New Mexico Bowl Preview

New Mexico Bowl
Marshall (7-5) vs. Colorado State (7-5)

Breaking Down Marshall: The Thundering Herd made major strides in 2017 to come back from what was a massive falling off in 2016. That said, the Herd has lost 4 of their last 5 games heading into this bowl, and dropped their last two games to UTSA and Southern Miss.
Chase Litton is the QB for the Herd, and passes for 237.8 yards per game on the season, with 23 TDs and 12 INTs. He is coming off a 308 yard, 4 TD effort in the loss to Southern Miss, which was his second 4 TD effort on the season. Marshall is actually 0-3 in games when he goes for over 300 yards passing in 2017. If you force this team to take on a pass first mentality, they can get in trouble.
Tyler King and Keion Davis share the load in the run game, combining for 1385 rushing yards and 11 scores. Neither is a huge big play threat however, with each averaging under 5 yards per carry.
Tyre Brady and TE Ryan Yurachek are the stars in the passing game, as they have combined for 16 TD receptions on the season. Marcel Williams and Willie Johnson also help spread the field, as they combined for 76 receptions as well.
Marshall allows just 19.3 points per game defensively on the year, and allows just 125 yards rushing per game. Chase Hancock was a big player at LB this season, finishing with 120 total tackles, while DB Malik Gant finished with 96. Marshall tends to allow opposing teams to stay on the field on offense for a longer than average amount of time, as they have been forced to record over 77 tackles per game.
The Herd is fairly solid making plays behind the line, as they have recorded 81 team TFLs, led by Hancock with 9. They also finished with 27 sacks on the season, led by Ryan Bee with 5.5.
The PK game is shaky, as Kaare Vedvik has hit just 9/15 FG attempts this season. If the game comes down to this area, the Herd could suffer. He is much stronger as a Punter, averaging over 44 yards per punt.
Keion Davis is a fright in the return game, as he averages over 30 yards every time he takes a kick back. He has scored 2 times in 2017 on kick returns. The punt return game is negligible, as the Herd averages just under 2 yards per return as a team.

Breaking Down Colorado State: The Rams disappointed this season, winning just 7 games and finishing third in the Mountain West Mountain division, even after being picked by some to win the division.
Nick Stevens to Michael Gallup is the star connection on offense. Stevens passes for 289.9 yards per game, and has tossed 27 TDs to just 10 INTs on the season. Gallup has caught 94 passes for 1345 of those yards and scored 7 times. TE Dalton Fackrell has also added 6 TD receptions on just 20 receptions for the season.
Dalyn Dawkins is a big time threat at RB after rushing for 1349 yards and 8 TDs on the year, while backup Izzy Matthews rushed for 8 scores of his own for the Rams. Dawkins averages 6.25 yards per carry. As a unit, the run game generates 211.08 yards per game.
The Rams do have issues keeping teams from scoring, as they have given up 27.5 points per game in 2017. LB Josh Watson is the team leader in tackles with 103, and the Rams make just 66.33 tackles per game, but are prone to giving up big plays.
They have recorded 63 TFLs on the season, led by another LB in Evan Colorito, who finished with 11.5. They average making 5.25 tackles behind the line per game, and they recorded 24 sacks on the season, while the line allowed just 7 on offense.
Shun Johnson should be avoided in the secondary, as he led the team with 9 PBUs on the year. CSU recorded just 10 INTs on the year, while only giving up that many on offense.
Wyatt Bryan was fairly solid at PK, hitting 15/18 FG attempts, but he did manage to miss on 2 PATs. Ryan Stonehouse was one of the best punters in the nation, averaging 46.76 yards per punt.
The Rams are a pedestrian kick return unit, averaging just over 21 yards per return. Olabisi Johnson is always a threat to break one in the punt return game, however, as he averages over 10 yards per return.