The 2017 college football bowl season gets underway with a match-up between the Georgia State Panthers and the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers in the Cure Bowl at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida. The Panthers come in off a 24-10 home loss against Idaho to conclude their regular season with 6-5 record, while the Hilltoppers have lost four of their last five games to finish the regular season at 6-6. These two teams haven’t met since 2013 (at Georgia State) where the Hilltoppers won by a score of 44-28.
The Georgia State Panthers are glad they are sitting in a bowl game as they come into this game with a two game losing streak. Just like the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers, the Panthers started the season nice with a three game winning streak, but losses against the Idaho Vandals and Appalachian State Yosef have put a dapper on their season.
However, with the regular season over, they can focus on one game only, the last one which means so much to them. Quarterback Conner Manning will look for a better game in this bowl game as his last performance was sub average with only 270 yards on 45% completion.
It should be a quarterback battle in this one as Manning is looking to surpass 3,000 yards on the season as he only needs 130 more. He is also hoping to open up the running game a bit more as they only have around 650 total rushing yards on the season.
Betting on the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers 6-6 (-6)
The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers are looking to end their season on a better note as they have not been so hot as of late. Heck they are even lucky to be in this position right now. They come into this bowl game with a 6-6 record, even though they started the season out with a 5-2 record. The past five games have been dreadful for the Hilltoppers.
In those losses, they did face quality teams, but should have put up a better fight. Teams like the Marshall Thundering Herd, FIU and Vanderbilt blew right past the Hilltoppers as maybe they simple wanted it more.
Someone needs to step up for this Hilltoppers team and that should be quarterback Mike White. On the season, White has been great with having almost 4,000 passing yards on the season with 24 touchdowns and seven interceptions. This Hilltoppers team has an excellent offense, yet their performance gets undervalued thanks to the amount of points their defense does give up.
Writer’s Prediction
Both these teams are coming into this Bowl game on a losing streak. They both have had some poor performances on the season, but looking at the positives, there are more to talk about for the Hilltoppers. The Hilltoppers will finish off the season well, as the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers will get another bowl win to add to a short list. Pick: Western Kentucky (-6)
