Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl

Bowl History:The Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl  …. the NCAA certified this Bowl in 1998 and the game has been played annually since that time! This Bowl has had a variety of sponsors: American General Life & Accident (1998), homepoint.com (1999), Bridgestone (2003-2007) Gaylord Hotels (2002-2009) & Franklin American Mortgage (2010-present).   The first game in this bowl series took place on December, 29, 1998 … Virginia Tech beat Alabama, 38-7 while last years game featured, Mississippi State and Wake Forest, a game won by the Bulldogs  (MSU), 23-17! The conference tie-ins are ACC /SEC & the Bowl Pay out is $3,500,000.00!

Teams: Vanderbilt Conference Affiliation: SEC; Overall Record 8-4, Conference Record 5-3, Divisional Record 3-3 (SEC’s East Division) vs North Carolina State: Conference  Affiliation: ACC; Overall Record 7-5, Conference Record: 4-4, Divisional Record 4-1 (ACC’s Atlantic Division) 

Bowl Location: Nashville, Tennessee … played @ LP Field, the seating capacity @ the facility is 69,143. Last year’s game which featured Mississippi State and Wake Forest, was attended by 55,208 or 79.85% of LP Field’s capacity.

Day, Date, & Time: Monday, 12/31/12 @ 11:00 a.m CST

Network: ESPN

Best Wins: Vanderbilt: beat Ole Miss, 27-26 & pounded Tennessee, 41-18; NC State: beat Florida State, 17-16

Worst Losses: Vanderbilt: hammered by Georgia, 48-3; NC State lost to Virginia  (a 4-8 club),  33-6

Common Opponents: Tennessee: Vandy pounded the Vols, 41-18… while NC State lost to UT 35-21 & Wake Forest: Vandy beat Wake 55-21 & NC State pounded the Demon Deacons, 37-6!

Las Vegas Hotsheet: Game opened @ Vanderbilt-5.5  … has moved to Vandy -7!

Offensive Team Data: Vanderbilt: Total Yards, 393 YPG; Passing Yards, 221 YPG;  Rushing Yards, 171 YPG; Scoring Average 29 PPG, Turnovers, 1.5 TPG; Percent of 3rd Down Conversions, 34.5%; Percentage of all scores in Red Zone, 73% & Percentage of TD’s in Red Zone, 45%

Offensive Team Data: NC State: Total Yards, 421 YPG; Passing Yards, 304 YPG;  Rushing Yards, 117 YPG; Scoring Average 28 PPG, Turnovers, 2.33 TPG; Percent of 3rd Down Conversions, 38.9%; Percentage of all scores in Red Zone, 80% & Percentage of TD’s in Red Zone, 61%

Defensive Team Data: Vanderbilt: Total Yards, 326 YPG; Passing Yards, 176 YPG;  Rushing Yards, 151 YPG; Scoring Average 18 PPG, Turnovers, 1.08 TPG; Percent of 3rd Down Conversions, 30.9%; Percentage of all scores in Red Zone, 83% & Percentage of TD’s in Red Zone, 42%

Defensive Team Data: NC State: Total Yards, 420 YPG; Passing Yards, 262 YPG;  Rushing Yards, 158 YPG; Scoring Average 25 PPG, Turnovers, 2.0 TPG; Percent of 3rd Down Conversions, 27.5%; Percentage of all scores in Red Zone, 78% & Percentage of TD’s in Red Zone, 56%%

Sully’s Game Simulator: is a statistical analysis / predictor of how these teams will perform, 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 NC State’s total yards on offense, add it to what Vanderbilt 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 Vandy’s total offense, add it to what NC 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 Vanderbilt 407 to 374

Passing Yards: Advantage Vanderbilt 242 to 240

Rushing Yards: Advantage Vanderbilt 165 to 134

Scoring: Advantage Vanderbilt 27 to 23

Turnovers: Advantage NC State 1.70 70 1.75

3rd Down Conversions: Advantage NC State 34.9% to 31%

Red Zone All Scores: Advantage NC State 82% to 76%

Red Zone TD’s Only: Advantage NC State 52% to 51%

Individuals to Watch: NC State: Dana Bible … NC State’s interim Head Coach .. replacing fired Head Coach, Tom O’Brien (A New NC State coach has been named, Dave Doeren, former Northern Illinois Head Coach, will take over after the bowl game). QB, Mike Glennon, has passed 3,648 yards, 30 TD’s, 14 INT’s, while completing 58% of his passes. Vanderbilt will counter with QB, Jordan Rodgers (Green Bay’s QB, Aaron Rodgers, brother) who has passed for 2,431 yards, 13 TD’s, 5 INT’s and has completed 60% of his attempts. WR, Jordan Matthews, has 87 receptions for 1,262 yards , 7 TD’s & a 14.5 yard average per catch.

Sully Says: Vanderbilt has shown steady improving under their new head coach, James Franklin. This is the first time, ….  going all the way back to 1955 …. that Vandy will have earned back to back bowl births! While NC State is in some disarray, given the fact that they have lost both their coach and three of their last 5 games to end the 2012 season. Meanwhile, Vandy has won 6 of their last 7 games … and …. 6 in a row (that right … 6 in a row / 5 SEC opponents were in the 6 … Missouri, Auburn, Kentucky, Ole Miss, & Tennessee) … and done so …  in the SEC, the best conference in the country! Sully’s CFP Says … Take Vanderbilt and give the Wolfpack the 7 points!.