Motor City Bowl - Mid Tenn vs Cent Mich

[MicroBob]

I'm 5-2 in my bowl-picks and on a roll!!

The next one is the Motor City Bowl and I'm a bit perplexed about this one.

Even with the home-crowd advantage, 9 points is an awful lot for a CMU team that I'm not completely convinced about.
CMU is also operating under an interim-coach as their former head-coach ran off to take the Cincinnati job right after winning the MAC title.

So that's a bit of a distraction but it happened long enough ago that the team likely had enough time to adjust. Rest of the coaching staff as well as their general approach should be the same as far as I know.


Mid Tenn St has been clobbered by some good teams.
52-7 vs. South Carolina
44-17 vs. Louisville
59-0 vs. Oklahoma

But when they play teams more at their level they can pile up the points. and many of those games were on the road which definitely catches my attention.
It very much appears that these guys can play.
I saw part of the game against Louisville on TV and they were up 10-7 in the 1st Q and looking really good before the Cards decided they needed to actually take the game seriously.
Anyway, their high-scoring games include:
35-0 over N. Tex
35-21 at La-Monroe
34-20 at La-Lafayette
35-14 over FAY
38-10 at Arkansas St.

They also lost only 21-20 to Troy. And that Troy team looked pretty good (albeit a bit weird in their approach) against Rice.
It was their only loss in conference. And their records in conf and overall are exactly the same as Troy.

Also, that loss against Troy was a little fluky as they gave up 2 TD's and an onside kick recovery in the finnal couple mins.
That dominated the first 58 mins of that game before they lost their focus.
I think they might be better than people realize.


CMU boasts impressive wins over WMU (8-4) 31-7 and Ohio (9-4) 31-10.

But something tells me this Mid Tenn St team has a reasonable chance of keeping this game close enough for the value to be on that side.

I would probably just skip this one otherwise. But I've commited myself to playing every bowl-game this year. Might only put a half-unit on this one though.

[kdog]

I don't really have an opinion on this game but I don't think I saw enough from the MAC this year to justify them laying 9 in any bowl. So I guess I'd take the points.

What's the total? Those have been running mostly unders so far.

[sfwusc]

I think i will take the points.

When in doubt take the dog and under. I am parlay this game.

2.6 to 1 +7.5 / u51.5

24-17


-SFWUSC

[MicroBob]

line is down to 7.5

Evidently I'm not the only who thinks CMU is a bit over-valued in this one.

[fnurt]

MAC was once underrated, is now mostly overrated. I'd take the points.

[Tyler Durden]

Central Michigan is good for a Wong Teaser, from -7.5 to -1.5.

[Jordan]

[ QUOTE ]
Central Michigan is good for a Wong Teaser, from -7.5 to -1.5.

[/ QUOTE ]

wong's analysis doesn't apply to college football.

[playersare]

[ QUOTE ]
Central Michigan is good for a Wong Teaser, from -7.5 to -1.5.

[/ QUOTE ]
wong teasers don't necessarily apply to NCAA, because the win % gained from the equivalent NFL spread margins is usually less.

with a straight moneyline of +260 to +270 on Middle Tenn, this is barely breakeven when including the teaser loss should Cent Mich win by exactly 1.

[NajdorfDefense]

prefer u 52 here, lean dog but no action on tenn yet

[vanwely]

This is like trying to analyze a $3000 Claiming race.

I am going with the over since both teams seem to give up some points and it is in a dome