Western Kentucky vs. James Madison:
The first of two bowl games on Wednesday December 18 takes place in Boca Raton. You can tell because it is called the Boca Raton Bowl. Western Kentucky and James Madison take the field at FAU Stadium. The transfer portal has more mass on the WKU side, but several of the players looking to leave will stick it out through the early bowl game.
We’ve seen a bit of a move on the JMU side here, but not to the degree that we’ve seen in other bowl games.
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Boca Raton Bowl: Western Kentucky Hilltoppers vs. James Madison Dukes (-6.5, 52)
Wednesday Dec. 18, 5:30 p.m. ET
The Hilltoppers went 8-5 and lost in the Conference USA Championship Game against Jacksonville State, but this is one of the weaker bowl teams statistically. WKU finished with a negative yards per play differential, which was largely influenced by the blowout loss to Alabama to open the season. The Hilltoppers had just 2.2 yards per play and gave up more than nine. However, they still gave up over six yards per play during a very weak C-USA slate.
James Madison’s calling card was defense under first-year head Bob Chesney. The Dukes lost a ton of players in the portal and lost a CFP-caliber head coach in Curt Cignetti, but still put together a solid 8-4 season. The team’s lack of depth may very well have been on display in the season-ending losses to App State and Marshall. With some extra time to rally the squad and perhaps get a little healthier, we’ll see if the Dukes can turn it around.
While WKU had major defensive issues against C-USA opponents, it was the JMU offense that struggled in league play. The Sun Belt dwellers only had 5.34 YPP against conference foes, but also held them to just 4.73. This was one of the toughest defenses in the nation to score against, holding opponents to just 20.8 PPG.
With a lot of players ready to jump ship, the Hilltoppers lost 12-7 to Louisiana Tech, 38-21 to Liberty, barely beat a Jacksonville State team with nothing to play for in the final week of the regular season, and then lost 52-12 in the title game against that same Gamecocks team. QB Caden Veltkamp is in the transfer portal and will actually visit FAU during his time in Boca Raton. He had a 23/10 TD/INT ratio with 2,806 yards and a 66.6% completion rate. Given how weak the ground game was for the Hilltoppers, his focus is an important factor here.
The reason why this line hasn’t moved more with WKU’s portal party is because James Madison QB Alonza Barrett isn’t playing. The injured Barrett had a 26/4 TD/INT ratio and threw for nearly 2,600 yards, along with 442 yards on the ground. Billy Atkins, who had one pass attempt during the season and has 59 career pass attempts, is getting the start.
With rain and wind in the forecast and a lot of dysfunction for both offenses, it’ll be the Under for me in this game.
Pick: Under 52
