Western Kentucky Hilltoppers vs. South Florida Bulls in the Miami Beach Bowl

Miami Beach Bowl
Western Kentucky vs. South Florida
Miami, Florida | Marlins Park
2:30 pm on ESPN

Leading the way for the Western Kentucky Hilltopppers is helmsman Brandon Doughty who has accumulated 9,424 yards with 94 touchdowns and only 17 picks in his last 2 seasons. In his fabulous career he has passed for more than 12,000 yards with more than 105 touchdowns with a insane 68.6% completion rating.

This season Doughty has 5 pass-catchers with 37 or more receptions: Taywan Taylor (71), Jared Dangerfield (67), Nicholas Norris (53), Antwane Grant (42) and Tyler Higbee (37). Over one third of the Hilltoppers passing yardage total come after the catch, a credit to the importance of downfield blocking.

In the last 3 games, Western Kentucky’s defense held their opponent to less than 100 yards of rushing a game along with 135 passing yards and 21 points.

South Florida faced 3 top 25 teams this season and all were losses, Memphis, Florida State and Navy. Speed is the name of the game offensively for the Bulls of South Florida. The Bulls have (31) scoring drives of under 2:00, including five each in wins vs. the Temple Owls and the Cincinnati Bearcats. South Florid has (16) scoring drives of less than 1:00. 31 of 57 (54%) scoring drives have lasted 2:00 or less, only (11) have lasted more than 4:00.

The Bull’s offense is in the “hands” of their rushing game spearheaded by duo of Quinton Flowers and Marlon Mack. Marlon Mack (1st, 117 ypg) and Flowers (7th, 79.3 ypg) rank in Top 10 in conference games in rushing, they combine for 196.3 ypg, the most powerful duo in the conference.

The South Florida defense has held 6 of 7 Conference opponents below their season scoring average, and one equaled it. The 6 held below averaged 14.3 points below their season average entering the game.

Trends:

The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers are 2 and 0 against the betting line versus the Bulls of South Florida since 1992. Also, the under is a perfect 2 for 2 since 1992.

Selection: Western Kentucky -2     Under 66.5