(According to Vegas the San Diego State Aztecs are now one point favorites against Buffalo).

Some things to think about when selecting the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl in bowl pick’em.

#1 Buffalo was initially favored by three points and is now the underdog. San Diego State has been upgraded today as the one point favorite.

#2 The stats are leaning in favor of San Diego State in both offensive and defensive categories.

#3 Will a Quinn be rattled playing in his first bowl game like Dingwell was against BYU.

#4 Will the San Diego State offensive line hold up? (Check out the injury report)

#5 Will weather play a factor. If the game is played in snow pick the better running team. Statistically this season that would be Buffalo.

#6 Which school has the momentum going into the game? Both San Diego State and Buffalo lost the last game of the season. I would say neither team holds momentum.

#7 Read the preview and chose the best team.

(We predict that this game will be very close. Both San Diego State and Buffalo run the pro style offense and the defenses are very similar.  This should be one of the better bowl games this bowl season)

Question & Answer with UBBullRun of SB Nation

San Diego Sports Domination:  What about the Aztecs concerns the Bulls the most?

UBBullRun: I’m most worried about the number of receiving targets that the Aztec’s have.

Buffalo has some good talent in the secondary but we don’t have a lot of depth and we have been burned by teams that can stretch our secondary by having three or four legitimate threats on the field. If the Bulls can contain the passing game I believe our front seven should be able to  keep the running game in check.

San Diego Sports Domination: What should  be a strength for the Bulls against San Diego State?

UBBullRun: I’m looking for the pass rush to be a huge part of this game. Our All American Linebacker Khalil Mack should be able to cause some real havoc in the backfield, especially if your Quarterback is not really a mobile guy. The Bulls pressure defense is very good at generating turnovers.

San Diego Sports Domination: What should San Diego State fans know about Khalil Mack?

UBBullRun: Mack has no weakness in his game. He’s not a guy you can double up on, or someone who’s not good in coverage. The only team that took him out of the game was Baylor and they did that by getting the ball from the center to the receiver in an inhuman amount of time.

UBBullRun: Mack never stops chasing a play and has the IQ to look for the turnover. The fumlbe which gave him the NCAA record came against Miami on a play where the Quarterback bork containment and got moving up field. Mack ran him down from behind and made stripping the ball look routine.

San Diego Sports Domination: What would a bowl victory against San Diego State mean for your program?

UBBullRun: Next year could be another hard one for UB fans. We are losing a lot of talent this season and I doubt we happen to have suck a weak schedule next season (EMU, WMU, UMass, Miami, UConn). So it may be another year, at least, until UB is in a position to Bowl again.

UBBullRun: A bowl win here could help UB gram more attention from the sports fans in Buffalo and validate that the program is indded heading in the right direction.

San Diego Sports Domination: With Buffalo making the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, was this season (at least to this point) considered a success?

UBBullRun: It depends on when you ask this question.

UBBullRun: If you ask me this before the season starts I say “Yes, absolutely I do indeed concur, wholeheartedly!”. For a program that has only one bowl game under it’s belt and had just seven wins the previous three seasons combined a Bowl is a blessing.

UBBullRun: Then we found out how weak UConn, Kent, WMU, and Ohio ended up. UB went into half time of their final game four points ahead of Bowling Green for the MAC East title. That would have meant a bowl game in detroit that the Bulls could travel to in great numbers.

UBBullRun: It could have been a ten win year but the only two good MAC teams we played beat us pretty soundly.  So with the talent cliff coming there is a “what if” feeling among some fans.

 

 

NCAA SEASON LEADERS FBS

Team	Total Offensive	Pass OFF	Rush OFF	Pass Def	Run Def
SDSU	57th	35th	74th	89th	22nd
UB	70th	67th	66th	31st	58th

The Photo below is from the Aztecs victory at Boise State two years ago. We figured why not add a photo of the Aztecs playing the same stadium as the bowl game.

San Diego State Overall (7-5) Conf (6-2)

This game for the Aztecs will be won or lost on the offensive line.. The Aztec defense will not have to worry a ton about the Buffalo passing game. We expect that Buffalo will use a majority of the plays on the ground. That plays into the strength of the Aztec Defense. Expect this game to be low scoring possibly in the low to mid 20’s. The Buffalo rush defense will be busy trying to figure out how to stop the Aztec rushing attack. Donnel Pumphrey the speedster can beat you on the outside and Adam Muema can beat you running inside the tackles.

Junior Ezell Ruffin leads the team in receptions and yards while Senior Colin Lockett leads all Aztec receivers in touchdowns. Together the two receivers account hauled in 45% of all receptions, 56% of passing yards, and 47% of touchdown passes. (Article by UBBullRun Link)

Loss vs. Eastern Illinois = 40 – 19

Loss at. Ohio State = 42 – 7

Loss vs. Oregon State = 34 – 30

Win at. New Mexico State = 26 – 16

Win vs. Nevada = 51 – 44 (OT)

Win at. Air Force = 27 – 20

Loss vs. Fresno State = 35 – 28 (OT)

Win vs. New Mexico = 35 – 30

Win at. San Jose State = 34 – 30

Win at. Hawaii = 28 – 21 (OT)

Win vs. Boise State = 34 – 31 (OT)

Loss at. UNLV = 45 – 19

San Diego State Injury Report (Link)

Date	Pos	Player	Injury	Status
12/19/13	PK	Seamus McMorrow	Ankle	expected to miss Saturday vs. Buffalo U
12/19/13	OL	Zach Dilley	Knee	is downgraded to expected to miss Saturday vs. Buffalo U
12/12/13	DB	Marcus Andrews	Hand	doubtful Saturday vs. Buffalo U
12/10/13	TE	Adam Roberts	Foot	probable Saturday vs. Buffalo U
12/10/13	OL	Bryce Quigley	Foot	probable Saturday vs. Buffalo U
12/10/13	RB	Dwayne Garrett	Concussion	probable Saturday vs. Buffalo U
12/10/13	DB	Nat Berhe	Shoulder	probable Saturday vs. Buffalo U
11/14/13	Backup QB	Chad Jeffries	Hand	out for season
11/07/13	DB	Joe Morrow	Personal	out for season
11/07/13	CB	Mahbu Keels	Personal	off the team
11/06/13	S	Gabe Lemon	Neck	out indefinitely
10/09/13	DB	Billy Vaughn, Jr.	Shoulder	out for season
10/02/13	DL	Dan Kottman	Shoulder	out for season
10/02/13	LB	Jake Fely	Foot	expected to miss 8 weeks
09/18/13	RB	De’Saan Hardwick	Personal	quit the team
08/23/13	LB	Scott Graves	Bicep	out for season

University of Buffalo Overall (8-4) Conference MAC (6-2)

Now lets break down the Buffalo schedule up to this point in the season. Buffalo lost to a few great squads including Ohio State, Baylor and Bowling Green. The Bulls beat a few good teams in Connecticut and Ohio. The Bulls offense is one of the middle of the road offense’s in the nation ranked as No. 70. The Bulls offense is going to have to play a flawless game in the turnover battle and the UB defense is going to have to shut down the San Diego State run game if they want to have any chance at beating the Aztecs.

Loss at. Ohio State = 40 – 20

Loss at. Baylor = 70 – 13

Win vs. Stony Brook = 26 – 23

Win vs. Connecticut = 41 – 12

Win vs. Eastern Michigan = 42 – 14

Win at. Western Michigan = 33 – 0

Win vs. Massachusetts = 32 -3

Win at. Kent State = 41 – 21

Win vs. Ohio = 30 – 3

Loss at. Toledo = 51 – 41

Win at Miami (OH) = 44 – 7

Loss vs. Bowling Green = 24 -7

Buffalo Injury Report (Link)

Date	Pos	Player	Injury	Status
10/26/13	LB	Nick Gilbo	Undisclosed	out for season
10/21/13	OL	Jasen Carlson	Leg	out for season
09/26/13	LS	Marcus McGill	Hand	out for season
09/04/13	FB	Boomer Brock	Knee	out for season
08/24/13	RB	Jordan Johnson	Elbow	out for season

Total Offensive Stats

Team	Total Passing	Total Rushing	Total Offensive
SDSU	3,147 Yards	1,917  Yards	5,064 Yards
UB	2,759 Yards	2,063 Yards	4,822 Yards

Total Offensive Plays

Team	Total Offense		Total Plays	Average Per Play	Average Per Game
SDSU	5,064		900	5.6	422.0
UB	4,822		896	5.4	401.8

Rushing Stats

Team	Yards	Attempts	YPC	YPG	TD
SDSU	1,917	467	4.1	159.8	35
UBU	2,063	500	4.1	171.9	21

Passing Stats

Team	Yards	Comp/Att/Int	Avg Per Catch	APG	TD
SDSU	3,147	245-433-14	12.8	262.2	17
UB	2,759	230-396-7	12.0	229.9	22

Penalties

Team	Penalties Yards	Avg Per Game
SDSU	75-646	53.8 yards
UB	67-744	62.0 yards

GAME DAY INFORMATION 

Game information: Kickoff Saturday December 21st at 3:30 p.m. MT  Boise, Idaho.

TV: ESPN

Watch: WatchESPN

Live Scoring: Gametracker

Boise Weather Forecast  For Game Time

Poll Question

 

San Diego State Practice Updates 

Rocky didn’t seem very happy with Thursday’s practice. Update coming.

— Stefanie Loh (@StefanieLoh) December 19, 2013

Time for work. #AztecFB #GoAztecs #BeatBuffalo pic.twitter.com/l0FkXLmJFo

— GoAztecs.com (@GoAztecs) December 18, 2013

Congratulations to @GoAztecs as they take the 2013 Strikes For Spuds bowling title! pic.twitter.com/beCDCWbhqd

— FamousIDPotatoBowl (@IDPotatoBowl) December 17, 2013

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