Bowl History: “The Granddaddy of them all” as Keith Jackson used to say every January 1 @ the Rose Bowl! This is the oldest and most prestigious of all the Bowl Games! The game was first played in 1902 (Michigan hammered Stanford, 49-0) and has been played annually since 1916! The 1916 game featured Washington State & the IVY League’s Brown University, a game won by WSU, 14-0! Last year’s game was won by Stanford, 20-14, over Wisconsin ! The tradition rich Bowl has refused to move off its January 1st date and continues to be played in the afternoon! The Conference tie-ins are the PAC 12 & the Big 10! The payout for this BCS Bowl Game is $18,000,000.00 per team or 36 million dollar overall payout!
Teams: Michigan State: Conference Affiliation: Big 10; Overall Record 12-1, Conference Record 9-0, Divisional Record 5-0 (Big Ten’s Legends Division) vs Stanford, Conference Affiliation: PAC 12; Overall Record 11-2, Conference Record: 8-2, Divisional Record 5-0 (PAC 12’s North Division)
Bowl Location: Pasadena, California … played @ the Rose Bowl, the seating capacity @ the facility is 91,136. Last year’s game which featured Oregon and Wisconsin, was attended by 93,359.
Day, Date & Time: Wednesday, 1/1/2014 @ 4:00 p.m. CST
Network: ESPN
Best Win(s): MSU: OSU 34-24; Stanford: Oregon 26-20
Worst Losses: MSU: ND 17-13 (only loss); Stanford: Utah 27-21
Common Opponents: Notre Dame: MSU lost to ND 17-13 Stanford beat the Irish 27-20
Las Vegas Hotsheet Favorite: Stanford -4.5
Offensive Team Data: MSU ; Total Yards, 384YPG; Passing Yards, 202 YPG; Rushing Yards, 182 YPG; Scoring Average, 30 PPG, Turnovers, 1 TPG; Percent of 3rd Down Conversions, 45%; Percentage of all scores in Red Zone, 80% & Percentage of TD’s in Red Zone, 57%
Offensive Team Data: Stanford ; Total Yards, 414 YPG; Passing Yards, 202 YPG; Rushing Yards, 212 YPG; Scoring Average 33 PPG, Turnovers, 1.31 TPG; Percent of 3rd Down Conversions, 51.1%; Percentage of all scores in Red Zone, 90% & Percentage of TD’s in Red Zone, 59%
Defensive Team Data: MSU ; Total Yards, 248 YPG; Passing Yards, 167 YPG; Rushing Yards, 81 YPG; Scoring Average, 13 PPG, Turnovers, 2.08 TPG; Percent of 3rd Down Conversions, 21.9%; Percentage of all scores in Red Zone, 78% & Percentage of TD’s in Red Zone, 48%
Defensive Team Data: Stanford; Total Yards, 339 YPG; Passing Yards, 248 YPG; Rushing Yards, 91 YPG; Scoring Average, 19 PPG, Turnovers, 1.31 TPG; Percent of 3rd Down Conversions, 32.4%; Percentage of all scores in Red Zone, 74% & Percentage of TD’s in Red Zone, 49%
Sully’s CFP 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 MSU’s total yards on offense, add it to what Stanford 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 Stanford’s total offense, add it to what 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, MSU…. 362 to 331
Passing Yards: Advantage, MSU. …. 225 to 185
Rushing Yards: Advantage, Stanford …. 147 to 137
Scoring: Advantage, MSU …. 25 to 23
Turnovers: Advantage, MSU… 1.16 to 1.70
3rd Down Conversions: Advantage, Stanford … 39.5% to 38.7%
Red Zone All Scores: Advantage, Stanford … 84% to 77%
Red Zone TD’s Only: Advantage, Stanford … 53.5% to 53%
Individuals to Watch: MSU: QB Connor Cook 2423 yards passing, 20 TD’s & 5 INT’s & RB Jeremy Langford 269 carries, 1338 yards rushing & 17 TD’s; Stanford: QB Kevin Hogan 2487 yards passing, 20 TD’s & 9 INT’s, RB Tyler Gaffney 306 carries, 1618 yards rushing, & 20 TD’s, & WR Ty Montgomery 58 receptions, 937 yards receiving, & 10 TD’s!
Sully Says: Take the points & MSU … this game goes down to the wire!
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