Myrtle Beach Bowl: Coastal Carolina Chanticleers (6-6) vs UTSA Roadrunners (6-6)
Key Facts: UTSA was a wild home/road split teams this year. The Roadrunners went 6-0 at home and 0-6 on the road. This is a true home game for the Chanticleers. Coastal Carolina might be missing their starting and backup QBs because they are both in the portal. UTSA is coming off their first bowl win in program history, they’re 1-4 in bowls overall. This will be the 5th straight bowl appearance for both programs, they combined for 1 total bowl appearance before 2020. This game is an 11am kick, 10am local time for UTSA.
Previous Meetings: This is a FIRST TIME MATCHUP! These two programs are still very new at this level. UTSA’s program started and went to FBS almost immediately so they didn’t have opportunities to play at the FCS level either. These are two very likeable programs so it’s nice to see them finally meet up.
Motivation Edge: Coastal Carolina will likely be excited to play in front of their home crowd, while UTSA will be happy to be at a beach destination. Coastal Carolina stumbled to the finish line a bit, while UTSA seemed to round into form in November.
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl: Northern Illinois Huskies (7-5) vs Fresno State Bulldogs (6-6)
Key Facts: These two programs rode an interesting rollercoaster this season. Northern Illinois out gained their first 10 opponents, and were 6-4 with a win over Notre Dame. Northern Illinois ended a bowl losing streak of 7 games when they beat Arkansas State in their bowl game last year. Fresno State meanwhile has won 5 bowls in a row. The Bulldogs have been coached by an interim coach all season after Jeff Tedford’s medical retirement. Both team’s QBs are in the portal.
Previous Meetings: These programs have played each other 5 times with Northern Illinois leading the series 3-2. There’s been some rather large blowouts in their recent contests. In 1990 Northern Illinois won 73-18 in Dekalb, the next year Fresno State won 55-7 in Fresno. Their most recent meeting was in the exact same game (back then known as the Humanitarian Bowl) and Northern Illinois won 40-17.
Motivation Edge: Northern Illinois might hold the edge here. The Huskies will be looking to end a solid season strong. Judging by how the season ended it felt like Fresno State’s team was just going through the motions.
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