2008 Champs Sports Bowl
Wisconsin (7-5) vs. Florida State (8-4)
Dec. 27, 4:30 p.m. ET, ESPN
Payout:
$2.125 million Location: Citrus Bowl Stadium, Orlando, FL
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2008 Champs Sports Bowl
Player Profiles, Histories, & More
 |
|
National
Rankings |
|
Florida State |
Wisconsin |
|
Total Offense |
|
55th 368.67 ypg |
33rd 404.75 ypg |
|
Total Defense |
|
14th 291.75 ypg |
32nd 322.33 ypg |
|
Scoring Offense |
|
27th 32.67 ppg |
42nd 28.67 ppg |
|
Scoring Defense |
|
32nd 20.75 ppg |
63rd 25.25 ppg |
|
Run Offense |
|
32nd 182.83 ypg |
14th 212 ypg |
|
Run Defense |
|
33rd 126.83 ypg |
42nd 133.25 ypg |
|
Pass Offense |
|
87th 185.83 ypg |
82nd 192.75 ypg |
|
Pass Defense |
|
8th 164.92 ypg |
35th 189.08 ypg |
|
Turnover Margin |
|
74th -0.25 |
85th -0.42 |
|
Florida State
W Carolina
W 69-0
UT Chat
W 46-7
Wake Forest L
12-3
Colorado W
39-21
at Miami W 41-39
at NC State W 26-17
Va Tech W 30-20
at Ga Tech L
31-28
Clemson W 41-27
Boston Coll L 27-17
at Maryland W
37-3
Florida L 45-15 |
Wisconsin
Akron W 38-17
Marshall W 51-14
at Fres St W 13-10
at Michigan L
27-25
Ohio State L 20-17
Penn State L 48-7
at Iowa L 38-16
Illinois W 27-17
at Mich St
L 25-24
at Indiana W 55-20
Minnesota W 35-32
Cal Poly W 36-35
OT |
|
Position
Ratings
relative to each
other |
|
FSU |
5
highest
1 lowest |
W |
|
3 |
Quarterbacks |
2.5 |
|
4 |
RBs |
5 |
|
3.5 |
Receivers |
2.5 |
|
3.5 |
O
Line |
3.5 |
|
4.5 |
D
Line |
3.5 |
|
4 |
Linebackers |
3 |
|
4.5 |
Secondary |
4 |
|
4 |
Spec
Teams |
3.5 |
|
5 |
Coaching |
4 |
|
It’s redemption time for two
programs looking to use this
bowl game as a clean start and a
new beginning. Last year,
Florida State lost the Music
City Bowl to Kentucky after
getting hit with an academic
scandal that depleted the team.
Wisconsin came up with a clunker
of a season and is hoping to get
back its bowl groove after
starting out 2008 with an
Outback Bowl loss to Tennessee.
This was supposed to be the year
Wisconsin finally got back over
the hump and into the BCS. The
best team to not get into a BCS
game since beating Stanford in
the 2000 Rose Bowl, the Badgers
played in four straight New
Year’s Day games, and went 2-3
against the SEC in their last
five bowl games, with the three
losses all in respectable
battles, to set the tone for
this year. With a slew of
talented veterans returning and
head coach Bret Bielema
appearing to hit his stride,
this was a preseason sleeper
team in the national title
discussion.
After a 3-0 start with a
looked-great-at-the-time 13-10
win at Fresno State, everything
collapsed in one stunning choke
in Ann Arbor.
Up 19-0 at halftime, Wisconsin
became one of the few teams that
couldn’t handle the Michigan
offense, and with a slew of big
mistakes, lost 27-25. But the
Badgers appeared to get their
groove back with a tough, gutsy
performance for roughly 55
minutes against Ohio State
before Terrelle Pryor came of
age leading the way to a 20-17
Buckeye win. And then the wheels
came apart in lifeless losses to
Penn State and Iowa. Just when
it seemed like things were
turning back around, Bielema’s
team found another way to lose
in a bizarre late loss to
Michigan State.
So now the question becomes
this: is Wisconsin really good,
and just lost its mojo, or is it
lousy and is lucky to be going
anywhere this post-season. It
was the only team to have
problems with Minnesota late in
the year, and it needed three
missed extra points to escape an
embarrassment against Cal Poly.
One win over Florida State would
all but wipe the slate clean
going into 2009.
Florida State is hoping to do a
little bit of the same, but it
has an exciting, young team with
some good players to work
around. The defense became
dominant again, the offense
found a running game for the
first time since Bobby Bowden
had dark hair, and this turned
out to be a nice stepping-stone
season that shouldn’t be marred
at all by a 45-15 home loss to
Florida.
There was a nice 30-20 win over
eventual ACC champion, Virginia
Tech, and while there were two
blow-off wins over Western
Carolina and UT Chattanooga,
when all was said and done, the
Noles ended up beating five
teams that ended up going
bowling.
Boston College beat Michigan
State in a decent 24-21 game
last year, but traditionally,
the Champs Sports Bowl is the
biggest dog of the bunch with no
game from 2001 to 2006 decided
by fewer than nine points. Since
1993, only 12 of the 15 games
were decided by a touchdown or
less. This year’s matchup should
be interesting because of all
the X factors, and one way or
another, one proud program will
be able to build off of it.
Players to watch:
Rarely does one game determine
the direction of a program, but
this could be it as far as the
Florida State quarterback
situation for the next few
seasons. Christian Ponder
has been fantastic at times, and
a team-killer in others. The
sophomore got the nod over
veteran Drew Weatherford
to start the season, and he
responded by throwing six
touchdown passes in the blowout
wins over the two FCS teams on
the schedule. He only threw six
touchdown passes the rest of the
way along with 13 interceptions.
In the mix is fellow sophomore
D’Vontrey Richardson,
who’s more of a runner and will
get a shot for the job going
into next year along with
hot-shot redshirt
freshman-to-be, E.J. Manuel.
If Ponder struggles, the
Seminole quarterback derby will
be one of the ACC’s hot
off-season topics.
Wisconsin knows all about
quarterback controversies.
Senior Allan Evridge was
the scapegoat for the struggles
in the first part of the season.
Out went Evridge and in came
junior Dustin Sherer, a
big passer who, like Evridge,
threw five touchdown passes and
five interceptions. While Sherer
isn’t a runner, and is a limited
thrower, he was at the helm over
the second half of the season
when the Badgers turned things
around. He can’t throw outside
the hashmarks, but he’s fine
down the middle.
Catching those passes is junior
TE Garrett Graham, a top
pro prospect who stepped up his
play after All-American
Travis Beckum was lost with
a broken leg. Wisconsin is a
running team, but it’s Graham
who kept the chains moving as
the team’s leading receiver. He
caught 37 passes for 478 yards
with five touchdowns, and while
he disappeared at times, and has
had injury problems of his own,
he’s the one Sherer looks to in
the clutch.
Needing to keep tabs on Graham
will be the great FSU defensive
backs, Tony Carter and
Myron Rolle. Rolle was known
more for earning a Rhodes
Scholarship, but he had a nice
season on the field as well
finishing second on the team
with 57 tackles. The safety was
one of the nation’s top recruits
a few years ago, and while he’s
a top pro prospect, the NFL
might have to wait. Carter will
also get a long look from the
big leagues thanks to his
toughness in the open field. 24
of his 25 tackles were solo
stops, and he finished off his
Second Team All-ACC season with
a team leading two picks.
Florida State will win if...
Everette Brown and the
pass rush get their groove on.
Wisconsin’s offensive line has
gotten by on reputation more
than anything else over the last
few seasons, and it has a hard
time against the better pass
rushers. Having an immobile
quarterback like Sherer, as
opposed to Evridge, doesn’t
help. Last year in the Outback
Bowl, Tennessee was in the
Badger backfield all game long
battering around then-QB Tyler
Donovan over and over again.
This year, Florida State is
sixth in the nation in sacks
with 36 on the year and second
in tackles for loss. If the
Seminole defensive front
dominates, the Badger passing
game won’t go anywhere.
Wisconsin will win if... it
gets the running game into a
lather. Florida State’s defense
has been fantastic, and the
numbers against the run have
been fine, but those teams that
could run the ball, did. Florida
rumbled for 317 yards and three
touchdowns, while Georgia Tech
ran for 288 yards and four
scores. The Noles gave up just
five rushing scores against
everyone else. Wisconsin has to
get the combination of P.J.
Hill, John Clay, and
Zach Brown going right
away. Of course, Florida State
knows that Wisconsin is going to
come out running, but Wisconsin
has to bang away anyway. As soon
as the Badgers try to get cute
with a mix of different pass
plays, and the further away they
get from the power running game,
the worse things get.
What will happen:
The Florida State defense will
be swarming all over the Badger
backfield. Wisconsin’s defense
will do a great job of keeping
the Seminole attack in check,
but without top LB Jonathan
Casillas, who’ll be out with
a knee injury, there will
eventually be problems against
the run. It’ll take a little
while, but eventually, the Noles
will break off a few big plays
to take control of the game,
Wisconsin will have to start
passing, and then the score will
open up a bit.
Line: Florida State -4.5
... CFN Prediction:
Florida State 27 … Wisconsin
17
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2008 Champs Sports Bowl
Player Profiles, Histories, & More