College Football Insider: A Preview of the Ticket City Bowl

We all know that there are so many bowl games it’s hard to keep track of them all.  From the Pinstripe Bowl, to the Military Bowl all the way up to the Fiesta Bowl, there are so many of them sometimes we forget about them and which teams are actually playing in a bowl game.

One bowl we shouldn’t forget about is the Ticket City Bowl coming up this Saturday at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.  This game features Big Ten member Northwestern and Big 12 tenant Texas Tech.  Heading into this game, the odds makers have the Red Raiders winning this game (by roughly a touchdown and a half) but the Wildcats could surprise them in this game.

So how can the Wildcats win this game?  Can they win this game?  What do both of these teams bring to the table?

Let’s find out in this extended preview of the Ticket City Bowl featuring the Northwestern Wildcats and the Texas Tech Red Raiders.

When the Wildcats have the Ball

The Wildcat’s offense will be led by quarterback Evan Watkins who is in for an injured Dan Persa.  During his time at the position, Watkins has attempted 49 passes completing 26 of them for 302 yards for one touchdown and four interceptions.  The Wildcats have had a lot of time to prepare him for this game so hopefully he will be ready to go and will be able to play well.

Since the Wildcats are starting an inexperienced quarterback, they will want to run the ball a little bit more to take some of the pressure off of Watkins.  Northwestern doesn’t have a strong running game, especially since Persa is out (he was their leader in the running game) but they will attempt to get something going.  After Persa, their next leading rusher is Mike Trumpy.  Trumpy has rushed 116 times for 530 yards and four touchdowns averaging 4.6 yards per rush.

The Wildcats can try to get the running game going and they need to in order to have a chance to win the game.

Northwestern does have some very capable wide receivers and they can do some damage when they get the ball.  They are led in both catches and yards by wide receiver Jeremy Ebert who has 59 catches for 919 yards and eight touchdowns with an average of 15.6 yards per catch.  Their second leading receiver (in yardage) is Sidney Stewart.  He has 38 catches for 437 yards and no touchdowns with an average of 11.5 yards per catch.

The Wildcats may not have a powerful offense but they have some balance and if they can run a balanced attack.  

Looking at some of the raw numbers, the Wildcats are averaging 149 rushing yards per game while the Red Raiders defense is allowing teams to run for an average of 157 yards per game.  Texas Tech’s defense is allowing teams to pass for 306 yards per game and the Wildcats are getting 149 yards through the air.

Northwestern is averaging 25 points per game while Texas Tech is allowing 30 points per game.

When the Red Raiders have the Ball

Texas Tech has had some good things on offense this season and have a lot of nice play makers on that side of the ball.  They are led on offense by quarterback Taylor Potts.  Potts has attempted 495 passes with 326 completions for 3357 yards, 31 touchdowns and nine interceptions.  He’s had somewhat of a breakout season this year and is one of the better quarterbacks in College Football this year.

Every good quarterback needs to have some good receivers and the Red Raiders have two in particular that help Potts move the ball down the field effectively.  Their leader in yards is Lyle Leong.  He had 64 catches for 808 yards with 17 touchdowns and an average of 12.6 yards per catch.  The second leading receiver on the team is Detron Lewis.  He has 70 catches for 803 yards with six touchdowns and an average of 10.2 yards per catch.

The Red Raiders like to use a couple of different running backs in their rushing offense.  Their leader in yards this season is Baron Batch.  Batch has 172 carries for 805 yards and five touchdowns with an average of 4.8 yards per carry.

Texas Tech is averaging 137 yards on the ground while the Wildcats are allowing teams to gain 185 yards per game rushing.  Northwestern is allowing teams 230 yards of passing per game while Texas Tech is averaging 314 yards per game through the air.

The Red Raiders offense is putting up 32 points per game while Northwestern’s defense is allowing 27 points per game.

Analysis

Statistically speaking, it would look like this game is a near mismatch because of the apparent struggles that the Wildcats have on offense.  Things will have changed for this team with Persa’s absence and the Wildcats hope that his replacement will be able to carry the offense in this game.

The Red Raiders have one of the most potent offenses in the Big 12 although you wouldn’t really know it because they haven’t been talked about that much this season.  Potts has a gun for an arm and he’s pretty accurate so he’s able to get the ball down the field to his wide receivers and make plays.  

Northwestern may struggle to stop this kind of offense especially through the air.  They have  had problems stopping opposing offenses in both the running game and the passing game and with Tech being a pretty potent offense, the Wildcats could struggle.

Northwestern’s offense could struggle against Texas Tech’s defense although you can bet that Northwestern is going to try to do whatever they can to win this game.  They have had some time to put something together, their coach is a go-getter and won’t quit and they are a team with some great talent.

But unfortunately it doesn’t appear that the Wildcats will have enough to win this game.

Prediction

Texas Tech comes into this game with a pretty powerful offense and a decent enough defense that they should be able to stop the Wildcats and win this game.

Texas Tech 31, Northwestern 17