FRIDAY’S GAMES
PINSTRIPE BOWL Records:
Michigan State (6-6) vs. Wake Forest (8-4)
Friday, 3:30p.m., ESPN
Michigan State by 3½.
First meeting.
Wake Forest is one of nine schools to win a bowl game in each of the past three seasons and needs one more win to become just the third team in school history to finish with nine or more victories. It could be a close one. Each of the last two bowl victories has been by three points and last season’s victory over Temple was by eight points. Michigan State’s offense has been wildly inconsistent this season and failed to score more than 10points in a game five times. The Spartans still did just enough to make a bowl game for the 12th time in 13seasons.
Michigan State has already played bowl games in baseball stadiums in New York, adding Yankee Stadium to the list that includes the Polo Grounds and Ebbets Field . ... Wake Forest placed a school- record 14players on the 2019All-ACC team . ... Fifth-year senior Brian Lewerke is slated to start his 38th and final game at quarterback for the Spartans . ... Wake Forest is the fifth-least penalized team in the nation (50 times in 12games).
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Series: WHAT’S AT STAKE: FACTS & FIGURES: TEXAS BOWL Records:
Oklahoma State (8-4) vs. Texas A&M
(7-5)
TV: Friday, 6:45 p.m., ESPN
Line: Texas A&M by 61⁄2.
Series: Texas A&M, 17-10.
WHAT’S AT STAKE: The Cowboys look to win their fourth straight bowl game after winning four of their last five games this season to reach a bowl for the 14th straight year. The Aggies are in their
11th straight bowl game and a win on Friday would be the 100th of coach Jimbo Fisher’s career.
FACTS & FIGURES: Teams first played in 1913but haven’t met since a 30-29win by Oklahoma State in 2011in Texas A&M’s last season in the Big 12 . ... Cowboys are 19-10in bowl games . ... The Aggies have an 18-22bowl record . ... It’s the 10th time in
12seasons with at least eight wins for Oklahoma State . ... Oklahoma State WR Dillon Stoner has at least one catch in 36of the last 37games.
... Cowboys have won 68straight games when they’ve held opponents to fewer than 20points . ... Oklahoma State has had a 100-yard rusher in 28of its last 39games . ... Cowboys have scored on the opening possession in 14of last 21games . ... Isaiah Spiller leads Aggies with 155carries for 869yards and nine TDs . ... Aggies DL Justin Madubuike has
11½ tackles for losses, including 5½ sacks.
HOLIDAY BOWL Records: TV: Line: Series: WHAT’S AT STAKE:
No. 22USC (8-4) vs. No. 18Iowa (9-3)\ Friday, 8 p.m., FS1
Iowa by 2½.
USC, 7-2.
The Hawkeyes will be playing for the memory of former coach Hayden Fry, who died on Dec. 17at age 90, and for a 10-win season. Fry coached at Iowa for 20seasons, taking the Hawkeyes to the Holiday Bowl three times. USC plays for the first time since new athletic director Mike Bohn announced that coach Clay Helton would return next season, a move that was unpopular with fans.
Iowa will honor Fry by removing the Tigerhawk decals from its helmets. Fry introduced the logo during his 20-year tenure. It will be just the third time the Tigerhawk has been removed from the helmet for a game. The first was Nov. 2, 1991, the day after a mass shooting on campus, and for the 1996Alamo Bowl, after Diane Mitchell, the mother of linebacker Mark Mitchell, was killed in a car crash on the way to San Antonio. ... This is Iowa’s fourth time in the Holiday Bowl, beating San Diego State in 1986and Wyoming in 1987and tying BYU in 1991 . ... USC is 1-1in the game, beating Nebraska in 2014and losing to Wisconsin in 2015.
FACTS & FIGURES: CHEEZ-IT BOWL Records:
No. 24Air Force (10-2) vs. Washington State (6-6)
Friday, 10:15 p.m., ESPN
Air Force by 2½ .
First meeting.
Air Force is looking to finish with 11victories in a season for the first time since going 12-1 in 1998. Washington State is hoping to close strong in a season that started with a No. 23preseason ranking in the AP Top 25and fizzled midway through with a string of five losses in six games. The bowl will feature a wide disparity in styles: the Falcons and their triple option against the Cougars and their Air Raid offense.
Air Force was ranked for the first since 2010and enters a bowl game ranked for the first time since 1998 . ... Washington State led the nation with 444.3yards passing per game, was sixth in total offense at 516.8yards and 11th in scoring at 39.2points . ... Falcons have allowed four sacks this season, fewest in the nation . ... Cougars’ Max Borghi led the Pac-12with 6.5yards per carry rushing . .... Air Force led the nation in passing efficiency at 203.7 . ... Washington State K Black Mazza made his first 18field goal attempts this season and finished 20of 21to become a finalist for the Lou Groza Award.
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