Peach Bowl 2015: Updated Odds and Preview for Houston vs. Florida State

It was a down 2015 campaign by the Florida State Seminoles' standards, but they're being rewarded for a strong finish to the year.

The Seminoles, who were in the Rose Bowl last year, will be a part of the New Year's Six when they take on the Houston Cougars, winners of the American Athletic Conference, in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl.

It's the first time the Cougars are in the Peach Bowl after a 12-win season, their second in program history. At No. 18 in the final College Football Playoff poll, Houston was the highest-ranked team in the Group of Five.

“Our goal was to build a championship culture at the University of Houston and we knew for our program to play in a game of this magnitude, we were going to need to accomplish one of our goals and win The American Championship," said Houston head coach Tom Herman in a statement from the Peach Bowl's website.

"We know our season is not over and we look forward to reaching one more goal with a Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl Championship.”

Florida State, meanwhile, hasn't been to the Peach Bowl since 2010 and features one of the best running backs in the country, Dalvin Cook. This will be the fifth time in the six years Jimbo Fisher has been coach at Florida State that the Seminoles are in a New Year's Six-eligible bowl game.

“I couldn’t be prouder of how this team has grown this year," Fisher said in a statement provided by the Peach Bowl's website. "We are looking forward to facing a great Houston team that is very explosive on offense and dynamic on defense.”

Here are the opening odds for the Peach Bowl as well as an early preview.

2015 Peach Bowl Odds

Matchup: Houston vs. Florida State

Where: Georgia Dome, Atlanta, Georgia

When: Dec. 31, 2015

Opening Line: Florida State (-6.5), per Odds Shark

Dalvin Cook vs. Greg Ward Jr.

Not many bowl games this year will have two teams that feature offensive superstars.

That will be the case when Dalvin Cook's Seminoles take on Houston and its electrifying quarterback, Greg Ward Jr.

If college football did not have the likes of Derrick Henry and Leonard Fournette to talk about, Cook would be the best running back in the country. Cook ended the regular season with 1,658 yards and 18 touchdowns on the ground. He's somehow been able to top what he did as a freshman last season, where he ran for 1,008 yards and eight touchdowns.

Cook's yards per carry have gone up by two this year. He is averaging nearly eight yards per carry. If the Seminoles were in position to get back into the College Football Playoff, Cook could very well win the Heisman Trophy next week.

One columnist, Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel, thinks Cook's Heisman candidacy is greater than Henry's:

"

In my opinion, Cook is every bit the running back of Henry and LSU's Leonard Fournette, but because he doesn’t play in the Southeastern Conference he has been unfairly overshadowed by those two backs. Early in the season, it was Fournette who eclipsed Cook and now it's Henry.

Example: In ESPN.com's most recent Heisman Trophy polling of its resident college football writers, Henry received nine of 10 first-place votes and 49 of 50 possible total points. Cook? He received no first place votes, no second place votes, only one third-place vote and was ranked fifth behind Henry, Clemson quarterback DeShaun Watson, Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey and Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield.

This is an absolute travesty.

"

Yes, Cook should get some Heisman consideration. But Cook's reason for not winning the trophy will be the same as Christian McCaffrey's: Their teams have two losses. 

That reasoning can't be used for Ward, though. It's because of the conference he is in. 

If Houston went undefeated and were playing for a spot in the College Football Playoff, Ward would get plenty of Heisman consideration, because he deserves it. Ward accumulated 3,636 total yards of offense this year and scored 35 touchdowns. Not only has he completed almost 68 percent of his passes, but he's averaging 5.9 yards per carry from behind center.

That's just as impressive, if not more, than what Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson has done. But again, record and conference make a difference. 

But being in the AAC won't make a difference when the Cougars play Florida State. Ward is a dangerous quarterback who wasn't even the best quarterback in the conference, as Tom Schad from the Commercial Appeal pointed out:

The winner of this game will come down to which one of these two players has the bigger game. Cook can literally carry Florida State to a win, but Ward's dual-threat ability makes him tough to stop. The perfect game plan will win this one.