Miami Beach Bowl 2015: Western Kentucky vs. South Florida TV Info, Time and Odds
Roots run deep and strengths collide when the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers and the South Florida Bulls get together Monday for the second edition of the Miami Beach Bowl.
USF, 8-4, has coach Willie Taggart to thank for its turnaround, which includes a 7-1 record down the stretch, a top-25 scoring defense and an elite offense.
Taggart, though, knows a thing or two about the high-flying Hilltoppers considering he helped direct the infancy of the program's turnaround for three years before leaving for USF, and he happened to play his collegiate ball there as a quarterback, too.
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With Las Vegas expecting big things from explosive offenses, Monday's contest isn't one to miss. Here's everything to know.
Game Details
When: Monday, December 21, at 2:30 p.m. ET
Where: Marlins Park, Miami
Television: ESPN
Live Stream: WatchESPN
Tickets: ScoreBig.com
Over/Under: 66.5
Spread: WKU (-2.5)
Team Injury Reports
| Tyler Higbee | TE | Questionable |
| Leon Allen | RB | Out for season |
| Matt Nord | OL | Out indefinitely |
| Deangelo Antoine | WR | Out indefinitely |
| Benjamin Knox | OL | Out indefinitely |
| Hassan Childs | DB | Out for season |
| Stanley Clerveaux | WR | Out for season |
Injury reports courtesy of USA Today.
Climbing the Ladder
Taggart's impact continues to resonate at WKU.
The program made its first FBS bowl in 2012, won a bowl game last year, topped Conference USA and even found its way into the Associated Press Top 25—in large part thanks to Taggart recruit Brandon Doughty.
Doughty's now one of the best quarterbacks in the nation, having completed 71.8 percent of his passes with 4,594 yards and 45 touchdowns to seven interceptions. The sixth-year senior leans on wideout Taywan Taylor, who has 79 catches for 1,363 yards and 17 touchdowns.
Of the praise often slung the duo's way, Taggart's seems to be the most noteworthy, as captured by Chad Bishop of WBKO-TV:
High praise indeed. Why not? The Hilltoppers have posted 41 or more points nine times this year, the lone losses coming on the road against then-No. 5 LSU and Indiana.
If Doughty's to go out with a bang before turning his sights to the pros while keeping the WKU program on the rise in the process, he'll have to overcome a strong defense that hasn't allowed more than 30 points in a game since mid-September.
The Balancing Act
For Taggart, the balancing task applies to both a past-future perspective and a pass-run approach Monday.
Much of the attention will go to what the coach accomplished in turning around WKU, but he's properly dialed into his current team and the future, near and far.
"The beauty is they're a young team, they're young guys, and they're learning to be that way at a young age," Taggart said, according to ESPN.com. "The future is very bright here at USF."
A strong balance propels one of the nation's most explosive attacks. Quarterback Quinton Flowers completed 61.1 percent of his passes this year with 21 touchdowns to eight interceptions, but it's his versatility that has produced 883 rushing yards and 10 scores on the ground, driving defensive coordinators crazy.
Flanking Flowers is one of the nation's most criminally underrated rushers, sophomore Marlon Mack. He's rushed for 1,273 yards and eight touchdowns on a smooth 6.6 yards-per-carry average to date this season.
Mack's found room for countless impressive games this season, though his per-carry average of 4.6 with 83 yards in a loss to Florida State perhaps stands out the most. Taggart has to find a way to make sure his team doesn't fall behind like it did there, which mostly eliminated Mack from the offense.
Easier said than done against the Hilltoppers, though.
Prediction
Las Vegas likes WKU in a close one for good reason.
USF has flashed strong defense this year but doesn't regularly encounter a quarterback of Doughty's caliber. He's too experienced to let the major spotlight phase him, and carving up a USF secondary isn't the toughest thing he's had to do all season.
Granted, Mack's going to have a major game. But the problem here is the one mentioned in that WKU can somewhat eliminate him from the equation by jumping out to an early lead and forcing the Bulls out of their comfort zone.
Expect it to be quite a bittersweet day for Taggart, perhaps the main figure responsible for what should be one of the week's top games.
Prediction: WKU 45, USF 35
Statistics courtesy of ESPN unless otherwise specified. All betting information courtesy of Odds Shark.
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