FBS Bowl Preview: Champs Sports and Insight

Champs Sports Bowl: No. 22 West Virginia at N.C. State

This will undoubtedly be a game of mixed emotion for the 22nd-ranked Mountaineers of West Virginia. Despite narrowly missing out on a BCS Bowl game and finishing in the top-25 nationally, WVU will make a coaching change following the 2011 season — Bill Stewart will be out and Oklahoma State’s Dana Holgorsen will be in. The strong overall season wasn’t enough for West Virginia Athletic Director Oliver Luck, who announced Thursday that Holgorsen has been hired as West Virginia’s head coach in-waiting, scheduled to replace Stewart in 2012. Holgorsen will serve as the Mountaineers’ offensive coordinator next year.

How this affects the Champs Sports Bowl remains to be seen. The Mountaineers did finish well this season, winning their final four games before losing the Big East’s BCS Bowl berth when Connecticut beat South Florida in early December. They have one of the best defenses in the country — ranking second in the FBS in scoring defense at 12.8 points, second in rush defense at 85.1 yards and third in total defense at 251.3 yards — and ended the regular season playing some of its best football, allowing four touchdowns over the last four games.

That defense will be tested against a Wolfpack offense that can throw the ball extremely well. North Carolina State finished second in the ACC with 32.6 points per game and was led by a passing unit that revolves around QB Russell Wilson (pictured above), who led the conference with 3,288 passing yards and 26 touchdowns.

Insight Bowl: No 14. Missouri at Iowa

It’s been a great year for Missouri, one of the best in program history. Too bad the same can’t be said for Iowa.

The Tigers will come into this game ranked 14th in the country and at 10-2, outstanding finishes considering the team wasn’t even ranked in the top-25 at the start of the season. Missouri also nearly pulled off the upset of the year in getting to the Big 12 championship game, but were denied the opportunity after last-season losses to Nebraska and Texas Tech.

Iowa, conversely, never had its season get on track. The Hawkeyes entered this year No. 9 in the polls and were heavy favorites to not only win the Big Ten, but also make their second straight BCS Bowl appearance. But the team faltered down the stretch, losing its last three games with finish with a 7-5 record and a fourth-place finish in the conference.

Now, they’ll be without the services of two of its best players. Iowa has suspended WR Derrell Johnson-Koulianos after he tested positive for cocaine and marijuana AND RB Adam Robinson for “failing to comply with team expectations and policies.” Johnson-Koulianos was an all-Big Ten selection that had 46 catches for 745 yards and 10 TDs this season — he was also the first played in school history to lead the Hawkeyes in receiving in his first three seasons. Robinson had 941 yards and 10 TDs along the ground this year, so his production will be missed as well.