Our 2012 bowl predictions continue on Saturday, December 22nd with the New Orleans Bowl, and we are set to make our New Orleans Bowl predictions, tips, and keys to the game for the duel between the East Carolina Pirates and the Louisiana Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns.

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2012 New Orleans Bowl: East Carolina Pirates vs. Louisiana Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns
2012 New Orleans Bowl Location: Mercedes Benz Superdome, New Orleans, LA
2012 New Orleans Bowl Date/Time: Saturday, December 22nd, 12:00 p.m. (ET)
2012 New Orleans Bowl On TV: ESPN, Watch ESPN

Key #1: Terrance Broadway has to make big plays
There aren’t many players in this game that can truly bust things open, but Broadway is one of them. He took over as the Cajuns’ quarterback three games into the season, and he really did a remarkable job with this team. The only bad loss of the bunch was a road game against the North Texas Mean Green, but when you consider that the “worst” offense performance of the year was putting up 20 on the Florida Gators, that’s pretty darn impressive. Broadway averaged 8.9 yards per pass attempt this year, and he was also a real winner on the ground with 661 yards, averaging 6.4 yards per carry. He accounted for a total of 24 touchdowns to boot. There are a number of players at this level that are dynamic, but few that have dominated as much as Broadway has in the Sun Belt, and that has to continue against the Pirates.

New Orleans Bowl Odds at WagerWeb Sportsbook
East Carolina Pirates +5
Louisiana Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns -5
Over/Under 66
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Key #2: The ULL defense has to find a way to mark Justin Hardy
Hardy led Conference USA this year with 83 receptions, and he was third in the conference with 1,046 yards. The key to winning games this games this year for the Pirates has been getting the ball in Hardy’s hands. ECU lost four games this year, and in those games, Hardy averaged 5.8 receptions and 71.5 yards per game. He averaged 7.5 receptions and 95.0 yards in eight victories. The sophomore had five 100+ yard games this year, and he finished out the regular season with 16 catches and 171 yards against the Marshall Thundering Herd. Louisiana Lafayette ranked just 115th in the nation against the pass, allowing 283.9 yards per game. This secondary has a lot of problems all year long, allowing six different receivers to have at least 100 receiving yards against it, including in the last game of the year when Florida Atlantic’s WR William Dukes had nine catches, 204 yards, and two TDs.

Key #3: East Carolina has to prove that it can beat a solid team
When you look at the 8-4 Pirates, a team that has won 13 games over the course of the last two years, you would think that there would be at least one win somewhere against a team that made it to a bowl game. Alas, out of all of those wins, not a single one came against a team that qualified for a bowl that year. The last victory came against the Southern Miss Golden Eagles way back on October 9, 2010. There have been some bad losses in the bunch too, including the last bowl game when the team was beaten 51-20 by the Maryland Terrapins in 2010, and dropping this year by 20 to the UCF Knights, 28 by the Navy Midshipmen, 21 by the North Carolina Tar Heels (who would have been bowl eligible had they not been banned from the postseason), and 38 by the South Carolina Gamecocks. The Cajuns meanwhile, with the same 8-4 record, beat the Louisiana Monroe Warhawks and Western Kentucky Hilltoppers, and they challenged the Florida Gators, losing by just seven points in a game that they were leading deep into the fourth quarter and ultimately only lost on a blocked punt returned for a score with a few ticks left in the game.

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Down in the Bayou, representatives from the MAC and the Sun Belt are going to square off, as the Ohio Bobcats match up with the Troy Trojans in the New Orleans Bowl. These two teams have both had very up and down seasons, but they come together having just barely squeaked into the second season. Which one of these teams will be able to beat the slender college football odds on this day? Find out as we offer the keys to beating the New Orleans Bowl lines for Saturday night.

Key #1: Boo Jackson has to put up better numbers against an iffy defense… if he plays
If the Trojans had a major problem this year, it was that their defense was incredibly inconsistent. The unit ranked No. 101 against the pass this year at 247.6 yards per game, and they were just a pitiful No. 94 overall at 419.2 yards per game. There weren’t many bowl teams on this schedule this year, as there were only four teams that are going to the second season. The game against the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders should probably be thrown out, as it was the first time that QB Dwight Dasher suited up this season. However, in the other three games against bowl teams, Troy allowed 41 points to the Oklahoma State Cowboys, 52 to the Florida International Golden Panthers, and 69 to the South Carolina Gamecocks. Now a senior, QB Boo Jackson is playing in his final game with the Bobcats. He really did nothing but digress for the majority of his career after a stunning sophomore campaign, and his last few games of the regular season were probably his worst. Jackson was intercepted in ten of his 12 games this year, and the fact that he threw for just 133 yards and two picks against the Kent State Golden Flashes in the last game of the season was what kept the Bobcats out of the MAC Championship Game. Jackson had four games this year where he didn’t even get to double digits in completions, and for a man that doesn’t have a stellar running game, nor a solid set of legs himself, only throwing for 1,688 yards just didn’t cut it. He hasn’t thrown for more than 240 yards in a game all season long and will probably need more than that to survive against Troy. The problem that Jackson has right now is that he is fighting bowl eligibility issues. He has undisclosed academic problems right now, and at least as far as this point, he hasn’t made the trek to the Crescent City with the rest of the team. If that’s the case, the man that started the season, QB Phillip Bates, the team’s second leading rusher, is going to be calling the shots.

New Orleans Bowl Odds at Diamond Sportsbook 
Ohio Bobcats +2
Troy Trojans -2
Over/Under 58
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Key #2: Corey Robinson has to be a strong leader, even as just a freshman
QB Corey Robinson has plenty of college football left in his arm, and he has had a great first year at the helm in Troy. He has thrown for 3,339 yards and 24 TDs already, and he has had eight games with at least two TD passes on the year. Robinson really became the only quarterback option for the team over the course of the last month or so of the season, as the rest of the signal callers sort of became obsolete all of a sudden. In that last month of the year, Robinson threw for 300+ yards in three of his five games, giving him a total of five 300+ yard games on the campaign. The key is going to be his completion percentage. In games in which the frosh completed at least 60% of his passes, he is 6-1. In games in which he was under that 60% barrier, the team went just 1-4, and several of those losses were brutal. This is a relatively young Troy team that is direly still looking for a leader. This is the game where Robinson can step up and take charge, setting the tone for the next three years, and if he does, the Trojans will be tough to stop.

Key #3: Ohio needs to keep tabs on Jerrel Jernigan
In his career, WR Jerrel Jernigan has done just about everything that a man can do on a football field. He is just one catch away from setting a career high in receptions this year, and though he probably isn’t having his best season, he is also clearly not playing on a team that is as talented as it was when QB Levi Brown was calling the shots. Jernigan has already accounted for 5,916 yards in his career between rushing, receiving, returning, and passing, and he has been good for 774 receiving yards, 301 punt return yards, 600 kick return yards, 306 rushing yards, and 41 passing yards this year to go with nine TDs. The 2,022 yards is a career high, and left Jernigan with an average of 168.5 yards per game that he accounts for by himself. The Bobcats have a defense which is surrendering just 316.6 yards per game, and this unit really needs to make sure that it keeps tabs on Jernigan at all times to be successful in this one.