New Era Pinstripe Bowl Preview: Wisconsin vs Miami : Chowder and Grits

Where: New Era Pinstripe Bowl – New York, New York
Payout: $2 million
Date: December 27, 2018
Time: 5:15 PM EST
Channel: ESPN
Bowl Gifts:
- A variety of New Era Products
Gift Grade: C

If you heard that Miami was set to take on Wisconsin in a bowl game in August, you would have thought these two were meeting in the College Football Playoff or at the very least a New Year’s Six Bowl.

That is not the case for these two pre-season top 10 teams. Miami went 2-3 down the stretch, winning their last two games in dominant fashion against Virginia Tech and Pitt. Wisconsin also won two out of their last five, including a triple-OT thriller against Purdue, and losses to Minnesota, Penn State and Northwestern.

Quarterback landscape

I’m not sure what’s worse: N’Kosi Perry’s play on the field or his decision making off of it. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, Perry enjoys sending X-Rated snapchats.

Perry is an absolute disaster of a quarterback. He’s essentially a wide receiver playing the position, but he’s not actually good at it. He’s only completed 51% of his passes, and he’s not even that great of a rusher. If head coach Mark Richt opts to go with the freshman in this one, Wisconsin will have a huge advantage on defense.

The Badgers don’t have a great quarterback by any means, but Alex Hornibrook has the edge in this one, but that’s not really a complement. He’s only thrown for 200 yards twice this season with a completion percentage under 60%.

X-Factor

The best player in this game is a Badger and his name is Jonathan Taylor. This dude is a stud. He’s rushed for more than 100 yards in 11 out of 12 games this year and has gone for 200-plus 4 times, including a 321 yard effort against Purdue. He’s 11 yards away from a 2,000 yard season and has 15 touchdowns to go along with it.

Prediction

Both teams have wildly underperformed this year, and quarterback play is a big part of that for both teams. This game will likely be dominated by the run for both schools, and that’s why I’m going with Wisconsin. Miami is allowing 127 yards per game, and if they hold Taylor to 127 yards, that would be a victory in and of itself.

I think this game will be close, but I like the 3-point underdog to come out on top: Wisconsin 24, Miami 23

Listen to the full ACC Bowl preview below!