Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl 2017: Preview, predictions, and live stream FIU vs. Temple

FIU and Temple will meet in the Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl to cap the first season with their new head coaches, Butch Davis and Geoff Collins.

Temple and Florida International have almost nothing in common. Temple is in Philadelphia. Florida International is in Miami. Temple plays in the American Athletic Conference. FIU plays in Conference USA. This is Temple’s third consecutive bowl appearance. This will be FIU’s third bowl appearance ever. They do have coaches in their first year at the school and will meet on Thursday in the Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl.

Despite being in their first year with their respective schools their previous experience and the situations they inherited are drastically different.

Butch Davis is wrapping up his 11th year as a head coach. FIU has proven to be a great opportunity to rehabilitate his image. He is back in Miami, where he used to coach the Hurricanes. That was followed by a trip to the land where coaches go to lose, Cleveland, and an NCAA scandal-shortened coaching stint at North Carolina. In just his first season with the Panthers, he turned them around from 4-8 to 8-4.

Geoff Collins is in his first season as a head coach. He was handed a team that went 10-4 the last two seasons under Matt Rhule. Collins is a defensive coach, who most recently was a defensive coordinator at Florida and Mississippi State. Collins’ squad had to win three of their final four games to keep their postseason streak alive.

If the Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl sounds like some crazy new bowl you can’t be blamed. It is a fancy new name for the St. Petersburg Bowl. It will be played in the same (not great) venue it has been playing in from the beginning — Tropicana Field, the home of the Tampa Bay Rays. Bad Boy Mowers bought the bowl and ditched the “St. Petersburg” for “Gasparilla.” Gasparilla comes from the mythical pirate Jose Gaspar.  Pirate legends are cool, but Gaspar was made up in 1904 as a marketing ploy, which is significantly less cool.

Here’s how you can watch Thursday’s Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl between the FIU Panthers  (8-4) and Temple Owls (6-6):

Date: Thursday, Dec. 21
Time: 8:00 p.m. ET
Location: St. Petersburg, Fla.
Venue: Tropicana Field
TV: ESPN
Live Stream: WatchESPN

Keys to Victory

The Panthers will be without their leading receiver, Thomas Owens. The senior caught 59 passes for 887 yards and six touchdowns. He missed the last three games of the regular season with a knee injury. The offense didn’t exactly struggle to score without him. FIU averaged 42.7 points per game in their final three games.

Temple’s season-ending run to get bowl eligible coincides with their quarterback switch. Junior Frank Nutile took over for sophomore Logan Marchi and eclipsed his numbers in nearly every statistical category. He had one atrocious, four-interception game against undefeated No. 12 UCF or his shortened season would be even more impressive.

If you are the superstitious sort, FIU has the most recent good sign. The Panthers won the mower race this week put on by Bad Boy Mowers.

Next: Predicting all 41 bowl games and CFB Playoff

Prediction

Temple is favored by seven points over FIU.  Both teams have a negative point differential and yard differential, which has to be rare for bowl teams. Temple is getting way too much respect with that line. They both were destroyed, like many, by their common opponent UCF. FIU lost the season opener 61-17. Temple fell 45-19 in the second to last game of the season. The worry is that FIU will just be happy to be there, and Temple is used to the moment. Davis will keep the Panthers close, but Temple will eek out the win.

Final Score: Temple 28, FIU 24