2009 St. Petersburg Bowl
The second bowl game of the 2009-10 bowl season takes place in St. Petersburg, Fla., where Rutgers will take on Central Florida. The Scarlet Knights are 2.5-point favorites and the total is 44.Both teams come into the game with 8-4 records and played roughly the same quality opposition, although UCF gets a slight nod in schedule strength, as Rutgers gets penalized for playing Texas Southern and Howard.
The Knights will have an advantage in playing in Florida, although there should be some fans more than happy to get out of the cold in New Jersey to follow Rutgers to the game.
Rutgers had high hopes entering this season and can't be thrilled to be in this game, which makes their motivation a bit of a question mark. Central Florida is likely happy to be playing anywhere and won its final three games of the season to get here.
Neither offense is going to light up the scoreboard and both teams are likely to try and establish the run, which could chew up time off the clock. Although neither defense gets much attention, both are capable stop units, making me believe that under the total of 44 may be the way to go in this game.
