68 Ventures Preview

The 68 Ventures Bowl is coming up fast.  The team is in Mobile.  The parade was last night.  Let's take a look at our opponent, the Arkansas State Red Wolves.

Arkansas State is one year older than Bowling Green, founded in 1909.  They were previously known as the Indians.  One notable grad to folks from the area is George Kell, Hall of Famer and longtime Tiger announcer.  They have put a lot of players in the NFL, with the Jets Demario Davis probably the top one.  Also, lineman Ray Brown played 19 years and made 205 starts.

They won the DII national championship in 1970 and joined the FBS in 1992.  They have been in the Sun Belt since 2001.

They went through an interesting coaching situation a few years back.  After the 2010 season, they had not had a winning season as an FBS program.  They brought in Hugh Freeze and went 10-3.  Hugh moved on after one year, only to be replaced by Gus Malzhan.  He went 10-3 and he was off.  Bryan Harsin was next, he only went 7-5 but still only lasted one year.

Then they landed Blake Anderson, who stayed 7 seasons, won 58% of his games and played in 6 bowl games.  He went to Utah State.

And in comes Butch Jones.  Coach Jones is well known to Falcon fans, having coached CMU for three seasons, with 2 MAC titles and a 20-3 record.  He coached against BG only once, winning 24-10 in 2009. He later coached at UC, Tennessee and now Ark. State.

He was 5-19 in his first two seasons, but 6-7 last year and 7-5 this year.

He and Coach Loeffler go way back.  They were both on the CMU staff in 2000-01.  Coach said they knew each other longer than that.

The two teams have played once, in 1974.  The Indians (at the time) came to the Doyt as a DII school.  Dave Preston had 127 yards rushing and two scores.  (Preston is in the BG Hall of Fame, was twice All-MAC and played six years for the Denver Broncos.  Also appearing in that game were Hall-of-Famers Mark Miller and Doug Smith.  BG was coached by Hall-of-Famer Don Nehlen.  And longtime Oakland MBB Coach Greg Kampe was on the roster).

Arkansas State is 4-10 against the MAC.  They have lost 4 straight and their last win was in the 2014 GoDaddy Bowl over BSU.

BG is 4-4 in Sun Belt games.

BG is a 7.5-point favorite.  Both teams seem relatively opt-out free.  BG's portal guys are expected to play and the team is as healthy as possible, as is Arkansas State.  This has the potential to be a real game.

The Red Wolves were 7-5.  They beat Tulsa and Central Arkansas out of conference while losing to UM and Iowa State. They went 5-3 in Sun Belt play, losing to ODU, as BG did. 

When ASU has the ball

ASU is decent on offense, but not great.  They have two solid backs and the QB does run, which always makes us nervous.  WR Corey Rucker was second-team All-Sun Belt as were two of their o-lineman.  A fully stocked and healthy BG defense has an opportunity to assert itself.

When BG has the ball

ASU had a lot of injuries on the d-line and it shows.  The defense really struggled.  7 yards per play and almost 6 yards a rush are really tough.  You'd like to see BG control the game right here. Treyvion Thomas was first-team all Sun-Belt as a DB and they had a couple guys on the 3rd-team.

Special Teams

Should be pretty even.

Summary:

So, BG is favored and they should be.  On paper, the 7-points looks about right.  Here's the thing.  We have guys playing who don't have to play.  Stewart, Fannin.  We have a bunch of other guys who are playing the last football game of their lives.  They have to be disappointed at the Miami result, and this is the last chance they have to put it all together.  I believe they will get the job done and leave their time as Falcons with a well-deserved win.