2008 Motor City Bowl
Florida Atlantic (6-6) vs. Central Michigan (8-4)
Dec. 26, 7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN
Payout:
$750,000 Location: Ford Field, Detroit, MI
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2008 Motor
City Bowl
Player Profiles, Histories, & More
 |
|
National
Rankings |
|
Central Mich. |
Florida Atlantic |
|
Total Offense |
|
23rd 427.08 ypg |
42nd 391.5 ypg |
|
Total Defense |
|
104th 424..25 ypg |
80th 219.08 ypg |
|
Scoring Offense |
|
35th 30.25 ppg |
66th 25.17 ppg |
|
Scoring Defense |
|
90th 30.75 ppg |
85h 29.33 ppg |
|
Run Offense |
|
74th 134.25 ypg |
66th 141 ypg |
|
Run Defense |
|
51st 138.58 ypg |
98th 183 ypg |
|
Pass Offense |
|
13th 292.83 ypg |
27th 250.5 ypg |
|
Pass Defense |
|
118th 285.67 ypg |
80th 219.08 ypg |
|
Turnover Margin |
|
42nd 0.33 |
101st -0.75 |
|
Central
Mich
Eastern Ill.
W 31-12
at Georgia L 56-17
at Ohio W 31-28
at Purdue L 32-25
Buffalo W 27-25
Temple W 24-14
WMU W
38-28
at Toledo W 24-23
at Indiana W 37-34
at NIU W 33-30 OT
Ball State L
31-24
at EMU L
56-52 |
Florida Atlantic
at Texas L
52-10
UAB W 49-24
at Michigan St L 17-0
at Minnesota L 37-3
at Mid Tenn L
14-13
Troy L 30-17
at WKU W
24-20
at UL Mon W 29-28
North Texas W
46-13
UL Lafayette W
40-29
at Ark St L 28-14
FIU
W 57-50 OT |
|
Position
Ratings
relative to each
other |
|
CM |
5
highest
1 lowest |
F |
|
5 |
Quarterbacks |
4 |
|
3.5 |
RBs |
2.5 |
|
4 |
Receivers |
4 |
|
3 |
O
Line |
4 |
|
3 |
D
Line |
1.5 |
|
3 |
Linebackers |
2 |
|
1.5 |
Secondary |
2 |
|
3 |
Spec
Teams |
3 |
|
4 |
Coaching |
4 |
|
By
Pete Fiutak
Defense, schmefense. Leave the
14-10 slugfest to the USC vs.
Penn State Rose Bowl. Bowl games
are a blast when they’re
up-and-down-the-field affairs
with lots of scoring, lots of
points, and lots of momentum
swings. The Motor City Bowl
hasn’t always been that, with a
few duds sprinkled in here and
there, but for the most part
this is usually a shootout.
This year will be no exception.
It might not be the 51-48
firefight between Purdue and
Central Michigan last season,
with Curtis Painter and the
Boilermakers getting up early
before Dan LeFevour and the
Chippewas made a furious
comeback in the loss, but it’ll
be a stunner if these two teams
don’t put on a show.
Florida Atlantic got here
because the Big Ten didn’t have
enough teams to fill the bowl
slots. While that might not have
made the Motor City Bowl people
too happy, the invite turned out
to be a great reward for an Owl
team that won five of its last
six games, beating FIU in a
57-50 overtime thriller in the
regular season finale, to be
eligible.
The nearly unanimous preseason
favorite to win the Sun Belt
title, FAU sputtered out of the
gate losing five of its first
six games. While losses to Texas
and Michigan State expected, but
still a bit disappointing, the
losses to Middle Tennessee and
Troy turned out to be the
killers, all but ending the Sun
Belt season before it could
really get rolling. This hasn’t
been a great team, hurt mostly
be a mediocre defense, but head
coach Howard Schnellenberger has
never lost a bowl game and he
knows how to get a team prepared
for game like this.
That lack of a consistent FAU
defense is part of what should
make this game fun. Part two of
the equation is the Central
Michigan defense, or lack
thereof. The Chippewas finished
second-to-last in America in
pass defense allowing 286 yards
per game. That’s not that big a
deal; CMU hasn’t stopped anyone
in years. While this season
turned out to be a
disappointment with a third
straight MAC title dream ruined
late in the year with a 31-24
loss to Ball State, the team
ended up where it would’ve had
it won the championship.
Motivation might be a wee bit of
a problem for CMU considering
going to Ford Field isn’t
exactly an exotic bowl location.
The Chippewas already made the
trip the last two seasons with
the loss last year to Purdue and
a 31-14 win two seasons ago
against Middle Tennessee.
However, this is just the
program’s fifth bowl game ever,
with only the one win against
the Blue Raiders, and a win
would put an end to a two-game
slide that closed out the
regular season.
For Florida Atlantic, a program
that was non-existent before
Schnellenberger created it, this
is just the second bowl
appearance for the school after
blasting Memphis 44-27 in last
year’s New Orleans Bowl. With
Troy losing to Southern Miss in
this year’s New Orleans Bowl,
this is the one final shot for
the Sun Belt to make any sort of
noise. Lose this, and the honor
of being No. 11 out of the 11
conferences is cemented.
FAU averages 251 passing yards
per game, tops in the Sun Belt,
while CMU finished just behind
Western Michigan in the MAC in
passing offense averaging 293
yards per game. Good
quarterbacks, LeFevour for CMU
and Rusty Smith for FAU, great
receivers, no pass defense, and
the national spotlight all to
themselves should make for a
wild and crazy game that’ll be
as much fun as you’ll likely
have watching a bowl game until
New Year’s Day.
Players to watch:
Dan LeFevour didn’t have
the special type of season he
had over his first two years,
but it was still a great year.
The 1,122-yard, 19-touchdown
runner of last season wasn’t
able to break off as many big
runs, only finishing with 536
yards and six scores, but he cut
down on his interceptions (13 in
2007 to only five this year),
and he became a better passer.
The stats might not have been as
great, partly because he was
hurt in the middle of the
season, but he has remained the
consummate playmaker who can
carry the team on his back when
needed … for the most part. He
was fantastic against Ball State
and Eastern Michigan to end the
regular season, but CMU still
lost both games. Against Purdue
last year he threw for 292 yards
and four touchdowns to go along
with 114 rushing yards and two
scores … but lost. That’s not to
say LeFevour can’t win. CMU has
had an almost mystical ability
to pull rabbits out of hats at
times in MAC play, but in this
game, LeFevour will have to be
ready to for the shootout and he
can’t make too many mistakes.
Like LeFevour, FAU QB Rusty
Smith was supposed to be his
conference’s star of stars.
After a breakout campaign with
32 touchdown passes and only
nine interceptions, with 3,688
passing yards, he was fine, but
nothing special, this season
with 22 scoring passes and 14
interceptions while throwing for
2,918 yards. However, he was
fantastic down the stretch with
14 touchdown passes in his final
four games. If he can lead the
Owls to a win here, all of a
sudden he’ll be the Sun Belt’s
hot player going into 2009.
FAU might not have the greatest
pass defense around, but it has
talent in spots across the D.
One of the team’s biggest stars
is senior LB Frantz Joseph,
a former Boston College Eagle
who made 131 tackles last year.
This season, he made 141 stops,
second in the nation, and was
consistent throughout. He made
16 tackles against UAB, 15 (14
of them solo) against Minnesota,
and 14 against UL Lafayette. The
biggest numbers come against
teams with mobile, running
quarterbacks. A guided missile
against the run, it’ll be his
job to spy on LeFevour and keep
potentially big runs from
getting too far.
LeFevour gets the offensive
headlines for CMU, but sophomore
Antonio Brown is the
yardage star. Fourth in the
nation in all-purpose running,
and first in the MAC, Brown
caught 92 passes for 906 yards
and six touchdown passes and had
a strong year as a kick returner
averaging 21.06 yards per try.
However, what he truly excels at
is returning punts, leading the
nation with a 20.67-yard
average. He’s a tremendous
all-around playmaker who’ll get
the ball in a variety of ways.
Florida Atlantic will win if...
Rusty Smith is kept upright. The
Owl offensive line hasn’t been
great at pounding away for the
running game, but it’s been
tremendous in pass protection
allowing just 12 sacks on the
year. Part of the reason is
Smith’s ability to get the ball
out of his hands in a hurry, but
the line really is good at
neutralizing a pass rush. Smith
threw for 250 yards or more in
all five of the team’s wins over
FBS teams, and while hitting
that mark doesn’t guarantee
success, FAU lost to Texas and
Troy when Smith threw well, he
needs to get time to operate
against a good CMU pass rush and
he has to be effective.
Central Michigan will win if...
it wins the special teams and
turnover battles. FAU PK Warley
Leroy is solid, but the rest of
the Owl special teams are a
big-time issue. Brown should be
able to come up with at least
one big return and he should be
able to change the momentum of
the game if he’s given a shot.
Turnover margin has been a
problem for FAU all year long.
The Owls have had problems
coming up with takeaways in key
spots, while the 28 giveaways
haven’t been a positive. CMU
could turn a tight game into a
comfortable win if it’s +2 in
the turnover battle and can
capitalize on each mistake.
What will happen:
Smith and LeFevour will be
brilliant. With time to prepare
and time to heal, both offenses
should be able to roll up and
down the field at will. CMU’s
pass rush will do just enough to
get to Smith, while FAU’s lack
of a pass rush, and the lack of
any ability to get into the
backfield, will turn out to be a
killer against the mobile
LeFevour. One big play will
decide the game in the fourth
quarter, and CMU will come up
with it.
Line: Central Michigan -7
... CFN Prediction:
Central Michigan 41 …
Florida Atlantic 31
-
2008 Motor
City Bowl
Player Profiles, Histories, & More