Ohio vs. San Diego State: Frisco Bowl preview and predictions

Ohio (8-4) vs. San Diego State (7-5)

Location: Frisco, Texas | When: Dec. 19 (8 p.m. ET) | TV: ESPN | Line: Ohio -3

HOW THESE TEAMS GOT HERE

Ohio: The Bobcats really only have one bad loss in 2018. Ohio fell to Virginia, Cincinnati and Northern Illinois in the first half of the season. All three teams are going bowling. The fourth loss came to in-state rival Miami (Ohio), which won 30-28 in a late-season effort to finish 6-6 but missed out on a bowl game. Ohio bounced back from that Miami loss with a 52-17 thrashing of 10-win Buffalo before scoring 49 points in a win vs. Akron in the final week of the season. One more point in that game and Ohio would have scored 50 or more for the fifth time.

San Diego State: SDSU started the season with a 31-10 loss to Stanford and proceeded to win six straight games to get bowl eligible after an ugly 16-13 win over San Jose State. Since then it hasn’t been pretty. SDSU lost to Nevada, beat New Mexico and has lost three straight games to end the season. The first was a 27-24 loss to UNLV, the second was a 23-14 loss to Fresno State and then the season ended with a 31-30 loss at home to Hawaii.

[Get ready for National Signing Day: Sign up for Rivals, get free team gear]

WHY YOU SHOULD WATCH

It’s a random Wednesday night in December and there is no other football on. Hell yeah, you should be watching the Frisco Bowl, a battle between two of the nation’s oldest coaches, OU’s Frank Solich (74) and SDSU’s Rocky Long (68). On a serious note, it’ll be a fun matchup of Ohio’s three-headed rushing attack that powers the team to over 40 points per game and San Diego State’s run-based offense that is getting healthier. Both teams are methodical too. Neither is inside the top 100 in plays per game. This will likely be one of the shortest bowl games of the season.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Nathan Rourke, QB, Ohio: Here’s the man who does it all for the Bobcats. Well, he has some help from running backs A.J. Ouellette and Maleek Irons, but Rourke has thrown 22 touchdowns and rushed for 13 more. He’s also averaging over six yards per carry, an impressive achievement when you consider he’s thrown 253 passes and sacks are subtracted from rushing totals for college quarterbacks. Rourke averages nearly nine yards a pass attempt and likes to go downfield to Papi White, who has 897 receiving yards and nine TDs.

Juwan Washington, RB, San Diego State: The man who succeeded Rashaad Penny as the Aztecs’ featured back has 180 carries for 870 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2018. And he’s done all of that in eight games. Washington missed the entire month of October due to injury but returned on Nov. 3. After rushing for over 130 yards in each of SDSU’s first three games of the season Washington didn’t break 100 in his next four. But he had 31 carries for 158 yards and two touchdowns in the Hawaii game.

WHAT’S ON THE LINE

Ohio: The Bobcats are going for a second straight bowl win and a second-straight nine-win season. Ohio has finished .500 or better every season since 2008.

San Diego State: The Aztecs are going for a third bowl win in four seasons. The Frisco Bowl is a ninth-straight bowl appearance for SDSU after an 11-year bowl drought.

PREDICTIONS

Nick Bromberg: Ohio 34, San Diego State 24
Sam Cooper: San Diego State 28, Ohio 27
Pat Forde: Ohio 35, San Diego State 31

– – – – – – –

Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.

Follow @NickBromberg on Twitter

More from Yahoo Sports:
• Report: Redskins’ Smith out of hospital after post-surgery infection
• Alvarez punishes Fielding to win WBA super middleweight belt
• McIntyre: Liverpool rips Manchester United to shreds
• Texans’ Hopkins reaches 500 career catches in win