Las Vegas Bowl Preview

This is a preview of the Las Vegas Bowl. [You need a more attention-grabbing opening sentence.]

It is a bowl game to be played December 30, 2021 at 10:30 Eastern in Las Vegas, Nevada. Really, it’s going to be played in Paradise, Nevada. But that’s a suburb of Las Vegas.

The game is between the Wisconsin Badgers of the Big 10 and the Arizona State Sun Devils of the Pac 12.

One thing that’s really cool [This is too informal.] is that both teams went 8-4 overall, 6-3 in their conference, and both tied for second in their division. Both teams lost mostly to good teams. In fact, all eight combined losses were to teams that made bowls. Four were to teams that won 10 or more games, and three were to teams playing in “New Year’s Six” bowl games.

Wisconsin’s best win was over the Iowa Hawkeyes. Iowa won a lot of games this year, but a lot of people kind of wonder if Iowa is actually any good. Even the pro-Iowa sites—and I know you said we were supposed to only use reputable sites [Yes, I did.]—had lots of people talking about how much their own team “sucked” and how much they hated their own coaches. But they did win their division even though Wisconsin beat Iowa pretty badly. So, in some ways, Wisconsin beating Iowa IS a really impressive win, but in other ways, it just seems like the whole Big Ten West is weird. [There’s some good information here, but this is a tangent. You need to either integrate it into the overall flow of your narrative more clearly, or perhaps just note that this was Wisconsin’s best victory and move on.]

Anyway, [NEVER start a paragraph this way. It is a clear tip off that what preceded it isn’t really relevant. You need a smoother transition.] ASU outscored their opponents by 8.8 ppg; UW theirs by 9.4. However, most people think the B1G is the better conference. It is already 2-0 in the bowl season, while the Pac 12 is 0-2. However, both of the losses were by schools from Oregon, which is a long way from Arizona. [This is true, but I’m not sure why that should matter. Wisconsin isn’t very close to Maryland, either.]

Arizona State has a pretty good quarterback (Jayden Daniels), but their running back (Rachaad White) “opted-out” and won’t play in the bowl game. Wisconsin has a really good running back (Braelon Allen), but their quarterback (Graham Mertz) is somebody Wisconsin fans wish would opt out. [This is clever, but you shouldn’t be trying to be funny. You’re supposed to be providing information. Also, unless you think Wisconsin has a really bad coach, their starting QB is probably starting because he’s better than the backup. Have you done any research on Chase Wolf?]

Arizona State’s head coach is pretty interesting. He was part of a really famous play in the NFL a really long time ago [That’s twice in one sentence you used “really.”] and he also had a pretty famous coaching “rant.” It was pretty good, but I still think Dennis Green’s was better. Jim Mora’s too. [You’re getting off topic.] Arizona State got into some trouble over the summer. They were, allegedly, doing things they weren’t supposed to do in terms of recruiting. But I think it was connected to Covid, too. It’s a little confusing and hasn’t been settled yet. I wasn’t able to learn a lot about how the investigation process works, but the NCAA handles it, and they’re a really big organization with a lot of money, so I’m sure they’ll take is seriously and handle it well. Anyway, it seems like the person at most risk is their defensive coordinator Antonio Pierce. One really interesting thing I learned about him is that, when he was in the NFL with the Giants, he was with Plaxico Burress when he [Who is he? Pierce or Burress?] shot himself by accident [Oh my.] and he was the person who took Burress to the hospital to get treated. [This is a really awkward sentence, both because it’s a run-on sentence and because it is hard to follow your descriptions. It would work better as two sentences. Then again, it probably shouldn’t be in here at all. What does it have to do with the Las Vegas Bowl?]

Wisconsin’s coach is not as interesting. In fact, he’s pretty boring and it’s hard to understand him sometimes. If you printed out his press conferences, you would give him an F for sure! But their defensive coordinator is kind of cool. He played at Wisconsin and now he coaches there too! He was only 5’8” and he didn’t even get a scholarship at first. But, even though he was so small, he played in the NFL for 10 years. And he could dunk a basketball too!

In conclusion, it should be a pretty good game. Both teams will probably try hard and both are pretty decent. It might not be the most exciting game if you like a lot of passing, but good defense can be fun too. It is hard to say if any players will miss the game because of Covid. There are some rumors out there, but I know we’re not supposed to include those, so I’ll just say that it is a possibility. But it might be fun either way if you decide to stay up to watch it.

Why you SHOULD watch the Las Vegas Bowl

• Not too many opt-outs (the biggest is ASU 1,000 yd RB Rachaad White)
• Both teams are likely taking the game seriously
• There are no major coaching changes or other things that would disrupt the preparation
• [For non-fans of Wisconsin:] Jayden Daniels is a mobile QB and that’s what the UW defense struggles with most
• [For fans on Wisconsin:] One more chance to see Braelon Allen this year. He a really fun running back

Why you SHOULD NOT watch the Las Vegas Bowl

• It starts at 9:30 CST, and that’s pretty late