There’s one thing that Ohio and Wyoming have in common entering Friday’s Arizona Bowl: both teams will be without what was their best offensive player this season.
The Bobcats lost MAC Player of the Year and QB1 Kurtis Rourke to a torn ACL in mid-November. Rourke was also voted the Offensive POY. The Cowboys lost a crutch of the offense when Titus Swen entered the transfer portal, before later declaring for the 2023 NFL Draft.
What does this mean for these offenses? We’ll have to wait to find out for Wyoming.
Without these two playmakers, the scoring could be stymied. Our Bennett Conlin says this is a possibility in his best bets for the bowl season. As of Wednesday evening, college football odds have the total at 41.5 and list Ohio as a two-point favorite.
We’ve already caught a glimpse of Ohio without Rourke. With CJ Harris taking his spot, the Bobcats went 1-1, losing to Toledo 17-7 in the MAC title game. Harris went 15 of 31 for 163 yards and an interception in that loss, where the entire offense struggled. Perhaps Ohio could find a little more success through the air in this one against a UW defense that allows 219.8 passing yards per game, which ranks ninth in the Mountain West.
It’s probably more likely the Bobcats lean on their run game and running back Sieh Bangura, who was tabbed the Freshman of the Year in the MAC. He ranked fifth in the league with 85.5 rushing YPG and his 12 touchdowns were fourth.
While Harris also provides a threat with his legs (he rushed for 65 yards and three scores in the final week of the regular season) and the way the Cowboys love to run the ball, this could turn into a game on the ground.
Maybe not though.
Ohio ranks dead last in the country in passing defense, allowing 293.7 YPG. This is a good sign for an offense that only has two running backs on its roster, both of which have never seen any game action. Yet, nobody outside of the team knows who will be starting the game.
Behind Swen on the depth chart were D.Q. James and Dawaiian McNeely. Both are injured. Joey Braasch was next in line but decided to test his luck in the portal. The Pokes are left with Jordon Vaughn, a redshirt freshman, and LJ Richardson, a true freshman.
So, maybe the Cowboys and quarterback Andrew Peasley try and win this game through the air. Unfortunately, that aspect didn’t work well for UW this season.
The Cowboys ranked eighth in the MW, passing for just 127.8 YPG. Not only that, they’re without their No. 1 wideout in Joshua Cobbs who, you guessed it, chose to transfer.
What UW is losing from its offense with its top four running backs being gone is 1,832 rushing yards and nine touchdowns on the ground. Eight scores and 1,039 of those yards came from Swen’s legs.
I think we can expect the Pokes to put the ball in Peasley’s hands. The junior struggled at times this season and threw a mere nine touchdowns against eight interceptions. But, he’s a dual-threat QB that can give an Ohio defense that’s had its share of struggles some issues. Peasley rushed for 330 yards during the regular season.
It’ll be interesting to see which direction UW’s offense will go. It was just three years ago that the Pokes rolled for 290 rushing yards in a 38-17 victory over Georgia State in the Arizona Bowl. This will be UW’s third consecutive bowl appearance, coming off a 52-38 win over Kent State in last season’s Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.
The Bobcats’ last appearance in a bowl was the Potato Bowl in 2019, where they defeated Nevada. They went 3-9 last season in Tim Albin’s first year, but he has completely turned the program around, winning MAC Coach of the Year while doing so.
Both of these squads exceeded preseason expectations, and have a chance to secure a bowl win that seemed unlikely in August.
