WSU Cougars vs CSU Rams Gildan New Mexico Bowl 2013: Full Preview, Odds, Live Stream, Amp Up (Video) and More

The Washington State Cougars (6-6, 4-5 Pac-12) and Colorado State Rams (7-6, 5-3 MWC) will kick it off in Albuquerque, New Mexico this upcoming Saturday, Dec. 21 to try and become the Gildan New Mexico Bowl Champions of 2013. The game is scheduled to kick at 2 p.m. EST, 11 a.m. PST and 12 p.m. Albuquerque local (MTN) time.

September 7, 2013; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Southern California Trojans running back Tre Madden (23) is brought down by the Washington State Cougars defense during the first half at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

WSU earned their bowl bid this year after a 6-6 season that included wins over USC, Southern Utah, Idaho, California, Arizona and Utah. The signature win came against USC all the way back in week 2, but the most impressive wins were actually against the Wildcats and the Utes, just due to the way the season was going at the time and the necessity to win 2 out of 3 to make a bowl.

CSU earned their bid after taking down Cal Poly, UTEP, Wyoming, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico and Air Force to make a 7-6 record. Those seven teams own a combined 23 wins on the season, so we wouldn’t point to anything as “signature”, but they did what they had to with the winnable games on their schedule.

Interestingly enough, even with the semi-close proximity, this game will mark the first ever match up between the two schools.

Nov 23, 2013; Logan, UT, USA; Utah State Aggies quarterback Darell Garretson (6) is sacked by Colorado State Rams linebacker Shaquil Barrett (56) during the first quarter at Romney Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Chris Nicoll-USA TODAY Sports

The two biggest names for Washington State are Pac-12 record-setting quarterback Connor Halliday and All-Pac-12/Thorpe-Award-Semifinalist/2nd-Team-Walter-Camp-All-America/1st-Team-Athlon-Sports-All-America performing safety Deone Bucannon. For Colorado State, All-MWC running back Kapri Bibbs and MWC Defensive Player of the Year, linebacker Shaquil Barrett are the names worth watching on each side of the ball.

The Cougars score 29.8 points per contest, good for a rank of 60 among FBS, while giving up 31.3. The Rams score 35.4 a game and give up 28.6 per. All indications are we should have a game in the mid to high 30’s that comes down to the final possession.

The main weapon for Wazzu, Halliday has thrown for 4,187 yards (4th in NCAA, Pac-12 record), 28 touchdowns (13th) and 21 interceptions which is the most college football. He is first in the NCAA in passing attempts (656), 2nd in completions (412) and 37th in completion percentage at 62.8.

The main source of energy for CSU, Bibbs has rumbled his way to 1,572 yards (8th NCAA), 28 touchdowns (2nd) and a 6.19 yard avg per carry.

To see some of the important numbers from these players, matchups of the game, more names to keep an eye on and some other fun nuggets, click the following links:

Bowl Game: Gildan New Mexico Bowl

Date: Dec. 21

Time: 11:00 a.m. PST

Location: University Stadium, Albuquerque, New Mexico (39,224 reduced to slightly more than 37,000 for the bowl game)

TV: ESPN

Live Stream: WatchESPN

Last Meeting: N/A (First meeting ever)

Odds: WSU -4 (Oddshark)

Washington State Local Radio:

Spokane: KXLY-AM 920
Pullman/Moscow: KHTR 104.3-FM
Seattle KIRO-AM 710
Full list of WSU Stations

Colorado State Local Radio:

ESPN 105.5/102.3 Denver
KREL-AM 1580
ESPN Colorado Springs
KSIR-AM 1010 in Fort Morgan
KRFD-FM 94.5 in Sterling
KNZZAM News Radio 1100 in Grand Junction

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