Bowl History: This Bowl came into existence in 2002 and has been played every year since its inception @ Aloha Stadium, Honolulu, Hawai’i! The game is played either on Christmas Day or on Christmas Eve Day (one exception … in 2007, the game was played on the 23rd of December)! The Bowl’s 1st sponsor was ConAgra Foods, for one year only, 2002, the next year (2003) Sheridan Hotels & Resorts Hawai’i took over and have sponsored the event every year since 03! The first Hawaii Bowl was played on December 25, 2002, the game featured Hawaii and Tulane, the Green Wave beat the Warriors, 36-28 in front of 35,513 fans! The 2011 defending Champ is Southern Miss (Please note …. Southern Miss did not a game this year), who survived Nevada, 24-17, on Christmas Eve Day! The Bowl Tie-ins are the WAC (2002 through 2011), C-USA (2005, 2007, & 2009 to Present) & in 2006 & 2008 the PAC 12 had the tie-in with the Western Athletic Conference! The Bowl Payout is $500,000.00 Per team!
Teams: Fresno State: Mountain West Conference, Overall Record, 9-3, Conference Record 7-1 (Tri-Champion of the MWC with San Diego State & Boise State), the MWC does not have Divisional Play! Southern Methodist (SMU) Conference Affiliation …. C-USA, Overall Record 6-6, Conference Record 5-3 & Divisional Record 3-2 in the West Division!
Bowl Location: Aloha Stadium, Honolulu, Hawaii! The Capacity of Aloha Stadium is 50,000.The Stadium has four movable parts that allow the arena to be reconfigured to meet the event’s needs …. A Concert, Football Game, Baseball Game etc…. It was the first sports stadium in the U.S. to have such a feature! The largest crowd ever to be @ the Sheraton Hawai’i Bowl was in 2010, 43,673 were present to see Hawaii take on Tulsa (Tulsa won the game 62-35) on Christmas Day Eve!
Day, Date, & Time: Monday, December 24, 2012, @ 7:00 p.m.
Network: ESPN
Best Wins: Fresno State: Pounded PAC 12 member, Colorado, 62-14, beat the Tri-Champion of the MWC, San Diego State (Boise State & Fresno State all were 7-1) , 52-40, & hammered Nevada, 56-32 …. who just fell in the Gildan New Mexico Bowl to Arizona 49 to 48! SMU No question their season-ending victory over C-USA Champion, Tulsa, 35-27 was their most impressive win, especially when you consider they needed that win to become bowl eligible!
Worst Losses: Fresno State its loss to Boise State, 20-10, marked the 6 straight time they have fallen to the Broncos, SMU’s had a series of opportunities to step up against quality competition, instead they allowed themselves to be stepped on …. Baylor, 59-24, Texas A&M, 48-3,& TCU 24-16.
Common Opponents: One …. Tulsa …. The Golden Hurricanes beat Fresno State 27-26 and lost to SMU 35-27!
Las Vegas Hotsheet: The game line opened with SMU getting 11.5 and has now moved to 12 … this has nothing to due with injury or team related issues … only the flow of the dollars..
Offensive Team Data: Fresno State: Total Yards, 489 YPG; Passing Yards, 323 YPG; Rushing Yards, 167 YPG; Scoring Average 40 PPG, Turnovers, 1.33 TPG; Percent of 3rd Down Conversions, 41.4%; Percentage of all scores in Red Zone, 83% & Percentage of TD’s in Red Zone, 65%
Offensive Team Data: SMU: Total Yards, 366 YPG; Passing Yards, 237 YPG; Rushing Yards, 129 YPG; Scoring Average 30 PPG, Turnovers, 1.75 TPG; Percent of 3rd Down Conversions, 38.5%; Percentage of all scores in Red Zone, 77% & Percentage of TD’s in Red Zone, 49%
Defensive Team Data: Fresno State: Total Yards, 336 YPG; Passing Yards, 179 YPG; Rushing Yards, 156 YPG; Scoring Average 22 PPG, Turnovers, 2.75 TPG; Percent of 3rd Down Conversions, 33.2%; Percentage of all scores in Red Zone, 77% & Percentage of TD’s in Red Zone, 63%
Defensive Team Data: SMU: Total Yards, 401 YPG; Passing Yards, 272 YPG; Rushing Yards, 129 YPG; Scoring Average 27 PPG, Turnovers, 2.67 TPG; Percent of 3rd Down Conversions, 41.6%; Percentage of all scores in Red Zone, 75% & Percentage of TD’s in Red Zone, 67%
Sully’s Game Simulator: is a statistical analysis / predictor of how these teams will preform, based solely on their numbers, when they face off on the gridiron! Keep in mind, these stats were established against different teams and conferences and these differences must be taken into account to get a complete picture when attempting to predetermine a winner. If you are interested in how the Simulator works … read this part … if not … skip it! The process used is … we take FSU’s total yards on offense, add it to what SMU gives up on defense, … get a total and then divide that number by 2 … to get the mean. We then invert the process by taking SMU’s total offense, add it to what Fresno State gives up on defense, get a total and divide that number by 2 to get the second mean… the greater number (with the exception of Turnovers) is then determined to have the advantage ( please note …. statistical advantage). We repeat this process in each of the eight statistical categories assessed! That said… here are the results of the Head to Head Analysis:
Total Yards: Advantage Fresno State 445 to 351
Passing Yards: Advantage Fresno State 298 to 208
Rushing Yards: Advantage Fresno State 148 to 143
Scoring: Advantage Fresno State 34 to 26
Turnovers: Advantage Fresno State 2 to 2.25
3rd Down Conversions: Advantage Fresno State 42% to 36%
Red Zone All Scores: Advantage Fresno State 79% to 77%
Red Zone TD’s Only: Advantage Fresno State 66% to 56%
Individuals to Watch: Fresno State QB, Derek Carr has passed for 3,742 Yards, 37 TD’s, 5 INT’s and completed 68% of his passes. While FSU RB, Robbie Rouse has rushed for 1,468 yards, 14 TD’s, and is averaging 5.5 wards per carry. SMU will counter at QB with Texas transfer, Garrett Gilbert, who will be making his first bowl appearance since playing in the National Championship Game back in 2010! Garrett has thrown for 2,720 yards, 14 TD’s & 13 INT’s while completing a weak 53.1%. SMU’s RB, Zack Line has run the ball for 1207, 12 TD’s, & has averaged 4.7 yards per carry
Sully Says: High confidence in Fresno’s ability to carry the day in this game. Unlike the Nevada / Arizona … where we had little faith in Sully’s CFP Game Simulator… the exact opposite in this match-up! Sully says take Fresno and give the 12 points to SMU … Fresno Rolls…
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