Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl Preview: Southern Miss, Louisville Play in the Worst Dome Ever
by Year2 on Dec 21, 2010 2:00 PM EST
in SEC Football
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PrintBeef 'O' Brady's Bowl, December 21, 8:00 p.m. ET, ESPN
What it is: Easily the sketchiest Florida-based bowl, as it's at Tropicana Field and was formerly sponsored by MagicJack. If you've never been to the Trop, it's like if they put a sports stadium inside the largest hall at an old convention center. The last time I was there the pink PrimeCo aliens were passing out flyers, and it felt run-down then.
The teams: Southern Miss and Louisville
How Southern Miss got here: Chances are, you haven't watched the Golden Eagles since South Carolina rolled them 41-13 in Week 1. What you've missed since then is a lot of points. They scored at least 30 points in all but one of the rest of their games, and their three other losses were shootouts with scores of 44-43, 50-49, and 60-56. In short, if the defense played well, the offense generally scored enough points to win. Also, reverse those two one-point losses and Souther Miss wins the CUSA East as it beat division and conference champ UCF.
How Louisville got here: First, Louisville did the right thing by canning Steve Kragthorpe and hiring a competent head coach in Charlie Strong. After the malaise of the Kragthorpe era, having a stingy defense and great running back in Bilal Powell alone probably would have been good enough for Cardinals fans, but Strong went ahead and won six games anyway. It's a nice story, but outside of beating eventual conference champ UConn and fellow recovering program Syracuse, the Cardinals don't really have much in the way of quality wins.
College football fans care because: They know how entertaining both Larry Fedora offenses and Charlie Strong defenses can be, and they get both in this game.
SEC fans care because: You've got a 25% chance of Strong having coached your team before, and everyone takes turns playing Southern Miss.
Watch this game if...: You like a contrast in styles or want to see one of next year's CUSA favorites take on an up-and-coming team.
The result: Southern Miss 31, Louisville 24
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Louisville has a 6'8", 240 pound tight end who runs a 4.6, and he isn't even starting.
Why would someone like that even choose to go to a school who runs a 3-4 defense? I imagine most programs with a four linemen set would give up their two starting defensive ends to get that guy on the defensive side of the ball. What an absolute waste of talent. 300 receiving yards, OR 50 SACKS? Hmm …
stuff 'bout stuff.
Correction, apparently Louisville does run a four man line.
Lou Holtz said the 3-3-5 (not 3-4) they’re using in the bowl game isn’t their normal defense. Interesting. I really have no idea why that guy isn’t a defensive end then.
stuff 'bout stuff.
by silver82blade on Dec 21, 2010 9:30 PM EST up reply actions
when you said "Worst dome ever"
I thought you meant the Dump in New Orleans some people(morons) call the Super Dome
Mathew 19:26 "With God, all things are possible"
Never been, but at the very least, it has to have more personality than the Trop based solely on the fact that it’s in New Orleans.
Team Speed Kills -- SBNation's SEC Blog
If you're so inclined, follow me @Year2
I still say the Georgia Dome is much better
it’s not even a contest
Mathew 19:26 "With God, all things are possible"
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