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Nick's Motor City Bowl & GMAC Bowl Picks

published 12.14.05

GMAC Bowl: Toledo vs. UTEP

Motor City Bowl: Akron vs. Memphis

2005 GMAC Bowl

Ladd-Peebles Stadium, Mobile, Alabama
Wednesday, December 21st @ 8:00 pm ET - ESPN

Toledo Rockets (8-3, 6-2 MAC) vs. UTEP Miners (8-3, 5-3 C-USA)

Game Notes:

• Toledo (8-3, 6-2 MAC) was co-champion of the West Division and has the best overall record of any MAC school
• Toledo will be making its 10th bowl appearance - Four of those appearances will have come since Tom Amstutz took over as head coach in 2001
• Toledo is 7-2 in bowl games
• The GMAC Bowl will by Toledo's fourth postseason game in the last five years and 10th overall
• Toledo is the fourth MAC team to play in the GMAC Bowl
• The MAC is a perfect 4-0 going into the 2005 game
• The Rockets are 23rd in total defense yielding 322.5 yards per game
• Toledo QB Bruce Gradkowski has completed 189-of-302 attempts for a 63% this season; 24 touchdowns with just 10 interceptions
• UTEP is 8-3 and finished second in the Western Division of Conference USA with a 5-3 record
• The Miners have won 16 games over the last two seasons - Only the 1987 and 1988 teams had more victories (17) over a two-year period
• UTEP QB Jordan Palmer is the school record-holder for passing yardage (7,326), passing touchdowns (61) and total offense (7,397 yards) - He is only the third Miner quarterback to throw for 3,000 yards in a season, totaling 3,340 yards through the air in 2005
• UTEP is making back-to-back bowl appearances for only the third time in school history, and the first time since 1954
• The Miners lost to Big 12 North champion Colorado, 33-28, in the 2004 EV1.net Houston Bowl
• Overall this will be UTEP's 12th bowl appearance
• That’s Offensive:
• UTEP ranks sixth nationally in passing offense (310.5 ypg), 20th in passing efficiency (142.52) and total offense (438 ypg), and 21st in scoring offense (33.6 ppg)
• Toledo is 12th in rushing offense (221.6 ypg), 14th in scoring offense (34.9 ppg) and 17th in total offense (445.2 ypg)
• UTEP and Toledo have never met in football

Line: Toledo by 2

Nick’s Pick: Toledo 34 - UTEP 30

Comments: On paper this should be one of the most equally matched and entertaining postseason games of the bowl season. Both teams are well coached with wide open offenses and each has opportunistic defenses. In their last two bowl games Toledo has been ill-prepared in blow out losses to UConn and Boston College in the Motor City Bowl. The Rockets are healthy for this contest and their road win at Bowling Green has brought back their swagger after a home loss to NIU the week prior.

2005 Motor City Bowl

Ford Field, Detroit, Michigan
Wednesday, December 26th @ 4:00 pm ET - ESPN

Akron Zips (7-5, 5-3 MAC) vs. Memphis Tigers (6-5, 5-3 C-USA)

Game Notes:

• Akron won its first-ever MAC Championship with a dramatic 31-30 triumph over Northern Illinois in the 9th MAC Championship game played at Ford Field - The Zips scored the winning points with 10 seconds left on a 36-yard scoring strike from Luke Getsy to Domenik Hixon
• Akron has the top rated defense in the MAC allowing just 322 total yards per game
• The Zips rebounded from a 4-5 start to win four of their last five games, including the MAC Championship game, bringing a 7-5 record into this bowl game
• The 2005 Motor City Bowl will mark the Zips' first-ever appearance in a major college bowl game - Akron became a Division 1-A college football program in 1986 joining the MAC in 1992
• Memphis features first-team All-American RB DeAngelo Williams and Lou Groza Award finalist Stephen Gostkowski - The Tigers have the top rated offense in Conference USA and the fourth rated rushing offense in the nation
• Williams was Conference USA's Offensive Player of the Year while Gostkowski is the conference's Special Teams Player of the Year
• The Tigers are 6-5 winning four of their last six games – two very close losses came to SEC teams
• The 2005 Motor City Bowl will mark the Tigers' third straight appearance in a major college bowl game - Memphis played in the GMAC Bowl in 2004 and the New Orleans Bowl in 2003
• DeAngelo Williams is the nation's third leading rusher
• This game features Conference USA's top offense against the MAC's top rated defense
• The Motor City Bowl is the Midwest's only major college football bowl game
• The MAC is 5-3 in the Motor City Bowl while Conference USA is 0-3 in the Motor City Bowl

Line: Memphis by 5

Nick’s Pick: Akron 27 - Memphis 23

Comments: Like the GMAC Bowl, statistically these teams are quite similar with the exception of Memphis being a run-oriented team while Akron excels in the passing game. Akron has peaked these past few weeks with three straight wins including the dramatic 31-30 MAC Championship game victory over a very good NIU team. JD Brookhart has this program moving in the right direction and he certainly has had his teams properly prepared for ‘big’ games. Memphis is better than their record as they have lost by 6-points or less to Tennessee, Mississippi and C-USA champ Tulsa. DeAngelo Williams is certainly worth the price of admission and will join a long list of future NFL stars who have participated in the Motor City Bowl. Don’t be surprised if this game goes into overtime as both teams lack the offensive firepower to blow out the other. Considering that this game is Akron’s first bowl game, I look back to last season when UConn went to Detroit for their first ever bowl and wanted to make a statement for their young program. They did so by drubbing a very good Toledo team. I believe that this Akron team has the stars properly aligned for them this season to put an exclamation point on the school’s best football season.