Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl:
Southern Miss vs Tulane -7, 56.5

The Golden Eagles and quarterback Jack Abraham had a horrible final game of the season. I was all over them as dogs but boy did they disappoint, losing to Florida Atlantic 34-17. In all fairness, Abraham was expected to sit due to injury but instead played and perhaps that played a role. He threw for just 182 yards, zero touchdowns, and had FOUR interceptions.

Let’s compare quarterbacks. Abraham has a 67 percent completion rate with 18 touchdowns and nearly as many interceptions, 15 to be exact. Maybe this game he’ll make out like Jameis Winston and finish 18-18. When he connects with his receivers, though, it is good, averaging 8.7 yards per pass.

Tulane’s Justin McMillan is a running threat. He has 26 touchdowns, 12 of them on the ground, making him third in the country among quarterbacks in rushing scores.

Defensively, Tulane, in their last three games, gave up 297 passing yards to Temple and 319 to UCF, and allowed SMU to put up 37 points, losing all three contests. In their game against Memphis, they surrendered 358 passing yards. This is a team highly susceptible on that secondary.

Southern Miss, in its last two games, was only able to produce 10 and 17 points. I think this is a game of bad vs bad and who is going to be less bad?

Lean: Southern Miss +7

LendingTree Bowl: Miami (OH) vs Louisiana-Lafayette -14, 55.5

RedHawks quarterback Brett Gabbert completed only 53 percent of his passes and had only 11 touchdowns against eight interceptions. You just can’t be that inadequate offensively and think you can contend with a Ragin’ Cajuns team that is averaging 38 points per game, is ninth-best in red-zone scores, and top 10 in both rushing yards per game and per carry. Miami (OH) is that team that does not score (averaging just 19 points per game) but still won games, finishing the regular season 8-5.

The question becomes can they defend against Louisiana? They did face rushing teams in Cincinnati and Ball State, losing both by two scores or more, but beat Buffalo early in the season and Kent State.

This team makes no sense to me. Louisiana should want to bounce back against an inferior opponent after losing to App State 45-38.  But do they have the interest in playing here?

If Miami (OH) falls behind early, do they have the ability to play catchup? I don’t see it.

Lean: Louisiana -14