There are quite a few states that will be hosting games in a few weeks. However, there are few states that are more suitable and appropriate for hosting bowl games than the Sunshine State. Within Florida, there is one city that will serve as one of the key locations for the 2022 bowl season. It is the city affectionally known as “The City Beautiful”. That city is known as Orlando, Florida.
Orlando will be the epicenter of three upcoming bowl games. Those bowl games will be known as the Duluth Trading Company Cure Bowl, the Cheez-It Bowl and the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl. The Cure Bowl will be played in Exploria Stadium while the Cheez-It Bowl and the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl games will be played at Camping World Stadium.
In this piece, we will be taking an in-depth look at the history of the bowl games. We will also provide a prediction of each of the bowl match-ups.
Cure Bowl
The Cure Bowl is an annual bowl game that has been in existence for 7 years. It’s sponsors over the years include Autonation, FBC Mortgage, Tailgreeter and now Duluth Trading. The purpose of the Bowl Game is to promote breast cancer awareness. The 2022 Cure Bowl will feature a matchup between the 11-2 University of Texas – San Antonio (UTSA) Roadrunners vs the 11-2 Troy Trojans. The game will take place on Friday, Dec 16th.
The UTSA Roadrunners have no problem putting points on the board. They are 11th in the entire FBS in points per game with an average of 38.7. The strength is in their passing game. UTSA is ranked 12th in the nation in passing yards. Its primarily due to the play of QB Frank Harris. Frank Harris has had a stellar season with 3,865 passing yards, 31 touchdowns and 7 interceptions.
The Troy Trojans have had a great turnaround this season after having only 5 wins last year. Given that their offense is ranked 81st in the country, it is clear that their defense has been the team’s calling card this season.
Troy is ranked 8th in the entire FBS in defense. Troy linebacker Carlton Marshall has over 120+ tackles. He is considered one of the best linebackers in the nation. Their pass rush is spearheaded by defensive end TJ Jackson.
This game features a great offense vs a great defenseless?. I predict that UTSA will do enough to overcome a stout Troy defense.
I pick UTSA to beat Troy 27 -20.
Cheez-It Bowl
This annual college football game has been played since 1990. It has been played under different sponsors such as Carquest and Mazda, In this game, an ACC team usually squares off against a Big 12 team.
This year’s game will feature the #13 Florida State Seminoles vs the Oklahoma Sooners. The game will take place on December 29th.
Florida State was 9-3 on the season. They managed to find themselves ranked in the top 20 on defenses and offenses.
Spearheaded by the dynamic play of Jordan Travis, the Florida State Seminoles won by an average of nearly 30 points per game over the last 5 games.
On the other hand, Oklahoma is hoping to avoid it’s first losing season in 24 years. While they put up points, their defense tends to struggle against running quarterbacks such as Morris.
Florida State will win a shootout over a competitive Oklahoma team.
I pick Florida State to beat Oklahoma 41-34.
Cheez-It Citrus Bowl
The Citrus Bowl has been in existence since 1947 and has had sponsors such as Buffalo Wild Wings, CompUSA and Capital One. Another recent sponsor is VRBO.
Now the Citrus Bowl is sponsored by Cheez-It. Cheez-It has the unique distinction of sponsoring two bowl games. After all, Cheez-It is also the official sponsor of the Cheez-It Bowl.
The Cheez-It Citrus Bowl features the Big Ten Championship runner-ups Purdue vs the SEC Championship runner-up #17 LSU. The game will take place on January 2nd.
Both defenses are nothing to write home about, so I would expect a high-scoring affair. Given that Purdue is vulnerable in the run game, expect LSU to lean on the ground game a little more than they usually do. I feel LSU will control the game on the ground.
Given that they put up over 500+ yards against Georgia in a losing effort, I believe that they’ll put up a lot of yards against Purdue. LSU is battle-tested.
On the other hand, Purdue was not as battle-tested before they took on Michigan. The Big Ten West is not nearly as strong as the SEC West. The Michigan loss was a reality check. I don’t think they can match up with LSU.
I predict LSU will beat Purdue 42-21.
