Liberty vs Toledo prediction, game preview, odds, how to watch. RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl, Tuesday, December 20
Liberty vs Toledo RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl Prediction Game Preview
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Liberty vs Toledo How To Watch
Date: Tuesday, December 20
Game Time: 7:30 ET
Venue: FAU Stadium, Boca Raton, FL
How To Watch: ESPN
Record: Liberty (8-4), Toledo (8-5)
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Liberty vs Toledo RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl 5 Things To Know
RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl Prediction, What’s Going To Happen, History
– Liberty is in a transitional phase. It ended the regular season with a thud after starting 8-1, losing its last three games including an embarrassing 49-14 home whacking from New Mexico State.
Head coach Hugh Freeze bolted for Auburn, and now the program is waiting to get the former Coastal Carolina head man Jamey Chadwell’s era going. Josh Aldridge will be the interim head coach, there are plenty of great parts in place, and there’s still firepower.
– Toledo wasn’t perfect, it had a whole lot of turnover problems, and it struggled late in the regular season as it limped into the MAC Championship. One terrific defensive performance against Ohio later in a 17-7 win, and head coach Jason Candle has his second conference title in six season. Now …
– He and Toledo need to win a bowl game. Candle stepped in as an interim head man in the 2015 Boca Raton Bowl, and Toledo pulled off the 32-17 win over Temple. That’s been it for the bowl fun going 0-4 since then including a 31-24 Bahamas loss to Middle Tennessee last year. The team was able to keep it close in three of the losses, but that’s not enough – winning this matters.
– Liberty has been perfect in the bowls. Hugh Freeze took the Flames to three straight bowls and it won all three, with last year’s LendingTree 56-20 win over Eastern Michigan the most dominant of the group. Again, this season’s bowl version is going through some changes, but the program knows how to get up for these.
– If nothing else, the Boca Raton bowls have put on some great offensive shows. They haven’t been all that close – none of the eight were decided by fewer than 15 points – but the winning side hung up 50 points or more four times and 32 or more in the other four.
CFN Bowl Expert Picks: Dec 16-19 | Dec 20-27
Why Liberty Will Win The RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl
The pass rush continues to be devastating.
The offense might have slipped late, and the team completely lost its focus, but it’s still bringing one of the nation’s most dangerous defensive fronts that leads the nation in tackles for loss and is fourth in sacks. That’s a huge problem for Toledo.
The Rocket offensive line isn’t awful in pass protection, but it allows close to seven tackles for loss per game. That’s a concern, and the bigger one is a case of the turnovers that almost crushed the end of the regular season.
Toledo didn’t turn it over in the MAC Championship win over Ohio, but before that it gave it away 16 times in the previous five games.
That’s all fine, but what’s the problem with Liberty? There were a whole lot of injures, but the passing game still managed to finish with 200 yards or more in ever game but a win over Akron, the rushing attack is good enough to get to 200, and …
Why Toledo Will Win The RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl
Liberty has bigger turnover problems than Toledo.
The Rocket miscues came in a late flurry, but Liberty has cranked out a steady stream of screwups with two or more in nine of the 12 games. They haven’t always been lethal – the mistakes are baked into the cake – but the defense doesn’t come up with a ton of takeaways.
At the very least, Toledo probably won’t get hurt if it starts giving the ball away, especially if its secondary can come up with its usual pick or two.
Offensively, the Rockets need to run well. They have a good group to work into the rotation, QB Dequan Finn is dangerous no matter what he does, and the team is 5-0 when running for 225 yards or more.
What was Liberty’s biggest problem over the rough last stretch? The run defense went bye-bye – allowing almost 600 yards and 11 touchdowns in the last three games.
RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl Prediction, What’s Going To Happen, History
