If you like rematches of games from earlier in the 2012 college football season, you get your wish on New Year’s Eve with the Liberty Bowl as the 6-6 Iowa State Cyclones face the 10-3 Tulsa Golden Hurricanes at 3:30 p.m. Eastern in Memphis. Iowa State beat Tulsa 38-23 in the season opener this year. This is likely going to turn into a back and forth affair that sees over 70 points scored.
Iowa State fares best when they hold their opponent under 24 points. The Cyclones are 21-1 in their last 22 holding teams under 24 and are 3-25 when the number gets above 24. It will be important that the Cyclones jump out to an early lead in this lead to avoid a very talented Tulsa rushing game that could chew up clock and make this a very short afternoon in Memphis. If Tulsa gets the lead in this one, the Golden Hurricanes likely win.
Tulsa is a very talented team that lost the Conference USA title game and still gets to play on New Year’s Eve against a team from the Big 12 Conference. Iowa State is playing very well lately and even with the long break between games, I believe the Cyclones find a way to win this game. I’ll take Iowa State 41-35 in a shootout which would go against the Iowa State trend. There aren’t going to be very many games the rest of the bowl season that end up being this entertaining I don’t think. I would make sure I take a break from the New Year’s plans and watch this game before getting ready to celebrate the New Year.
Andy Schmidt is a columnist/writer for RantSports. Follow him on Twitter @ASchmidtSports or like his Facebook page.







