Beef O’Brady’s Bowl: game preview, odds and prediction
By Jack Crosby
The East Carolina Pirates of Conference-USA and the Ohio Bobcats from the Mid-American Conference will resume the 2013-2014 college football bowl season on Monday when they square off in the 2013 Beef O’Brady’s Bowl.
East Carolina comes into the game sporting a 9-3 record on the season and sports one of the better offensive units in the nation. They rank 10th nationally, averaging 40.4 points per game, led by their dynamic quarterback Shane Carden who has thrown for over 3,800 yards and 32 touchdowns on the year.
Ohio strolls in with a 7-5 record and, you can say, did not live up to their preseason expectations on the season. Many had these guys to contend in the MAC, especially with QB Tyler Tettleton and RB Beau Blankenship returning. However, they just couldn’t seem to put it all together, and even suffered through a tough three-game losing streak toward the end of the season before getting one last win over UMass in the regular season finale.
Conversely, East Carolina had a shocking loss in their finale against Marshall, so something will have to give on Monday when these two meet up.
Date: Dec. 23
Start Time: 2 PM ET
Location: St. Petersburg, FL
Stadium: Tropicana Field
TV Info: ESPN
Live Stream: WatchESPN app
Odds: East Carolina -14
Prediction: Forget everything that happened in the regular season finales for both teams. East Carolina will be out to prove a point after that loss to Marshall, and they’ll do just that. With Ohio giving up an average of over 35 points per game this season on defense, the Pirates offense should have themselves quite the field day out there on the baseball field.
East Carolina 49, Ohio 21