Independence Bowl
Independence Stadium - Shreveport, LA
Kickoff: Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET
Line: Miami -3, Total: 61.5

A pair of big-name schools try to avoid finishing under .500 for the season when Miami and South Carolina meet in Saturday's Independence Bowl.

These two once-proud programs stumbled to 6-6 finishes and will now be spending their holidays in Shreveport, LA. Miami had unbeaten Florida State on the ropes on Nov. 15, but relinquished a late lead that began a current three-game losing skid where it has surrendered 95 points. South Carolina dropped five of its final eight games (SU and ATS), with two of the wins coming versus Furman and South Alabama. Both bowl participants have struggled away from home this season, as the Hurricanes are 1-4 SU with 20.8 PPG scored, while the Gamecocks are 2-3 SU with 35.2 PPG allowed. Both schools have also been highly mistake-prone with a combined 13 multi-giveaway games. While Miami is 3-12 ATS after playing a conference game in the past two seasons, the school is also 11-3 ATS when the line is +3 to -3 under head coach Al Golden. Both teams have a slew of injuries to deal with, as Miami expects to miss both WR Herb Waters (neck) and TE Clive Walford (knee), while OL Nick Linder (knee) is questionable and DB Deon Bush (hamstring) and OL Jonathan Feliciano (wrist) have been upgraded to probable. South Carolina will be without WR Shaq Roland (left team) and OT D.J. Park (academics), while TE Rory Anderson (tricep), OT Brandon Shell (shoulder), C Cody Waldrop (knee), OL Donell Stanley (wrist), DB Sidney Rhodes (hand), CB Rico McWilliams (concussion), DT Abu Lamin (undisclosed) and DE Cedrick Cooper (ankle) are all questionable for Saturday.

Which school will avoid a losing record for the season? For the answer, connect to College Football Best Bets for all the StatFox Experts picks throughout the 2014-15 bowl season. StatFox Dave is heating up with a 67% ATS mark (8-4) in College Football Best Bets since Nov. 20, while StatFox Brian is 59% ATS (10-7) in Best Bets since Nov. 12. Brian is a stellar 7-3 ATS in all bowl picks through Thursday, and StatFox Forecaster is also 7-3 ATS in bowl picks.

Miami's offense has been slightly above average this season with 29.9 PPG (60th in nation) coming from a heavier dose of passing yards (251.1 YPG, 46th in FBS) than rushing yards (179.9 YPG, 51st in nation). Hurricanes freshman QB Brad Kaaya (2,962 pass yards, 8.6 YPA, 25 TD, 11 INT) has had a pretty strong season that he closed out with 12 TD passes and only 2 INT in his final six games. He has relied mostly on his top two receivers, WR Phillip Dorsett (31 rec, 826 yards, 9 TD) and TE Clive Walford (44 rec, 676 yards, 7 TD). Dorsett has averaged an impressive 26.6 yards per catch and has scored a touchdown in three straight contests. Walford's expected absence would be huge for this offense, as he has caught at least four passes in five straight games, while topping 100 yards in two of the past three contests. But the best player in this offense is RB Duke Johnson (1,520 rush yards, 7.0 YPC, 10 TD), who has also caught 33 passes for 370 yards and 3 TD. The uber-consistent Johnson has gained at least 88 yards on the ground in all 12 games, while gaining at least 130 rushing yards on five different occasions. This defense has been atrocious during the three-game losing skid, but the unit allows only 24.3 PPG (41st in FBS) and 328 total YPG (4.7 YPP) for the season. The 'Canes are limiting opposing ball carriers to 143 rushing YPG on 3.7 YPC, while allowing 184 YPG on 6.1 YPA through the air.

South Carolina has scored a strong 33.3 PPG (37th in FBS), broken down between a great passing attack (281.4 YPG, 21st in nation) and average ground game (169.4 YPG, 58th in FBS). Senior QB Dylan Thompson (3,280 pass yards, 7.9 YPA, 24 TD, 11 INT) has struggled at the end of the season with just 2 TD passes in his final three games combined, but only once has he left a game this year without tossing a touchdown. His go-to receiver has been sophomore WR Pharoh Cooper (60 rec, 966 yards, 8 TD) who opened November with 256 total yards and 3 total TD in an overtime win over Tennessee. He also gained more than 100 receiving yards versus Auburn and Vanderbilt. The Gamecocks' ground game belongs mostly to junior RB Mike Davis (927 rush yards, 5.0 YPC, 9 TD), who has already declared for the NFL Draft. He's not ending his career on a high note though, with only 177 rushing yards on 4.0 YPC in his final four regular-season games. The South Carolina defense has been a major disappointment all season in surrendering 31.2 PPG (92nd in nation) with a nearly equal allowance of passing yards (219 YPG on 7.4 YPA) and rushing yards (214 YPG, 5.4 YPC). The Gamecocks have also forced one turnover or less in six of the past eight games.