Who’s Motivated? Part 2 – Coaching Edition

My name is Kliff, and we're gonna light Minnesota up like a Christmas Tree

by JustWinDude

Are you wondering if coaches leaving should be faded because the team is bummed? Or what about teams who’s coach was fired? Will their teams be happy he’s out?

Your buddies at JustWinDude.com help out by taking a look at all of the coaching changes and how they could affect the upcoming bowl games.

We also include whether or not the departing coaches will be sticking around for one last hurrah with their soon-to-be-former teams.

12/26 – Central Michigan vs Western Kentucky

Westurn Kentucky would have been a team we would have seriously considered in this situation, but with Coach Willie Taggert leaving his alma mater for South Florida, we need to look and see if Western Kentucky is still a player.

We think they are and here’s why.

Our prediction?

Guidry is going to light C. Michigan up, just like he lit Mid Tennessee St up in the GoDaddy.com Bowl two years ago as Miami of Ohio’s interim coach.

He got his damn trophy then and will get his damn trophy again this year!

12/27 – Duke vs Cincinnati

Cincinnati’s (now former) head coach, Butch Jones, has taken off to Tennessee. Cincinnati shouldn’t be too motivated in this one as they didn’t win a piece of the Big East and will face a Duke team who will be playing in their first bowl game this millennium. I’m sure the Bearcats are thrilled to be in this one 2 days after Christmas.

Jones will not coach Cincinnati in the Belk Bowl. They will be coached by defensive line coach Steve Stripling.

12/27 – San Jose St vs Bowling Green

Oh baby! We might have some gold here!

In our first piece on motivation, we pointed out how much we loved the MAC this year.

We may have another situation shaping up nicely for us with a MAC team facing San Jose St with little to play for.

San Jose St didn’t win the depleted and soon to be defunct WAC and now have lost their head coach. They’ll be facing a Bowling Green team that will be plenty motivated to cap their fine season off with a post season win against a team boasting a better record.

San Jose State defensive coordinator Kent Baer will be the team’s interim coach for the Military Bowl.

12/28 – Texas Tech vs Minnesota

After Tommy Tuberville oddly left Texas Tech and the Big 12 for Cincinnati and the Big East, we were licking our chops with a potential play on Minnesota.

However, Texas Tech has since hired Kliff Kingsbury away from Texas A&M reuniting him with his alma mater. This is a fantastic hire and we feel this will ignite Texas Tech to a potential blowout win.

Kingsbury will coach the Red Raiders in the Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas (try saying that 5 times fast). 

12/31 – Vanderbilt vs North Carolina St

Here we have a coaching change of the firing variety.

Earlier this month, NC State and Coach O’Brien parted ways as O’Brien failed to lead the team in the desired direction of the University.

How will the players respond? Well according to QB Mike Glennon, the players want to win for the remaining coaching staff and for each other.

The Wolfpack made an excellent decision when they hired Northern Illinois’ Dave Doeren as their next coach.

However, Coach Dorean will have to wait until 2013, as NC State will be coached by OC Dana Bible in the interim for the Music City Bowl.

This is an intriguing matchup all around as Vandy will be coming into this one plenty motivated, playing in front of their home crowd, and favored to win by a full touchdown.

Stay tuned as we have have a serious play here next week.

1/1 – Stanford vs Wisconsin

Here’s another we’re excited about!

We were leaning Stanford before Wisconsin’s Bret Bielema left town to take over for Arkansas.

Interestingly enough, Bielema took over for Barry Alvarez four years ago, and Alvarez will be returning to head coach for one game to coach the Badgers in the Rose Bowl.

We have a potential recipe for disaster headed Bucky Badger’s way.

Yes Alvarez has served as athletic director before turning the reins over to Bielema, but he hasn’t coached a game since.

He’ll have his work cut out for him as he faces off against a red hot Stanford Cardinal that has ripped off 7 wins in a row and will look to assert their dominance against this wounded Badgers team.

Alvarez will have had plenty of time to prepare for this one, but as it stands, the Cardinal may be the play here.

1/1 – Purdue vs Oklahoma St

With Purdue firing Head Coach Danny Hope, there doesn’t seem to be much hope in backing them New Years Day.

Oklahoma St is coming off an average season, but will be a heavy favorite vs a Purdue team that arguably shouldn’t be in a bowl.

Purdue will be led by Interim Coach Patrick Higgins who will be holding his 2nd interim title of the season after taking over as Interim Offensive Coordinator in early November.

While Purdue made an excellent hire in Darell Hazell formerly of Kent St, Coach Hazell will be sticking around to coach his Zips one last time.

Additionally Coach Hazell has been given the green light and financial backing to hire the coordinators he wants.

This means that the Purdue staff left in place may not be totally focused as they are being asked to take on a larger workload with unemployment looming.

Purdue may come out with some pop to start the game, but we doubt they can maintain it for the whole game.

We don’t usually like laying the 16.5 that it will take to back the Cowboys in the Heart of Dallas Bowl, but teasing it in a 10 or 13 pointer may be in order, stay tuned.

1/1 Florida State vs N. Illinois

While we love what N. Illinois did for us this year, they will have their fair share of challenges headed into this New Years Day showdown with the Seminoles.

One of these challenges includes losing Head Coach Dave Doeren to NC State. He will be replaced by OC Rod Carey.

Before his departure, we were looking to back N. Illnois as Florida State’s lackluster finish to their regular season may have led to them coming out flat in this one against a foe from a much smaller conference.

N. Illinois still may be worth a look a la Boise when they played Oklahoma in 2007. That may be a stretch especially considering N. Illinois will head into this one without their fearless leader.

Rod Carey was promoted from interim to Head Coach earlier this month. The promotion could free Carey up to call the game freely including a bevy of trick plays as the Huskies have very little to lose in this game. When put this way, maybe the Boise comparison isn’t such a stretch.

It would behoove Coach Carey to take some shots as Florida St will be without DC Mark Stoops who’s left to take the Kentucky head coaching position.

A few weeks ago, we would have definitely taken NIU and the points. However, over the next few weeks our interest my sway to backing the Noles teased down.

 1/6 – Kent St vs Arkansas St

Two of our favorite teams from 2012 face off in the GoDaddy.com Bowl and both face impending coaching changes.

Arkansas State’s Gus Malzahn heads back to Auburn where he coached as the offensive coordinator during their national title campaign two years ago.

Kent State’s Darrell Hazell is off to Purdue as previously mentioned.

Arky State will be lead by DC John Thompson, while Hazell will stick around for one more game.

With Hazell sticking around we’ll give the slight nod to the Zips, however with 3 weeks until this one kicks off, our official play may change.