Part two of a look at the remaining Pac-12 Bowl bound teams include the Oregon Ducks, USC Trojans and the Stanford Cardinal.
In part one of our bowl preview we took a look at the first five bowl games that feature Pac-12 teams. The games in Part Two will begin on December 29th and go through January 2nd. As Bowl season goes for the Pac-12, the later the better the selection or the team you are playing against. TCU and Oregon is the perfect example. USC and Wisconsin is a close second with Stanford and Iowa meeting in the Rose Bowl.
C.J. Beathard and the Iowa Hawkeyes just came up short in their bid for a perfect season but as a consolation prize they’ll end a 25-year Rose Bowl drought versus Stanford. Photo Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports
December 29
Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl (Amon G. Carter Stadium/Fort Worth, Texas): California Golden Bears (7-5) v. Air Force Falcons/Mountain West (8-5), 11 am/ESPN
After flirting with other schools Sonny Dykes will lead his Cal Bears into Ft. Worth against Air Force in a meeting of two five loss teams. We get another chance to watch Jared Goff play in 2015 after a campaign which he threw for 4,252 with 37 touchdowns. The Falcons run a triple-option offense which has been very successful for Troy Calhoun, they’re led by Jacobi Owens who rushed for 1,009 with six scores. It’ll be a game of contrasting styles with a team that wants to pass it around and the other who want to run in.
December 30
National Funding Holiday Bowl (Qualcomm Stadium/San Diego, California): 25 Southern California Trojans (8-5) v. Wisconsin Badgers/Big Ten (9-3), 7:30 pm/ESPN
Clay Helton’s second game as the full-time coach of USC sees his Trojans going to SD for a second straight bowl trip. Cody Kessler put forth a nice season for the south division champions throwing for 3,315 and 28 TD’s in his final season leading the men of Troy. Paul Chyrst and his Badgers are looking for their 10th win this season in his first season in Madison. Wisconsin will look to run the football and passing when needed where USC has all kind of threats. Ronald Jones II narrowly missed a 1,000 yard season getting to 940 with eight scores, JuJu Smith-Schust had 1,389 campaign catching ten touchdowns.
January 1
Rose Bowl presented by Northwestern Mutual (Rose Bowl/Pasadena, California): 6 Stanford Cardinal (11-2) v. 5 Iowa Hawkeyes/Big Ten (12-1), 2 pm/ESPN
The Granddaddy of them all features the best match-up outside of this years College Football Playoff. Heisman runner-up Christian McCaffrey leads the Cardinal offense after breaking Barry Sanders all-purpose yard mark doing it all. It was a bounce back season for Iowa and Kirk Ferentz which saw them nearly make the CFP coming up short losing to Michigan State in the conference title game. C.J. Beathard lead a steady offense attack passing for 2,570 with 15 passing touchdowns. These two teams are near copies of one another, tough defense and wanting to establish themselves on the ground. Kevin Hogan gets another chance to win a Rose Bowl with David Shaw looking to add another big win while the Hawkeyes are ending a 25-year drought in this bowl.
January 2
Valero Alamo Bowl (Alamodome/San Antonio, Texas): 15 Oregon Ducks (9-3) v. 11 TCU Horned Frogs/Big XII (10-2), 3:45 pm/ESPN
This is another good looking bowl game that’s outside the playoff which should be a fun game to watch. Both teams had national championship aspirations entering this season but saw injuries derail those dreams at one point. If you enjoy offense this game is for you with Vernon Adams and Trevone Boykins squaring off. Boykins passed for 3,575 with 31 passing scores with Josh Doctson being the main target catching 79 passes, 1,327 yards and 14 TD’s. While Adams is the name most nationally think of on the Ducks offense Royce Freeman rushed for 1,706 with 14 scores on the ground. Don’t expect either defense to stop one another and the team who gets it last to have the best chance at winning this game.
Motel 6 Cactus Bowl (Chase Field/Phoenix, Arizona): Arizona State Sun Devils (6-6) v. West Virginia Mountaineers (7-5), 7:15 pm/ESPN
Maybe not the most ideal time slot having to follow what could be a fun Alamo Bowl but before dismissing this game understand it could be high scoring also. Both coaches Todd Graham and Dana Holgorsen have offenses that will put points a plenty up. Mike Bercovici had a nice season going over 3,000 yards by 442 while providing 26 passing scores. For WVU look out for Wendall Smallwood who rushed for 1,447 reaching the end zone nine times. While Chase Field will be pro-ASU fans should enjoy watching this game in-person or on TV. Both January 2nd games featuring the PAC-12 should mirror each other with good offenses being a lot for opposing defenses.
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The Oregon Ducks and TCU take the the field on January 2nd, again at 3:45pm on ESPN.