The Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl

Classic Big 10 and Pac 12 Matchup

The Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl pits two teams in Illinois and UCLA who will have interim coaches at the helm. Ron Zook was fired from Illinois at the end of the season and Rick Neuheisel was fired from UCLA. This does not take away from what should be an interesting game. Both teams want to get a win, but only one will. Let us look at this match-up and what you should expect from these two teams.

Illini started the season out of the gates fast with a 6-0 start, but faded in the second half of the season and it cost Ron Zook his job. Defense is one of the bright spots for the Fighting Illini this season. In the Big Ten, Illinois had the second best defense allowing just 291 yards per game. Illinois can rush the passer as they tallied 36 sacks in the Big Ten. UCLA will need to watch their gaps and have good pass protection schemes against Illinois or it could be a long game for the Bruins.

On offense, the Illini was led by senior receiver A.J. Jenkins, who led the Big Ten in receptions and was second in receiving yardage. Sophomore quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase will need to play well for Illinois to have a chance. This season he had 12 touchdowns and 1,971 yards passing. Jason Ford will need to have a productive day running against the Bruins defense to take some pressure off of Scheelhaase. Ford almost averaged four yards a carry for the Illini and needs the same kind of production in this game. For Illinois to succeed on offense they will need to be balanced running and passing the ball. Illinois is hoping to snap their six game losing streak, and will need a team effort.

Most people thought Rick Neuheisel would be the person to get the UCLA Bruins back to the top. He did make some improvements, but not the kind of success that UCLA wanted to see. Neuheisel was let go at the end of the season and interim coach Mike Johnson will lead the Bruins in this bowl game. On offense, UCLA rushing offense ranked third in the Pac-12 with around 190 yards a game. Junior RB Jonathan Franklin led the Bruins with 947 yards rushing and six touchdowns. The Bruins will need a productive game from junior quarterback Kevin Prince who had 1,627 yards passing and 10 touchdowns. Illinois has one of the better defenses and will be a challenge for the Bruins offense.

Defensively, the Bruins were third in pass defense in the Pac-12 allowing around 232 yards a game. The Bruins defense will want to give their offense as many opportunities as possible. Points could be a premium in this game as Illinois defense is stingy and does not usually give up many points. The Bruins gave up over 30 points a game and they cannot afford to do that against Illinois. Keeping the score low is something the defense needs to do for the Bruins to have a chance.

In the previous 11 meetings between the two teams, the Bruins have won six times while the Illini have won five. Illinois has not beaten the Bruins since 1964 a trend they would like to change. The team that is most consistent on both sides of the ball will have a big advantage. This game also gives both interim coaches a chance to show what they can do.

Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl Overview

The Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl has had an interesting naming history. The game started life in 2002 as the San Francisco Bowl due to where the game was played. It then became the Diamond Walnut San Francisco Bowl because of the game's sponsor, Diamond of California. In 2004, the game became the Emerald Bowl, a title it would keep for five years. Because Kraft is the bowl's new corporate sponsor, the game has been renamed again for 2010.

The match-ups that the game has presented have been similarly convoluted. The first two editions of the bowl featured Big East opponents against Mountain West teams. In 2004, the Big East representative was replaced by Navy. 2005 saw an ACC opponent take the field and 2006 saw the ACC stay in the game and the Mountain West removing their affiliation.

The Mountain West was replaced by the Pac-10 (now the Pac 12), who will remain involved with the bowl, but their 2010 and 2013 opponent will be a WAC team with 2011 bringing Army and 2012 bringing Navy, assuming the teams are eligible.

Perhaps it's fortunate that the Mountain West is no longer involved with the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl as they did not achieve a great deal of success in it. Mountain West teams went 0-2 against Big East opponents and lost to Navy as well. The conference's only victory came in 2005, their last year playing in the bowl, when Utah beat Georgia Tech. Incidentally, the 28 point margin of victory that Utah enjoyed that year is the biggest victory margin in the bowl's history.

Since the game switched to a ACC-Pac-12 match-up, the game hasn't been kind to the ACC. The conference is 1-3 against the Pac-12 and ACC teams haven't won in the game since 2006. The last edition of the game featured USC beating Boston College 24-13. The game was notable for being USC coach Pete Carroll's last game with the Trojans before leaving for the NFL. It will also be USC's last bowl game or BCS National Championship opportunity until the 2012 season due to the NCAA sanctions they face.

The team USC beat, Boston College, also achieved their own degree of note due to their being the only team to appear in the bowl twice and the only team to appear in it as a member of two different conferences (Boston College was previously a member of the Big East during its 2003 bowl appearance.

The Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl awards MVP awards for the most valuable offensive and defensive player. Normally, both awards are given to members of the winning team. The only exceptions came in 2002, when LB Anthony Schiegel won the defensive MVP for the losing Air Force team and in 2009, when LB Luke Kuechly similarly won the defensive MVP for Boston College. Perhaps the most notable game MVP has been RB Jahvid Best, current running back for the Detroit Lions, who won the award in 2008 during California's 24-17 win over Miami. MVP awards and individual player performances will be available to wager on in the sportsbook all bowl season as part of our college football odds. This is also interesting timing to place your sports bets for NFL MVP as well.

The Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl game preview betting lines & odds will be displayed at the end of the regular college football season. Along with college football bowl preview we also offer NFL matchups each week. Giants vs Eagles, Patriots vs Jets, Ravens vs Steelers or no matter what your favorite matchups are we'll have what's been happening with teams recently and the betting trends to go along with it as part of our football betting lines.