The Arizona Bowl – by a variety of names – has had a funky niche since the start in 2015.From the start as the Nova Home Loans Arizona Bowl – designed to be a streaming game in 2015 before it was cool – and later with the Barstool Sports tag, and now the Snoop Dogg over the last two seasons, it’s been a true bowl game. It’s on in the middle of a day loaded with games – three other bowls will be played on the bigger networks – this tends to get lost. But the fans who are there, and the teams that play in it, make it a battle.Fresno State came up with a nice eight-win season under Matt Entz, and a bowl win would make it four times in five seasons the program has won nine games or more.Miami University was here last season and rolled Colorado State 43-17. It’s the seventh bowl appearance in 12 seasons under head coach Chuck Martin
Fresno State vs Miami University: 2025 Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl Preview and Pick
How To Watch Fresno State vs Miami University
Date: Saturday, December 27, 2025Game Time: 4:30 pm ETTV: CW NetworkLocation: Arizona Stadium, Tucson, AZ@PeteFiutak- 2026 Early Heisman Top 10
Why Miami University Will Win
It’s a funky team with interesting positives and negatives at the extremes.The passing game doesn’t really work, but when it does, it hits the deep shots.So that must mean the ground game controls things, right? Not really.The RedHawks have a nightmare of a time coming up with third down stops, but the pass rush terrorizes backfields and forces lots and lots of takeaways.
Fresno State is more than happy to try turning games into defensive struggles, but it has to stop the run. It’s 0-4 this season when allowing more than 140 rushing yards, and the RedHawks are 7-0 when coming up with that many yards or more, 0-6 when they don’t, and …
Why Fresno State Will Win
This works the other way, too.Miami is 1-6 when getting run over, and 6-0 when it doesn’t. So, essentially, the team that runs the ball better should win. But it’s not that simple.For the RedHawks to run, the deep shots have to be there. The passing game, again, isn’t accurate enough to move the chains. The quarterback situation isn’t great, and it’s made worse by the loss of star receiver Kam Perry to the portal. He averaged a whopping 23 yards per catch.
The bad Bulldog defensive performances were mostly outliers when the offense was having issues. Miami should have enough parts around to be okay, but there’s very, very little margin for error with this group. The guys who are gone – like Perry and top pass rusher Adam Trick – will be almost impossible to overcome.
Fresno State vs Miami University Prediction, Betting Lines
The 2023 Wyoming win over Toledo was one of the most thrilling wins – at least in terms of finishes – in the bowl season, and Ohio won the 2022 version over Wyoming in overtime.It might take something a bit crazy for this year’s game to be that close, unless Miami can figure out how to move the chains with ease.I’ll always have a thing for this game, and will openly root for it to be great. (Personal not-so-humble fun fact brag – I, along with new-First Take co-host Shae Cornette – did the introductory press conference announcement for the creation of the then-Nova Home Loans Arizona Bowl.)I think Fresno State should be in control from the start, but this has generally been an unpredictable bowl. It’ll be worth having on – this is why YouTube TV multiview was invented…