LAS VEGAS BOWL - Sam Boyd Stadium – Las Vegas, NV
Kickoff: Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET
Line: Houston -3.0, Total: 54.5

New head coach Major Applewhite will be looking to win his first game when Houston faces San Diego State in the Las Vegas Bowl on Saturday.

The Cougars lost head coach Tom Herman to Texas, but Major Applewhite is ready for the job. Applewhite did an excellent job as offensive coordinator for Houston, and the blueprint for success is there. Don’t expect him to change much. The Cougars are coming into this one off of a 48-44 loss as four-point favorites in Memphis in the final game of the season. They had, however, won three straight before that loss, and one of those victories was a 36-10 win over Louisville. San Diego State, meanwhile, won the Mountain West Conference championship with a 27-24 win over Wyoming. The Aztecs were seven-point road favorites in that game, and they have lost three straight ATS coming into this one. One trend favoring Houston in this one is that the Cougars are 6-0 ATS when playing away from home in non-conference games over the past three seasons. The Aztecs, meanwhile, are 11-3 ATS off a win over a conference rival over the past two seasons. As for recent bowl history, Houston is 3-1 SU in bowl games since 2012 and San Diego State is 3-3 SU since 2010.

The Cougars have a new coach in this game, but they’ll continue to run the same offense with Major Applewhite moving from offensive coordinator to head coach. That means that the Cougars will throw a heavy dose of QB Greg Ward Jr. (3,328 yards, 22 TD, 9 INT) at San Diego State. Ward Jr. finished the regular season with three stellar games in a row, as he threw for eight touchdowns and only one pick in that span. He’ll need to take care of the ball in this one, as the Cougars are facing a team that loves to run the ball and will do its best to keep the ball out of the hands of this Houston offense. WR Linell Bonner (93 rec, 1076 yards, 3 TD) is one of Ward’s favorite targets in this offense. Bonner had a huge game against Memphis in the final week of the regular season, catching 17 passes for 235 yards and a touchdown. Look for him to be a huge factor in this one as well. Defensively, this Houston team will need to focus its efforts on stopping the run. The Aztecs do not like to throw the ball very often, so the Cougars can make them very uncomfortable by taking them away from what they do best.

San Diego State had a fantastic regular season and RB Donnel Pumphrey (2,018 yards, 16 TD) is the main reason for that. Pumphrey was the best running back in college football this year, and the Aztecs desperately need him to have a big game in this one. The Cougars have had games where they have struggled defensively this season, so Pumphrey could find plenty of holes in this one. It’d also be big for this team if QB Christian Chapman (1,866 yards, 19 TD, 6 INT) can play a good game in this one. Chapman isn’t asked to do much for this Aztecs team, but it’s likely he’ll need to make some throws on Saturday. Houston is going to do what it can to shut down Pumphrey, and Chapman needs to make it as hard as possible for them to do that. Defensively, keying in on Ward Jr. is a must for San Diego State. The Aztecs can’t allow him to sit back comfortably in the pocket.