Hawai'i Bowl 2017: Fresno State vs. Houston TV Schedule, Time and Odds
There are few holiday traditions better than coming home on Christmas Eve, putting your feet up on the couch and ignoring your family while you take in the Hawai'i Bowl.
While some games during the early part of bowl season are left to the wayside, the Hawai'i Bowl normally catches more attention because it is the only sporting event on television on the night of Christmas Eve.
The 2017 edition of the Hawai'i Bowl presents us with an intriguing matchup between two of the best Group of Five schools.
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The Fresno State Bulldogs have not had good memories from the Hawai'i Bowl, as they have only scored 16 points in two visits to the island since 2012.
The Houston Cougars are 0-1 in program history in the Hawai'i Bowl as they fell in 2003 to Timmy Chang and Hawai'i.
The Hawai'i Bowl has a history of being a shootout, but twice in the last four years, the losing team has put a single digit on the scoreboard.
Date: Sunday, December 24
Time: 8:30 p.m ET
TV: ESPN
Live Stream: Watch ESPN
How Fresno State Will Win
Jeff Tedford's first season at Fresno State saw the Bulldogs take some lumps as they fell to Alabama and Washington in Week 2 and 3, respectively.
However, once they entered conference play, the Bulldogs started to roll and made their way to the Mountain West Championship in which they fell to Boise State a week after beating the Broncos.
Quarterback Marcus McMaryion doesn't have extraordinary stats, but he's been able to lead the Bulldogs to a pair of four-game winning streaks since September 30.
McMaryion's best game of the season came in the victory over Boise State on November 25 in which he threw for 332 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Fresno State has a variety of weapons for McMaryion to target, but the junior might have trouble releasing the ball on Sunday night due to the presence of Houston sophomore defensive tackle Ed Oliver.
Containing Oliver is no small feat, and if the Bulldogs aren't able to limit his impact on the contest, their Christmas Eve could be spoiled.
Tedford's team may not have a star in its defense like Oliver, but it does have an impressive linebacker in Jeffrey Allison, who has 113 tackles to his name. Allison has reached double digits in tackles in five games, including the Mountain West Championship.
If Allison and his teammates are able to create pressure against the Houston offense, we could be in line for a close game headlined by defense.
How Houston Will Win
Oliver is a one-man wrecking crew on defense when he's at his best. The sophomore had 14 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and two sacks in Houston's final regular-season game against Navy.
There's no doubt Oliver will get to the quarterback on Sunday. It just depends how often one of the most skilled defensive players in the nation ends up in the Fresno State backfield.
Offensively, the Cougars have recently received a spark from D'Eriq King, as he's produced three consecutive passing performances over 200 yards.
King is also a threat in the run game, as he showed us on November 18 against Tulane, when he put up 141 yards on the ground with a pair of scores.
The sophomore gunslinger is accompanied by running back Duke Catalon and wide receivers Steven Dunbar and Linnel Bonner as potential threats to the Fresno State defense.
If King is able to open up the Fresno State defense in the passing game early, he should have a chance to show off his legs at points in the contest.
The Cougars appear to have the upper hand with the most dynamic players on both sides of the ball, but they have been susceptible to bad losses as well during the American schedule as they lost to both Tulsa and Tulane, who finished a combined 7-17.
Prediction
As we mentioned above, the Cougars have the most electric players on offense and defense in this game, and if King and Oliver make the proper impact on the contest, they'll be heading back to Houston with their third bowl victory in the last four seasons.
Houston 34, Fresno State 17
Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90.
All statistics obtained from ESPN.com.
Odds obtained via Oddsshark.com.
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