[MicroBob]

For Miami it's senior day and they are playing to be bowl eligible.
I believe they are also playing to clinch the MAC East and a win puts them into the MAC championship game I think because they already have head-to-head against BG and BUF who trail them by 1 game in the MAC.

I think the extra motivation here for Miami on Senior Night and playing for a bowl and a MAC Championship appearance...especially coming after a dismal 2-10 record last season...may all be significant.

I see what you are trying to do with the distance and away factor stuff. But they are almost 4 hours apart and if you are going to just say that the road-disadvantage isn't very significant just because of that then you almost need to do the same thing for a lot of other MAC matchups and even for something like OSU vs. Michigan.

Akron plays on artifical turf and Miami plays on grass.

I'm not disagreeing with the Akron play. It's a lot of points to give to a Miami team that aren't exactly world-beaters. But some of that senior night stuff, etc would have me a bit cautious here.

I also like a team getting a little extra rest to heal up a bit more from various aches and bruises at this late point in the season.
Miami has an 11 day gap from their last game whereas AKR only has 7.