Chick-Fil-a Peach Bowl 2014: Ole Miss vs. TCU Schedule, Key Matchups, Prediction
If you told the TCU Horned Frogs at the beginning of the season that they would win a Big 12 co-championship and reach the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl on New Year’s Eve, they would have been thrilled.
If you told them the same thing in the final moments before the first College Football Playoff teams were announced, they would not have been happy.
The Horned Frogs were ranked No. 3 in the country heading into their final game, which they won by 52 points. Instead of making the field of four, though, TCU fell to No. 6 and finds itself in the Peach Bowl against Ole Miss from the SEC.
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The opportunity to beat a fellow Top 10 foe from the nation’s presumed best conference is a solid consolation prize at least.
Here is a look at some of the essential information for that game before digging into a preview.
2014 Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl
Matchup: Ole Miss vs. TCU
Date: Wednesday, Dec. 31
Time: 12:30 p.m. ET
TV: ESPN
Live Stream: WatchESPN
Preview/Key Matchups/Prediction
The marquee matchup in this game is the showdown between the No. 2 scoring offense in the country in TCU against the nation’s top scoring defense in the country in Ole Miss. It is the prototypical clash of the high-octane attack from the quarterback-happy Big 12 against the stout and physical defense of the SEC.
The Rebels were best in the country in scoring defense, 13th in yards allowed per play, 11th in third-down defense and second in touchdown passes allowed. They finished with 19 interceptions. Of those 19 picks, cornerback Senquez Golson hauled in nine of them and will look to contain wide receiver Josh Doctson.
The Horned Frogs bring a balanced attack to the table that finished seventh in the nation in passing yards and 35th in the nation in rushing yards. It was a three-headed monster with quarterback Trevone Boykin, running back Aaron Green and Doctson.
Green ran for 854 yards and eight touchdowns, while Doctson tallied 959 receiving yards and nine touchdown catches.
Boykin threw for 3,714 yards, 30 touchdowns and only seven interceptions and added 642 yards and eight touchdowns on the ground.
Head coach Gary Patterson discussed the opportunity ahead of his quarterback, according to STATS LLC, via ESPN.com:
"He's in a situation now, where he's one of the frontrunners going into next year. It's all how you finish, not how you start. ... I think (this game) is a really good stage for him moving forward to show what kind of player he is. His best advertisement is himself. He can be his best press release.
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The other matchup to watch when Ole Miss has the ball is the showdown between the Rebels passing attack and the vulnerable TCU secondary, which finished 88th in the country against the pass.
Ole Miss quarterback Bo Wallace had 17 touchdown passes during his team’s 7-0 start, but the loss of wide receiver Laquon Treadwell to a season-ending injury was devastating for the offense. Wallace had five touchdown passes and five interceptions in the final five games without Treadwell and looked like a completely different quarterback.
He still has a chance to make some Ole Miss history, though, as Hugh Kellenberger of the Jackson Clarion-Ledger noted:
The Rebels finished a formidable 30th in the country in passing offense, which is all the more impressive when their conference schedule as part of the daunting SEC West is taken into consideration.
Although the Horned Frogs struggled to stop the pass, they still finished 18th in the country in scoring defense and took a bend-but-don’t-break approach throughout much of the year.
Ole Miss will move the ball but struggle to punch it in the end zone without Treadwell, as so many of TCU’s opponents did this season. That will create a small opening for Boykin to take advantage of on the other side, and that is exactly what he will do.
Look for TCU’s explosive offense to put the game away with a late score in the fourth quarter.
Prediction: TCU 24, Ole Miss 21
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