Popeyes Bahamas Bowl First Look: Western Michigan vs. Middle Tennessee


The 2015 Popeyes Bahamas Bowl will feature a matchup between the Western Michigan Broncos and Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders.


Popeyes Bahamas Bowl Broadcast Info

Date: Thursday, December 24
Time: 12:00 pm ET
Network: ESPN
Venue: Thomas Robinson Stadium, Nassau, Bahamas

Western Michigan is a whole bunch of fun

The Broncos lost their key games down the stretch to miss out on the MAC title shot, but they managed to royally mess up Toledo’s season with a 35-30 win on the road to close things out. With a high-powered attack, QB Zach Terrell and receivers Daniel Braverman (103 catches for 1,270 yards and 12 scores) and Corey Davis (82 catches for 1,253 yards and 11 scores) put up yards and big plays in massive chunks.

Middle Tennessee … also, a whole bunch of fun

The Blue Raiders don’t have the ground game like the Broncos do, but they can wing it around the yard. On a four-game winning streak and taking five of the last six games, Middle Tennessee rolled through the second half of its season including a thrilling three-overtime win over Marshall. Richie James caught 100 passes for 1,220 yards and six scores, Ed’Marques Batties caught 77 passes for 960 yards and 13 touchdowns, and that means …

Your 2015 Popeyes Bahamas Bowl will really, really be a whole bunch of fun, but …

No way, no how, now chance this lives up to the greatest Popeyes Bahamas Bowl ever, which happened to be the only Popeyes Bahamas Bowl ever. No joke, it was one of the most entertaining bowl games of last season with Central Michigan mounting an epic comeback just for force overtime, only to lose to WKU in a 49-48 thriller.

This time around, Western Michigan and Middle Tennessee have exactly what you want in an early bowl game. Lots of passing, lots of offense, lots of big plays, and plenty of motivation. WMU was a big dud in its Famous Idaho Potato Bowl loss to Air Force last season, while this is the Blue Raiders’ first bowl since losing 24-6 to Navy in the 2013 Armed Forces Bowl.