Bowl Info:
- Game will be held at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama
- Game will start at 12:00 PM ET on 12/22
- Wake Forest is 8-4 in their bowl games
- Memphis is 5-6 in their bowl games
- Series is tied at 2 a piece
Offensive Players to Watch:
Wake Forest: Cade Carney has started to find his role at the running back spot for the Demon Deacons as of lately. He has found his way junior year to find run efficiently on all types of defenses. Carney has recorded 954 rushing yards this season with 8 rushing touchdowns to match it. I think we see Carney try to have a similar game to Duke against Memphis. Wake Forest will try to implement Carney’s speed into the offensive scheme and hopefully blast a weak rush defense team.
Memphis: With Wake Forest having one of the worst pass defenses in the country, Brady White will have some fun. If you didn’t know already, Brady White runs the quarterback position for the Tigers and has done so with passion this year. White has thrown for 3,125 yards and also thrown 25 passing touchdowns too. Look to Memphis to try to put all their chips into White throwing his heart out against Wake Forest. It’ll be no surprise if Brady White reaches a 200 yard game, watch out for that to happen.
Defensive Players to Watch:
Wake Forest: Willie Yarbary, the defensive tackle for Wake Forest, is going to be a key factor in this game. In a game that the Memphis team will want to pass a lot, inside pressure on defense can force a pocket to collapse. I think we will see Wake employ a heavy blitz often to try to find Memphis off-guard. Yarbary has racked up 47 total tackles, 10.0 tackles-for-loss, and 4.5 sacks this season. And for his final senior year, it’ll be no surprise to see Yarbary go out a try for a final win.
Memphis: We see Wake Forest trying to use more of their running backs later on, so this brings importance to Curtis Atkins. At the linebacker spot, Atkins brings a strong sense of reading defenses that can lock down the run. They will need to do just this to survive against a surging Demon Deacon team in the bowl game. Atkins has amounted 91 total tackles, 3.0 tackles-for-loss, and 1.0 sacks on the season. Although he hasn’t shown a presence in the backfield, his ability to slow rushing lanes makes him important to the Tigers this season.
The Basics
Memphis has the better offense and defense. Do you catch the drift yet? Yes you can argue that the last game show-out by the Demon Deacons can spell trouble for the Tigers, it was one game. I buy consistency over a good win any day. If rather Wake Forest did this in their last 3 games, I’d buy it more. For this reason, I think Memphis walks off with the win, but after a complete battle. The two teams will battle through the whole game, until Memphis slowly builds away.
Score Prediction
33-24 Memphis
Photo Credits: https://patch.com/florida/templeterrace/2017-birmingham-bowl-events-what-know-you-go
