TUCSON, Ariz. – (KVOA) Both Miami of Ohio and Fresno State practiced Thursday afternoon, ahead of Saturday’s matchup between the two schools in the Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl presented by Gin and Juice by Dre and Snoop.
Fresno State practiced at Kino North Stadium Thursday afternoon while Miami (OH) practiced at Salpointe Catholic High School.
The Bulldogs out of the Mountain West are looking for a ninth win to end the year which would be a sweet Christmas present.
The Redhawks out of the Mid-American Conference are standing in the Bulldogs’ way. Miami (OH) are the defending champions of the Arizona Bowl. Head coach, Chuck Martin and his guys want to go back-to-back.
“They’ve done a great job with the takeaways all year, they got 19 picks, they cause fumbles,” Martin said of the Redhawks opponent. “We’ve done a good job of taking care of the football, so got to win the takeaway battle and then we got to win the chunk plays. They don’t typically give up a bunch of chunk plays on defense, our defense doesn’t either. Whoever wins the chunk plays and the turnover battle will probably be standing next to Snoop on the stage.”
Redshirt Freshman quarterback Thomas Gotkowski will be starting on Saturday afternoon for the Redhawks.
“The first one I came to last year was my first one,” Gotkowski said. “It’s definitely set the bar very high. The team came out and I wasn’t expecting as big of a crowd and they brought the whole city out. It was amazing to see the hospitality that Tucson kind of provides. I’m looking forward to an amazing experience, an amazing atmosphere with these fans.”
Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Casino Del Sol Stadium.