Time, TV schedule and analysis for college football’s opening five games of bowl season
The college football bowl season gets underway Saturday with five games.
There are a total of 39 bowls, culminating with a 40th postseason game, the national championship. That will be played on Jan. 7 at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, between the winners of the Alabama-Oklahoma and Clemson-Notre Dame games.
A closer look at Saturday's opening slate:
Auto Nation Cure Bowl
Teams: Louisiana (7-6) vs. Tulane (6-6)
TV: 1:30 p.m. ET, CBSSN
Site: Camping World Stadium, Orlando
Analysis: Tulane won four of its last five games to clinch its first postseason appearance since 2013.
The offense might not be great at moving the chains and there’s little to no consistency to the passing game, but the ground game in Willie Fritz’s option offense is solid. The deep shots are there against teams that cheat up to deal with the run.
Defense is what got the Green Wave to Orlando with a terrific pass rush that helps out a mediocre secondary giving up 267 yards per game.
To beat Louisiana, though, you have to stop the run, and the Tulane defensive front is doing that lately, allowing 135 or fewer yards in seven of the last nine games. When it gives up 150 or more, though, the team is 1-5.
The Ragin’ Cajuns, led by Darius Bradwell, average 229 yards per game.
Louisiana came up with a good effort in a Sun Belt championship game loss to Appalachian State, and now it gets a chance for some in-state bragging rights if it can solve the Green Wave run defense and control the clock.
The Cajuns’ ground game has hit the 200-yard mark in five of its last six games, but the passing attack is along for the ride and the defense has way too many issues with third-down stops.
Who wins? Louisiana has issues stopping decent ground games, especially ones with mobile quarterbacks. That’s Tulane’s offense. Considering the winner of this game will be the team that’s more effective running the ball, the Green Wave will prevail.
PICK: Tulane, 30-20
New Mexico Bowl
Teams: North Texas (9-3) vs. Utah State (10-2)
TV: 2 p.m. ET, ESPN
Site: Branch Field at Dreamstyle Stadium, Albuquerque
Analysis: Under normal circumstances, this would be one of the most exciting, highest-flying bowl shows and still might be. But Utah State coach Matt Wells took the job at Texas Tech, and North Texas head coach Seth Littrell is on the short list for just about every opening.
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