Miami Beach Bowl: A Quick Look At Possible BYU Opponents

The 2014 the regular football season is officially over and our BYU Cougars are going bowling. For many fans, myself included, this comes as a relief. Through the month of September the hype was high, the Cougars were trending up and the Kool-Aid was flowing freely for Cougar fans everywhere.

Then October happened. The winless month deflated the sails of Cougar fans and, frankly, the season became a whole lot less exciting. But after a good month of November and a few needed wins, BYU is headed to Miami Beach where they will take on an AAC opponent.

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The Cougars have known since the summer that they would end up in Miami for their bowl game, but their opponent is still an unknown. I scoured the internet and pulled the projections from the major college football websites (ESPN, Phil Steele, CBSSports, Fox Sports, Yahoo and SportingNews) and got the most up to date projections for each site. CBSSports, Yahoo and SportingNews all think BYU will play East Carolina, Phil Steel and Fox Sports are projecting Memphis, Brett McMurphy is projecting a rematch with UCF and Mark Schlabach is guessing Cincinnati. So, basically, nobody knows.

That said, let’s take a look at quick look at each of the possible opponents that BYU will face two weeks from Monday:

East Carolina: When the football season was underway and BYU was riding the hype train, the Pirates of East Carolina were nipping on their heels. A 6-1 start with a close loss to South Carolina and a big win over Virginia Tech had many college football fans thinking ECU was New Year’s bow bound. Ultimately, their biggest win over the Hokies proved to not be as big as it seemed at the time and the Pirates faded out as the season went on. Still, this would be a good match up for BYU.

Dec 4, 2014; Greenville, NC, USA; East Carolina Pirates wide receiver Justin Hardy (2) reacts to a 4th quarter 1st down catch against the Central Florida Knights at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. The Central Florida Knights defeated the East Carolina Pirates 32-30. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports

The Pirates are led by senior quarterback Shane Carden who has thrown for more than 4300 yards this season. Not only is he a gun slinger, he’s accurate. He’s thrown 28 touchdown passes to just eight interceptions and is completing 65% of his passes. This is the kind of quarterback that gives me nightmares when I think about him facing BYU. That said, the BYU secondary looked much improved against a talented Cal team, but this match up would be difficult.

Defensively, East Carolina is above average, but not elite. They give up just over 25 points a game but would have their hands full with a BYU offense that seems to be clicking on all cylinders right now. This game would be great for BYU.

UCF: BYU knows all about UCF. A heartbreaking loss in overtime in Christian Stewart’s first start as quarterback was second loss in a row and the loss that sealed BYU’s Miami Beach Bowl fate. All in all, the Knights were not overly impressive in that game, but BYU was even worse. Stewart looked uncomfortable and the offense was stagnant for most of the game. Still, BYU was in the game until the end and had opportunities to pull out a victory.

BYU has improved since the game in Orlando and the Knights have been up and down. Aside from a perplexing loss against UConn, they’ve been perfect since the BYU game but they haven’t looked impressive doing it. They blew out rival South Florida but had close games against Tulane and East Carolina. This UCF team has a lot of talent and George O’Leary is a great football coach, but depending on the day, they are beatable.

For me, a BYU and UCF rematch is intriguing. I don’t think the Knights saw the best that the Cougars had to offer and I think that UCF is a very good football team that would be a great test to see how much better the Cougars have become this season. The game would be virtually a home game for UCF, but, it would be a very appealing match up for both TV and for BYU fans.

Memphis: The Tigers are one of the hottest teams in college football. After a close loss to Houston on October 11, Memphis has rolled. A defense that is only giving up 17 points a game and an offense that is scoring just under 35 would probably be the biggest test of the options for BYU’s potential match up. However, I think it is probably the most boring of the possible match ups.

Nov 29, 2014; Memphis, TN, USA; Memphis Tigers defensive back Fritz Etienne (15) celebrates with defensive back Bobby McCain (21) against the Connecticut Huskies at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium. The Tigers won 41-10. Mandatory Credit: Justin Ford-USA TODAY Sports

Honestly, how many of you have heard anything about Memphis since Derrick Rose left the school? And how many of you have heard much of anything about Memphis football ever? I know, me neither. That said, if BYU plays Memphis, they cannot overlook them. They are a very good football team this year.

Offensively, they are solid. Paxton Lynch is a good quarterback. He’s accurate but he isn’t going to light up a scoreboard with gaudy numbers. He will do what he needs to do, protect the football and make some big plays. They have a solid running game behind senior Brandon Hayes. It would be a good test for BYU.

Defensively, they’re a stout football team. They tackle well, they don’t give up big plays and they are one of the top 30 defenses in the country. They are a very good football team, but I don’t really want to see this match up.

Cincinnati: I’m not sure what to make of the Bearcats this year. They beat East Carolina but got trounced by Memphis early on in the year. They have talent on their team, but have not seemed to be able to consistently put it together this season.

Nov 29, 2014; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Cincinnati Bearcats quarterback Gunner Kiel (11) scrambles during the fourth quarter against the Temple Owls at Lincoln Financial Field. The Cincinnati Bearcats won 14-6. Mandatory Credit: John Geliebter-USA TODAY Sports

Quarterback Gunner Kiel originally signed at Notre Dame but transferred after his freshman year in search of more playing time. In his first college game against Toledo this season, he threw for six touchdown passes. The guy has the talent to be an elite quarterback and Tommy Tuberville is a good football coach that can help him reach his potential.

On defense, the Bearcats are statistically worse than BYU has been this season. I think if BYU and Cincinnati meet in the Miami Beach Bowl then we’re in for a game similar to BYU’s last match up against Cal. It would be a shootout against a national recognized team. Cincy would be an appealing matchup because Tuberville is a nationally recognized coach and the Bearcats, while not an elite level team, are still a nationally recognized logo and team. It would be very interesting to see these two match up on the football field.

My hope: I want UCF. I don’t think that the Knights are a better football team than BYU today. They were on October 9 but I don’t think they would be on December 22. BYU has improved immensely and I think that it would be a perfect sendoff for Christian Stewart if he could redeem himself and lead BYU to a win over the team that beat him in his first start. I don’t think it’s likely that this match up happens, but it’s what I want to see the most.

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