Foster Farms Bowl Preview: Purdue Boilermakers vs Arizona Wildcats

In what could be the most interesting game played at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California in 2017 A.D., Jeff Brohm’s Purdue Boilermakers are taking the field against Rich Rodriguez’s Arizona Wildcats on December 27 in the Foster Farms Bowl. What follows is an ill-informed preview of that game in the laziest format possible: the Q & A.

What the heck is Foster Farms?
It’s a poultry company based in California. Rumor has it that Perdue was going to be the sponsor of the bowl, but that would have been confusing.

What is the official recipe of the game?
Buy some Foster Farms chicken or turkey, cook it, cut it up, and serve in a bowl. It’s as closer to a literal Foster Farms Bowl than the actual Foster Farms Bowl.

What is the best bowl game gift from this bowl?
The Sony XB950N1 extra bass noise cancelling headphones barely beat out the “coin” provided to the players. Check out the full list here.

How the heck did Purdue get into a bowl game?
Purdue posted a 6-6 record this year, with wins at Iowa and Mizzou. The season ending game against Indiana clinched a bowl game for Purdue for the first time since the 2012 season.

Could you go into a little more detail about the 2017 Purdue season?
Yes, but not much. Jeff Brohm’s first year as coach was amazingly successful. At the beginning of the season, it looked like the offense was going to be really great, as has normally been the case with Brohm teams. As the season progressed (and the opposing defenses grew stronger), the Purdue defense became the strength of the team.

What do you know about Arizona?
Well, their coach is former Michigan and West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez. The Wildcats went 7-5 this season, beating one ranked team (#15 Washington State), and losing the last two games of the season to Oregon and Arizona State. As is normally the case with a RichRod team, Arizona scored a lot of points and gave up a lot of points this season.

Any idea who will win?
Nope. Bowl games are generally more likely to have a seemingly random outcome, since they take place so long after the season is over. And college football is full of random outcomes during the regular season anyway.

Does Purdue’s excellent School of Agriculture give them any advantage in a Farm Bowl?
Yes. Indiana University lost last year’s game and they do not offer a degree in agriculture.

What do the gambling people think?
According to this, the point spread is Arizona (-4.5), which I believe means that if you bet on Purdue and they lose by 4.25 points, then you still win money. Unless there is a runner on first and second (or first and second and third); the infield fly rule applies in that case.

How can I see this exciting game?
It will be broadcast on Fox on December 27 at 8:30 PM ET.

Could you recommend another preview that actually contains useful information?
This one from BTN.com looks pretty good.