posted December 24, 2007 at 17:52 in NCAA F Articles

This Holiday Bowl game should be decided by the play of the two quarterbacks, both of whom have been somewhat disappointing to their teams after so much promise. Texas quarterback Colt McCoy has problems with making decisions and throwing INTs, while Arizona State quarterback Rudy Carpenter is taking too many sacks. The college football betting spread favors the Texas Longhorns by just 2.5 points.

Texas Longhorns –2.5 vs. Arizona State Sun Devils +2.5

What the Sun Devils will need to do to have a chance in this game will be to establish the run hard and early in the game. They have a huge offensive line whose strength lies more in the blocking game that in pass protection and the coaching staff needs to be able to take advantage of this, something that will not be easy against the nationally tenth ranked run defense in the country. With Keegan Herring and Dimitri Nance in the backfield, the Sun Devils have a good running tandem that will keep the Longhorns defense on their toes.

Holiday Bowl @ Qualcomm Stadium: 8 PM, Thursday, December 27, 2007

The problem for the Sun Devils is that their offensive line is horrible at pass protection, due to the fact that they have very little mobility, and the Texas defensive line knows this. Only two teams in the country have surrendered more than the 51 sacks allowed by the Sun Devils in just 12 games. While the Longhorns are not known for their pass rush, the temptation to blitz against Carpenter will be too much for the defensive coordinators not to give it the gold old college try.

When that happens, Carpenter, who is accurate and possesses a strong arm, will be trying to pick apart the Texans weak secondary. If you bet on college bowls, you’ll have to decide which is stronger, the Longhorns ability to stop the run, or the Sun Devils ability to get the ball downfield and avoid the sack.

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