outsiders has data going back through the early s and suggests that the Titans would be both the worst No. Is there something the numbers are missing?

One thing clearly comes to mind: health. The Titans were without A. Brown and Julio Jones for chunks of the season and didn't have star back Derrick Henry in the lineup for the second half of the campaign.

Their big three played just snaps together this season, and they're all expected to be present and accounted for when the Titans take the field in the divisional round. He was absorbing the largest workload in league history before his foot injury, but his efficiency had cratered in His per-carry stats were significantly down across the board.

Furthermore, replacement D'Onta Foreman has been a similar back to Henry since joining the team:. I'd rather have Henry in the lineup and Foreman available to spell the returning star -- and Henry's presence should help a slumping Tennessee play-action attack -- but given his drop-off before the injury and the sharpness he might have lost while sitting out for two months, I'm not confident he'll be the guy we saw in and upon returning to the lineup.

The last time these two teams played was back in , and it was a vintage rushing performance from Tennessee. And as teams often do when they rack up plus yards of offense, the Titans In a game in which they ran the ball at will, turned the ball over only once and posted impressive conversion rates on third down and in the red zone, the Titans were blown out by a Bengals team. The problem then is that the Titans weren't able to get pressure on Joe Burrow , who cooked them for yards and two touchdowns.

During a season in which Burrow was under pressure constantly, the Titans didn't sack him once. They struggled despite the fact that Cincinnati was without running back Joe Mixon and four of its starting offensive linemen. The Bengals went of on third down and 4-of-5 scoring touchdowns in the red zone.

It was their best offensive performance of the season. Pressure was a problem for the Titans in , but with Harold Landry breaking out and the secondary taking a step forward in , they rank 10th in pressure rate this season. Burrow ranks third in the league in QBR when he gets time to throw, but when he's pressured, he drops to 20th. The week off should help refresh Landry and Bud Dupree , who spent the entire season trying to catch up from his torn ACL and a midseason core injury.

Prediction: Titans 27, Bengals How much stock are you willing to put into what we saw when these teams played in Week 5? In what was widely perceived at the time as a changing of the guard in the AFC, the Bills wiped the field with the two-time defending conference champs.

The Chiefs improved in the second half, but one long drive ended in a tipped interception, while a Micah Hyde pick-six helped seal a victory for the Bills. Since then, the Chiefs are , while the Bills have gone The changing of the guard was a little premature. The Chiefs might also feel a little unlucky about some of the events in that game. They failed to recover either of the game's two fumbles, which came when they fumbled a kickoff return and Patrick Mahomes dropped a shotgun snap.

The pick-six went through Tyreek Hill 's hands, while the interception saw Greg Rousseau swat the ball in the air with one hand to himself for a spectacular play.

In a game in which those breaks don't all go to the Bills, this one might have been closer. With that said, it's hard to overstate just how dominant the Bills were on offense in that matchup. The first half from Buffalo was the sixth-best first two quarters of the season in a single game by expected points added EPA per play.

If anything, Allen left plays on the field; the only reason Daniel Sorensen isn't still chasing Stefon Diggs is because Allen underthrew a yard completion to his star wideout and because the stadium has concrete walls.

The Bills got the matchups they wanted when they wanted in their passing game. The Chiefs have made some changes in the secondary -- notably, less Sorensen -- but their great equalizer has to be Chris Jones , who missed the loss to the Bills. The Chiefs have looked like a different pass rush with Jones in the fold at defensive tackle after the playoff hero spent an ill-fated stretch of September outside at defensive end.

It's virtually impossible to imagine a scenario in which the Chiefs win without Jones playing a significant role. My concern in the big picture might be the player who turned this into a great rivalry. Allen's first- and second-half splits over the course of are dramatic:. The Chiefs have their problems on offense -- and they could be seriously compromised if Hill's injury turns out to linger throughout the AFC playoffs -- but their floor is high enough on offense to be a safer bet.

Prediction: Chiefs 27, Bills We already saw this game once, and it wasn't pretty. The Packers beat the Rams in late November, but that required the Rams to score 11 points in the fourth quarter to make things look close. Scarily enough, the Packers are expected to have three of their best players who missed that game back in the fold for the postseason, as left tackle David Bakhtiari returned for Week 18, while cornerback Jaire Alexander and edge rusher Za'Darius Smith are projected to return in the divisional round.

Are there reasons to think the Rams might have played better than it seemed the first time around? I think so. The Los Angeles defense held Aaron Rodgers below 7 yards per attempt and limited the Green Bay running game to 92 yards on 32 carries. The Packers, normally an offensive juggernaut, were able to muster only 21 first downs on 12 meaningful possessions. It is one of the more intriguing matchups of the bowl season. The powerful Clemson offense will go up against the ultra-talented LSU defense.

Clemson quarterback Tajh Boyd is one of the best in the country, and he has a lot of weapons, including running back Andre Ellington. When Clemson passes the ball, wide receivers Sammy Watkins and DeAndre Hopkins are one of the best duos in the nation. LSU has been steady all season on defense, but quarterback Zach Mettenberger has improved in recent weeks. That has been the difference for LSU. As the old saying goes, defense wins championship. Well, it also wins bowl games.

The result here will be no different. This is looking like another potential blowout. The Big Ten will once again be overmatched, as the conference has teams playing in bowl games that do not belong due to sanctions to Ohio State and Penn State. Oklahoma State can put up points in a hurry. It is averaging nearly 45 a game, good for fourth in the country. Purdue is only and has already fired its head coach Danny Hope. It does not seem like Purdue is going to have its head in this one.

With that being said, the Boilermakers did win their final three games of the season to become bowl eligible and even received a New Year's Day bowl game. These are two of the surprise teams in the country, and they will meet in a rare New Year's Day bowl game. Northwestern won nine games this season, including some pretty impressive victories.

They love to run the football and rank 14th in the country, averaging nearly yards rushing a game. Mississippi State has lost four of its past five games, but it still finished the year and in the middle of the pack in a talented SEC.

They have struggled mightily against talented competition, and Northwestern is just that. The Bulldogs are very solid on defense and will be able to hang around because of that defense.

Nebraska laid an egg against Wisconsin, as the Cornhuskers were dominated in the Big Ten title game. Nobody thought that was going to happen, but it is not too much of a surprise; a collapse by the defense seemed imminent coming into the game.

Georgia was a few yards away from going to the national championship before falling to Alabama. There is a lot of talent, but Georgia is beatable and has struggled against top-level teams. It will be interesting to see who recovers better from Saturday's devastation and can move on. The team who gets up for this bowl game will be the one to come out on top. Michigan might be the most talented team in the Big Ten with the exception of Ohio State, and it could give South Carolina fits in this one.

South Carolina has put together a win season and has fared well in the absence of star running back Marcus Lattimore. South Carolina is nearly as good as the top teams in the country that Michigan has lost to, and the Wolverines will likely have a hard time moving the football. The defense for South Carolina will be the difference.

The Gamecocks should be able to shut down the Wolverines offensive attack. Both teams enter , and each features one of the best quarterbacks in the entire country. It will be a battle between Johnny Manziel and Landry Jones.

Who would not want to tune in for that? These are certainly BCS-caliber teams going at it. The entire country will be tuning in to see if Manziel can have one more outstanding game and lead his team to a dramatic victory. Oklahoma will have to play a near-perfect game to hang around. The key will be whether or not Landry Jones can limit his turnovers.

Ole Miss is certainly the more battle-tested of the two, but Pittsburgh has some talent at the skill positions. The Panthers will need to limit their turnovers, and that has hurt them on more than one occasion this season. The Rebels will have to try to keep Panthers running back Ray Graham in check. If they can do that, the game will be theirs to lose. Even though Ole Miss does not do anything special on either side of the ball, the Rebels beat the teams they should, similar to what Iowa State has done this year.

Kent State was an overtime loss away from going to the Orange Bowl, but now it will have to settle for the GoDaddy. The Red Wolves won the Sun Belt with a convincing victory over Middle Tennessee in the season finale, and they have played a very challenging schedule. They love to run the ball, and they score a lot of points doing it, averaging over 36 a game. Kent State can also play a little bit.

The Golden Flashes have some marquee wins. The running back combination off Dri Archer and Trayion Durham is one of the best in the country. Archer is one of the most explosive players in the MAC, and Durham is a bull when the ball is in his hands. How the team responds to the disappointment of not qualifying for the Orange Bowl will be the determining factor in this one.

Who would have expected the Wisconsin Badgers to be here? After finishing the regular season and in Big Ten play, the Badgers throttled Nebraska in the Big Ten title game.

Stanford, on the other hand, knocked off UCLA twice in the span of six days to get here. The Cardinal have defeated four ranked teams over the past four weeks, and they are solid on both sides of the ball right now, led by freshman quarterback Kevin Hogan.

Wisconsin will try to run the football down Stanford's throat. With Montee Ball and James White, Wisconsin has a running back combination that no other team in the country can match. Like us on Facebook to see similar stories. I'm already a fan, don't show this again. Send MSN Feedback. How can we improve? Please give an overall site rating:. Privacy Statement. Stroud completed of passes for yards with six touchdowns, breaking the Rose Bowl records in both categories.

Stroud's passing yards are the second-most ever by a Big Ten quarterback, falling shy of the record , which was set by Illinois' Dave Wilson against the Buckeyes in Oklahoma State was inches away from a Big 12 championship and a potential College Football Playoff spot. Behind quarterback Spencer Sanders and a revived defense, Oklahoma State put together the largest comeback in team history, scoring 30 unanswered points to win , and record 12 victories for the first time under coach Mike Gundy.

If not for two red-zone turnovers, including a Sanders fumble with play, Oklahoma State would have won easily. Sanders and wide receivers Brennan Presley 10 catches, yards and Tay Martin 10 catches, yards, three touchdowns carved up a Notre Dame defense seemingly missing Freeman as its play-caller. The junior quarterback became the second FBS player to record passing yards, rushing yards and four passing touchdowns in a bowl game Clemson's Tajh Boyd in the Orange Bowl.

Oklahoma State's defense, its signature unit all season, overcame the loss of play-caller Jim Knowles to shut down Notre Dame's run game 42 yards on 21 attempts and force two turnovers. Linebacker Malcolm Rodriguez led the way with a team-high 11 tackles, an interception and two pass breakups.

Quarterback Jack Coan had a career performance pass yards, five touchdowns in his final game with Notre Dame, but the shaky defense and no run game came back to cost the Irish. The Vrbo Citrus Bowl looked like it would be remembered for a horrible quarterback sneak that gave Iowa an unlikely offensive spark.

Instead, the game will be remembered for Wan'Dale Robinson and Kentucky's resiliency. Robinson, the transfer from Nebraska who grew up in Frankfort, Kentucky, had 86 receiving yards on Kentucky's game-winning touchdown drive, including an incredible yard catch-and-run to reach the Iowa 1-yard line.

He took a big hit after a yard gain on third-and, and then made the play of the game. Robinson finished with 10 receptions for yards in the win.

Kentucky's shorthanded defense played without star Josh Paschal , J. Weaver and others, and looked whipped after allowing back-to-back Iowa touchdown drives. But the Wildcats held up the rest of the way and senior linebacker DeAndre Square sealed the win with his first interception of the season. After its first start since , Kentucky records its second win season in the past four years.

Iowa had a fourth-and-1 opportunity to likely seal the win but, playing without All-America center Tyler Linderbaum , elected to punt. The Hawkeyes outgained Kentucky but lost the turnover margin and ultimately needed more from their two signature units: defense and special teams.

After rising to No. Arkansas had little problem handling a Penn State team that was depleted on defense and inept on offense, giving the Razorbacks a win in their first bowl game appearance since The Hogs' nine wins this season are more than the program has seen in the past three seasons combined seven wins from Arkansas relied heavily on quarterback KJ Jefferson 's ability to run, and the Nittany Lions couldn't contain him -- nor could they get their own ground game going, which has been a problem for them all season.

Jefferson averaged 5. Meanwhile, PSU quarterback Sean Clifford threw two interceptions -- including one in the end zone in the fourth quarter -- and also didn't get enough help from his offensive line. Georgia had been the dominant force in college football all season, but after the SEC championship game shellacking at the hands of Alabama, all bets were off.

Suddenly, the Dawgs looked vulnerable, the season a mirage. Georgia absolutely dominated the Capital One Orange Bowl on both sides of the ball, scoring on its first five drives against Michigan's supposedly remarkable defense, while stuffing the Wolverines' run game and utterly frustrating QB Cade McNamara.

Stetson Bennett spent the past month listening to criticism about his performance against Alabama, with a contingent of the fan base begging for a late QB change. Bennett responded by throwing three touchdowns in the win over Michigan, including connecting with running back James Cook on throws of 53 and It was a somber ending to a terrific season for the Wolverines. Head coach Jim Harbaugh was nearly fired after a dismal , but the Wolverines toppled Ohio State, won the Big Ten and made the playoff.

In the Orange Bowl, however, they ran into a buzzsaw. After years of Ohio State being the lone goal on the Michigan vision board, allowed the program to dream bigger. Georgia offered a stunning reminder that that next mountain is even tougher to climb.

The narratives will be clear leading into the game, but UGA certainly showed there's no guarantee Part II will look a whole lot like the original. Brian Robinson ran for yards, becoming just the third running back in College Football Playoff history to eclipse , joining Ohio State's Ezekiel Elliott and Oklahoma's Rodney Anderson, and becoming the first Alabama back ever to do it in a bowl. Cincinnati's defense held up in the secondary, forcing Heisman winner Bryce Young to check down frequently but he still threw for yards and three touchdowns.

Jameson Williams , who has averaged The Alabama defense made life tough on Cincinnati quarterback Desmond Ridder , holding him to yards passing on of completions, sacking him five times, and batting down three passes at the line of scrimmage, including one when he was throwing to a wide-open Alec Pierce in the endzone in the first quarter.

The Crimson Tide are back in the national title game for the ninth time in the last 13 years. Central Michigan made it three teams with a win over Washington State. The Chippewas weren't even supposed to play in this game, originally scheduled to play Boise State in the Barstool Sports Arizona Bowl. The Chippewas got rush yards and a touchdown out of the nation's leading rusher, Lew Nichols III , in the game, and were able to hold off a second-half surge by the Cougars to finish the season Wake's record also matched the best in school history -- an accomplishment that was only possible because of the improbable matchup against the Scarlet Knights After having only nine days to prepare , Rutgers, which was making its first bowl appearance since , when it joined the Big Ten, had no answer for the Deacs' duo of quarterback Sam Hartman and receiver A.

Perry capped his season with a career-high 10 catches for yards and a touchdown. Hartman accounted for three touchdowns -- and no interceptions -- while completing 23 of 39 passes for yards. Wake's offense, which entered the game No. That Arizona State's first drive of the game ended in a Jayden Daniels interception was a bad omen.

What transpired during the rest of the Las Vegas Bowl Thursday night was a vintage Badgers performance as they ran the ball 43 times and controlled possession for 32 minutes of a final over the Sun Devils. Wisconsin's defense did its part, not just by picking off Daniels, but by holding ASU to just 60 rushing yards. All the Badgers' offense had to do was score 20 points and then nothing else. Their first three second half drives ended in three punts before they put together a whopping play, yard, minute drive that sealed the deal.

The win gives Wisconsin a nine-win season and its seventh bowl win in the past eight years. Pickett's replacement, Nick Patti , was injured on a touchdown run midway through the first quarter and the Panthers were then left with Davis Beville , who finished the game of passing with yards, one touchdown, and one interception.

Despite Pitt being down to their third quarterback, Michigan State was the team tasked with completing a comeback after falling down Quarterback Payton Thorne led the Spartans on a drive that was finished off by a sensational touchdown grab by Jayden Reed to make it a game with left in the game. Michigan State would then seal the game defensively with a pick-six, when it appeared Beville might have been fulfilling the ultimate "next man up" scenario by leading a comeback as QB3.

It was an exciting finish to what was an exciting turnaround season for the Spartans in Mel Tucker's second season as head coach. Despite getting off to a hot start, the Volunteers fall short in an offensive-powered Music City Bowl, resulting in a overtime loss. It was anything but a conventional season for Purdue, capped by one of the sweetest endings imaginable Thursday in a wild overtime victory against Tennessee in the TransPerfect Music City Bowl.

The Boilermakers beat two top-5 teams Iowa and Michigan State but also lost to Minnesota at home and were beaten soundly at home by Wisconsin a few weeks later.

But winning nine games for the first time since -- and doing it without star receiver David Bell and star defensive end George Karlaftis in the bowl game -- was the epitome of a character win for Jeff Brohm and the entire Purdue program.