East’s 2008 EagleBank Bowl Predictions

Mr. East has been one of the best handicappers all season long so we are excited to see what he has in store for his bowl picks this season.  If you want the best chance of beating the bowl game odds to finish off your season on a winning note then I suggest you take a look at what he has to offer.

Let’s get things started with East’s selection on Wake Forest:  The first Bowl game of the season has the Navy Midshipmen in a rematch vs the Wake Forest Demon deacons. Navy got the better of Wake in a game played at Wake Forest earlier in the season. It will certainly give the Deacons a blueprint of the triple option, that most teams don’t get a chance to see very often. That game was perhaps one of QB Skinner’s worst of the season, and certainly Wake’s worst effort of the season. Skinner threw 4 INT’s, and the Wake offense coughed up the ball 6 times in that contest, and found themselves trying to dig out of a 17-0 halftime hole. Despite the 6 turnovers, and just 23 minutes of possession time, Wake Forest finished the game with more first downs (16-14) than Navy. The extra 13 minutes of possession time for the Middies resulted in only 30 yards more gained than Wake. If you look at the game last year, when Skinner didn’t implode the offense, the Demon deacons hung a 44 spot on Navy, in a route on the road by 20. Navy got their yards, but Wake in equal possession time, put up almost 600. The 4 INT’s thrown by Skinner vs Navy was more than he threw in 11 other games, where his total was 3. It is highly unlikely that will happen again, as he has had 9 clean games this season without throwing a single INT. Despite 6 turnovers, and playing from behind Wake still lost the game by just 7 points. I’ll grab Wake Forest here to win this one by 7 or more.