Why you should watch:

Well the simple answer here is that you'll have nothing to do between the Orange Bowl and the National Champinoship anyway, so why not watch the two of the best non-BCS teams in the country. While neither team is a Boise State or TCU, they each won a conference championship which should at least equate to a quality football game to watch.

When Central Michigan has the ball:

This will be my last chance to talk about senior QB Dan LeFevour during his college career. No one player makes a team, but a single player can be the difference in a game when he has the right supporting cast around him. Players like Jamarcus Russel, Vince Young, and Matt Lienhart come to mind. I'm not convinced either of these players are the best quarterbacks I've seen but they were the difference for their respective college teams in many different games. The Chippewas have spent the past four years hinging their success directly to the abilities of dual threat quarterback Dan LeFevour and in his final game things will be no different. While there are plenty of other players on the CMU team to talk about, none will determine the outcome of the bowl as much as their veteran quarterback. To prove just how important his play has been here are just a few stats to digest:

#8 Nationally in Passer Rating (154.44)

#1 Nationally in Completion Percentage (71.3%)

#3 Nationally in Total Yards for a Quarterback (3745 yards)

#9 Nationally in TD2INT ratio (4.5)

For all of you not familiar with this stat, the top QB is Kellen Moore with a 13 and the bottom QB is Riley Dodge with a 0.6

Any quarterback who carries a 2.0 or better is generally looked upon favorably.

#2 Nationally in Percentage of Overall Team Plays (63%)

To put this stat in perspective, Tim Tebow accounts for only 58% of Floridas plays and QB Ricky Dobbs in Navy's Triple option only accounts 49% of the total plays.

The top player in this statistic is MTSU QB Dwight Dasher who accounts for 65%

So can Troy manage to slow down and contain Dan LeFevour? Well the Trojans played MTSU this season and were able to pull off a decisive win while moderately containing Dwight Dasher. I guess that means it's possible. The difference will be the way in which LeFevour is contained. While Dasher's strongest points are his legs and ability to run the ball, Central Michigan has proven they can win even in games when LeFevour doesn't gain much on the ground. Where CMU has a problem is when their star quarterback is held below a 60% completion rate which has happened in both of their losses this season. If the Troy secondary can play solid pass defense, the Trojans could come a way with a win.

When Troy has the ball:

If there is one thing everyone talks about regarding Troy, it's their impressive passing offense. Ranked fourth nationally in passing yards per game, the Trojans tout 7 different wide receivers who have more than 250 yards receiving this year. In all of my stat digging this season, this is the most receivers above the 250 mark of any team I've researched. The trouble with a team like the Trojans is finding away to isolate their big play makers. Junior WR Jerrel Jernigan leads the team in receiving yards with 947 yards but only has 4 touchdowns. The favorite target for the big scoring pass is Junior WR Tebiarius Gill who leads the team with 6 TDs and has 553 yards as well. Spreading the ball around to this wealth of receiving talent is QB Levi Brown who completed 64.7% of his passes for over 3800 yards this season. His TD2INT ratio is a solid 2.44, but he does have a problem with consistency in this category. While the overall season ratio looks good, he has three times thrown more interceptions than touchdowns in a game. The result of these "errant" games, Losses. It will be this statistic that Central Michigan will have to focus on to assure a win. Their secondary has 11 interceptions on the season, and DB Josh Gordy and Dannie Bolden are tough defenders for any wideout to line up against.

Intangibles:

Dan LeFevour's resolve to go out with a win his final game will likely look very similar to that of Tim Tebow. There's a reason I've referred to him as "TebowLite" for two years now, and I expect that his determination to end his collegiate career on a high note will be a deciding factor in this game.

Coaching changes/concerns have affected several teams this season and Central Michigan has not been immuned to the sudden attack of coaching hires. CMU head coach Butch Jones was hired by Cincinnati last month and his assistant will take over the Chippewas for the bowl game. With the athletic director announcing that a new head coach will be named after the bowl game, this will no doubt be an audition for interim head coach Steve Stripling.

What will happen:

If there is one thing this bowl season has taught us, it's to expect the unexpected. It would be easy to call a blowout in this game due to the fine tuned Chippewas offense, but Troy has plenty of big play threats to keep this game close. In the end, I'd expect the fourth quarter to involve a couple of long drives by the Chippewas dominating the clock and leading to another victory.

My pick: Central Michigan