FT. WORTH BOWL
CINCINNATI vs. MARSHALL
Dec-23 6:30/ESPN
SO WHAT’S THE STORY WITH THIS ONE?
I won’t lie to you. Every year there is a ‘shit bowl’ matching up two very mediocre teams and this one is it. Marshall though has a 4-0 record against USA teams and these two have played before in the 2000 Motor City Bowl. But, they are also lame ducks in their respective conferences as Cincy goes to the Big East and Marshall goes to the USA. So throw out rooting for a team by conference affiliation out of the window as well.
WHO THE HELL ARE THESE TEAMS?
Cincinnati has had an up and down year and at the moment it’s very down as they got thowmped by Louisville 70-7 as they got in the way of a team trying to impress the BCS judges. They have wins against Miami (OH), Memphis, and Southern Miss and put up the occasional 40 spot. But they also lost to Army. QB Gino Guidugli has a spectacular 148 rating; there defense led by DE Trent Cole is spotty and their special teams have been awful. Yet, this team was not expected to garner a winning record so it remains to be seen if this team has been playing above or below their talent levels.
Though usually competitive, Marshall was in a re-building year and got a bowl berth through the back door. With no major conference teams eligible, the bowl had a choice between Marshall and Akron. The poor Zips never had a chance. Marshall after losing their first three to Troy, Ohio St., and Georgia; Marshall harvested on the have-nots of the MAC with their only big win being against Miami (OH). While Marshall has usually benefited by offense, this year it was the defense that helped this team get a winning record. Look for DE Jonathan Goddard who was the MAC defensive player of the year to chase Gino a few times around the pocket.
WHAT THE HELL IS THE FT. WORTH BOWL?
In its second year, basically the Big 12 wanted an affiliated bowl game in Texas and had it inaugurated under PlainsCapital Bank. This year, there were no Big 12 teams left to pick.
CINCINNATI-32
MARSHALL-14
MVP-GINO GUIDULGI
WHAT HAPPENED?
Not much. A dull game with only a little more then 13,000 showing up. Even the announcers admitted to the lack of energy. Gino after sitting out the last game with an injury went 24/36 for 231 yards and two touchdown passes, but much of the scoring came from Marshall’s lack of gameplay which included a safety and blocked punt runback for a score, only one offensive touchdown and rushed for a total of negative three yards.
WHAT DID WE LEARN?
Marshall needs to re-tool their program as they have their first non-winning season in 20 years; C-USA is gonna be much tougher then 1-AA and the MAC and they better be careful not to become cellar dwellers. Gino playing with broken hand showed the NFL scouts that not only is he one of the better quarterbacks eligible but has heart as well. As a team, Cincy comes to the Big East limping and will also find themselves culture shocked by the level of competition.
