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00:00in the pop tarts ball between Miami and ACC team left out of
00:08the college football playoff and one of those other big 12
00:11teams in the chase for a conference championship. The
00:14Cyclones of Iowa State that played in the big 12 title
00:17coming up short against Arizona State. Our second top 20 tilt
00:21of our top 25 tilt. I should say of this final Saturday in
00:26the month of December, Miami four and a half point favorite
00:30as we get you set for the pop tarts ball against the
00:33Cyclones. Kev, you made mention of this earlier. Yeah, I do not
00:36think it is a coincidence that the good buddies, Shanor
00:39Sanders and Cam Ward, who often compete against each other even
00:43in the offseason have seen one step up and play and decide to
00:48do the same four and a half point spread in favor of Miami
00:51against Iowa State. How do you start your game breakdown for
00:54the pop tarts ball? So with my desire to bet every ball game
00:59on the side, I have to be able to give myself some grace and
01:02not make a bad wager. Yeah. Last night, A&M USC things ended
01:08up working out. Although at 24 seven, I was pretty frustrated.
01:11I didn't lay with A&M and instead played the over. I say
01:14that because everything around backing Miami is tied to Cam
01:19Ward. It is tied to his availability. It is tied to him
01:23playing the length of this game and there is still clearly
01:27some trepidation around what you're going to get out of Cam
01:31Ward in this matchup. So this is likely the one of the games
01:36that we have today where I'm going to not play the side
01:40though. I lean Miami under the guidelines of Cam Ward is going
01:44to play the full game. That's because if Shanor Sanders is
01:48going to light BYU on fire, Cam Ward is going to come in here
01:51like it's Game of Thrones with multiple dragons slaying
01:54everything in front of him. Just to give the perspective,
01:57BYU, I mentioned what they did against Jalen Daniels and Sam
02:00Levin as a pass defense, giving up a combined 9.5 yards per
02:05pass attempt. Boy, that would have been nice for Iowa State
02:08who played the same two quarterbacks this season and in
02:11two games, 24 for 41, 514 yards, five touchdowns, no
02:18picks, 12.5 yards per attempt. Levin and Dale and Daniels
02:25combined and now Cam Ward checks in in a bowl game where
02:29it could just be, hey, throw it 50 times, kid. We appreciate
02:32you playing. Cam Ward threw every number. Yeah, he might
02:35get through every number. The biggest concern that I have
02:38back in Miami is motivation. You go for a team that was
02:41potentially a college football playoff contender, ACC title
02:45contender, and now they're playing Iowa State in the Pop
02:48Tarts Bowl. That is the biggest thing. I think when you look at
02:51Colorado, when you look at Miami, Colorado on the way up,
02:54Miami, the last two games they lose, they stung, right? It
02:58really cost them in terms of their season. Is it a
03:01disappointment in terms of this factor? Not saying that Cam
03:04Ward isn't going to step up and when you talk about those
03:07numbers that Iowa State gave up, especially to Sam Levin
03:10where they stacked the box, right, and expected Cam
03:13Scott to boot a run early. They beat him over the top with
03:16the passing attack. You look statistically, Iowa State only
03:19giving up 161 passing yards per game, 52% completion
03:23percentage, but the way and you beat Iowa State typically is in
03:27terms of you run the football. Could be a big day for Damian
03:30Martinez, that offense for Miami, averaging 179 rushing
03:34yards per game. They're throwing for 359 through the
03:37air with Cam Ward. I think they look to run it first, work off
03:41a play action and Ward might get to 400, 450. This game
03:45might be a shootout too. I just think from a motivational
03:48standpoint, knowing how Iowa State performed in the Big 12
03:51Championship, knowing that they lost to Memphis in the bowl
03:54game last year. This is a bigger game in my opinion for
03:57Iowa State to make a statement. I think they look to push
04:00around Miami and we've seen Miami play down to the level of
04:03comp. I'll take the points when Iowa State here. The Cyclones
04:07only an underdog one time this year, early on in the season
04:11and their first FBS game in the in-state showdown. That is the
04:14Cyhawk game against Iowa. They came back in the second half,
04:18won that game outright, catching around a field goal.
04:21Here they are getting four and a half. Under Matt Campbell,
04:25when he took the reins in Ames back in 2016, they are 26-18-1
04:31against the spread as a dog. Very profitable. This Iowa
04:35State team though, a little different than years past, at
04:38least in what they do up front. Physically, as Joe alluded to,
04:42fourth best passing team defense by the stats, only
04:45giving up 162 yards per game. As Kev alluded to, in their
04:49step-ups in competition against those lethal aerial attacks,
04:53like Cam Ward and Miami Present, some big numbers to be
04:56had. Here is where the Clones have struggled all year long on
05:00the ground. They're allowing nearly 180 yards per game on
05:04the ground this season. Second worst in the Big 12, Kev. Only
05:08Oklahoma State giving up more than that. We're not entirely
05:12sure who we're going to see today for Miami, but I do
05:15believe there will be a lot of an emphasis on that ground
05:18attack to compliment Cam Ward as well. Yeah, the thing is for
05:21Miami this year, yards per play, they were .5 yards better
05:25than the second best team in college football. So to give
05:28you an idea, the gap between one and two was the gap between
05:30about two and thirteen. Miami was the best offense in the
05:34country bar none. Either way, they could get it, which would
05:40if by chance it comes out that Cam Ward is not going to play,
05:44this line is going to shift massively. If I could get three
05:48and a half, I'm talking plus three and a half with Miami, I
05:52think they could still hang inside this game. Another
05:55reason I am backing off the side in this one game here
05:59because I agree with you. Iowa State sending out just about
06:03everybody. They definitely care about this one. Oh,
06:05absolutely, and I think Matt Campbell cares about it, right?
06:08You know, he was known as an underdog coach and again hasn't
06:11stepped up in critical big spots over the past couple of
06:14years, especially in championship or bold type of
06:17situations. This is an opportunity to get recruiting.
06:20This is an opportunity to knock off a brand name in terms of
06:23Miami.