Thursday, December 24, 2009

NCAA Football - Little Caesars Pizza Bowl Preview

Marshall Thundering Herd (6-6) vs. Ohio Bobcats (9-4)

Sportsbetting.com Odds (Sportsbetting.com Reviews): Bobcats -3

It will be a historic day for the Ohio Bobcats on Saturday as they make just their bowl appearance since 1968 in the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl, formerly known as the Motor City Bowl.

Internet betting sharps should know that the Marshall Thundering Herd are no stranger to this bowl. They have played in four Motor City Bowls and have come away with wins three times. Their most recent bowl game was in 2004 and they have been a more frequent bowl customer than Ohio.

Sports handicapping bettors know that the Thundering Herd started the season well winning four of their first six games but they struggled the rest of the way. They lost four of their last six, including a pathetic loss to UTEP in the finale.

The Bobcats have never won a bowl game but this should be a game where they have a shot. They have lost their previous three bowl games including a 28-7 loss to Southern Mississippi in the GMAC bowl in 2007.

The Bobcats are one of the hotter teams in the postseason. After starting the year 2-2, they ripped off wins in seven of their last nine games. The Bobcats were good enough to earn a spot in the MAC Championship Game but Central Michigan controlled that game and won rather easily, 20-10.

These schools are more familiar than you might think. The Thundering Herd were previously a part of the MAC and have a 29-17-6 record against the Bobcats.

In this specific matchup, the Herd will bring their vanilla offense to the table. They don’t do anything particularly special on offense but they can run the ball somewhat. But they don’t have much of a passing game and overall, this unit is fairly one-dimensional.

On the flip side, the Bobcats will bring a decent defense to the table. Their defense held opponents to just 21.3 points per game, which is impressive in the MAC.

Interestingly enough, the defense did struggle a little bit against the run, which sets up a good matchup against Marshall’s strength on offense.

Overall, the motivation in this game has to lie with Ohio. They are a team on the rise as they have made bowls in two of the last three years and are on the rise. For Marshall, this game won’t mean as much.

Look for Ohio to get a strong defensive effort and earn their first ever bowl win.

Sports Gambling Pick: Ohio

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