Pointwise Phone Service
3* TROY
Greg Roberts
4* GOY TROY +3
Teddy Covers
20* Big Ticket GOY - Troy
DOUBLE DRAGON
HYDRA - Troy +1
Seabass
Late Information Play
200* TROY
Jim Feist
Troy State
MR EAST
NCAAB WEDNESDAY PLAY OF THE DAY
CORNELL @ KANSAS
3 UNITS: OVER 149.5
The Kansas Jayhawks sure have that National Champion look heading into January. They have taken down 10 of 13 opponents by 25 or more. Cornell has been the player in the Ivy, and will likely win it gain for their 3rd straight NCAA Tournament appearance. They won't be able to stop the Jayhawks, but what they do have is enough skill players to put some points up here. Big Red has topped the 70 mark in all 4 of their games vs BCS Conference teams, and I look for this one to go over the total.
Anthony Redd
20 Dime - Troy
Tom Freese
10* Troy
John Ryan
15* Troy
Nick Parsons
9* Troy
Stephen Nover
100 Dime - Troy
Note: This line is between -2 and -3.5 depending on where you shop here in Vegas or offshore. That's certainly a wide range so it's important you shop for the best price. Equally as important: go ahead and buy down the 1/2 point for insurance if your number is -3 or -3.5 (or even -4).
The oddsmaker got it wrong. Troy is the better team and should be the favorite. Nonetheless, buy the half-point in order to lock in at a key number.
Troy is by far the strongest team in the Sun Belt Conference. The Trojans have dominated this conference winning or sharing the title in each of the last four years. Some of the bottom Sun Belt teams are weak, but I would equate Troy as an upper tier Conference USA type of quality.
Central Michigan isn't in that class. The Mid-American Conference is weak and has been exposed during the bowls. Here's what MAC teams have done in the bowls:
Northern Illinois lost 27-3 to South Florida, a team that tied for fifth in the Big East. That was a pointspread loss of 17 1/2 points for Northern Illinois.
Temple lost to UCLA 30-21, a spread loss of five points for the Owls. UCLA had the seventh-best record in the Pac 10, which was down this season.
Ohio lost 21-17 to Marshall, a seven-point spread loss. Marshall was lucky to even get a bowl bid after tying for fifth in Conference USA with a 6-6 mark.
Bowling Green was nipped 43-42 by Idaho, a one-point spread loss. Idaho was 8-5 in the Western Athletic Conference and one of the worst defensive teams in the nation.
Looking at Central Michigan out of conference the Chippewas upset Michigan State 29-27 as a 14 1/2-point road 'dog during the second week of the season. That was their lone impressive non-conference showing versus a bowl team. The game was played in Michigan and the Spartans later lost 41-31 to Texas Tech in their bowl game.
Central Michigan had opened its season losing to Arizona, 19-6. The Wildcats were blanked by Nebraska, 33-0, in their bowl game.
Central Michigan's other key non-conference game was against Boston College, a team that went 8-5 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Boston College rolled over Central Michigan, 31-10, easily covering as 5 1/2-point favorites. Boston College went on to lose to a down USC team, 24-13, in its bowl game.
Both Central Michigan and Troy have excellent senior quarterbacks. But Troy's record-setting quarterback Levi Brown has more weapons with one of the deepest corps of receivers of any team in the country. The Trojans have too much speed at the flanks for Central Michigan to contain them.
Troy's seniors may have faced the toughest schedule during the past four years of any school. The Trojans are focused and battle-tested. They also will have a huge crowd advantage being 173 miles from Mobile, Ala., from their campus in Troy. Don't expect many Central Michigan fans to make the trek from their state in these tough economic times.
Central Michigan isn't used to traveling out of state. The Chippewas have played in Detroit in the Motor City Bowl the past three seasons. The last time they went to a bowl game outside of Michigan was 1994.
Last year, Central Michigan was upset by Florida Atlantic of the Sun Belt Conference, 24-21, as a seven-point favorite. That Florida Atlantic team was mediocre, not nearly as good as this year's Troy squad.
Unlike Troy, Central Michigan has had distractions. Its coach, Butch Jones, left to replace Brian Kelly at Cincinnati. Associate coach Steve Stripling is running the team on an interim basis.
Chris Jordan
2010 BLANK CHECK GAME OF THE YEAR - CENTRAL MICHIGAN CHIPPEWAS
Heard of Dan LeFevour yet?
Get used to it, cause he'll be playing on Sundays beginning next Fall.
And given Central Michigan's record-setting quarterback has just one game left in his college career (other than the all-star Senior Bowl) - this one - I have to believe he is going to have a field day against the 100th-ranked defense in the nation.
There are 120 teams ranked in the Football Bowl Subdivision. Against the pass, Troy is ranked 116th, allowing 277.7 yards per game. I wouldn't be surprised to see LeFevour tally 400 offensive yards tonight.
Where should I start with this kid???
He's the first Football Bowl Subdivision player to pass for 12,000 yards and rush for 2,500 more (Tim Tebow who?). He also holds the record for total touchdowns (148 to Tebow's 141). He needs 154 yards to move to No. 2 on the list for total yards (he's at 15,446) and will guide his fellow seniors tonight to matching a school record with 38 wins in four years with a victory over Sun Belt champion Troy.
I'm not done ...
LeFevour will move into 10th in career yards passing with 157 more for the 11-2 Chippewas, and needs nine completions for fifth and 64 yards rushing for 3,000. Although most defensive lines are focused on tracking down the Mid-American Conference Offensive Player of the Year, LeFevour has still managed to produce more than 400 total yards in nine of 13 games.
Honestly, I know Troy is an offensive juggernaut, but at least Central Michigan can play defense. And I know the Chippewas lost its head coach to Cincinnati and is now under the direction of an interim coach, but he was also the Associate Head Coach and he knows the program. This isn't UNLV or some mid-major slouch that doesn't know what it is doing.
This is one of the most dangerous spread offenses going against one of the most atrocious defensive units. Yes, Troy has won by some awfully big margins, but look at what these teams scored on the Trojans' 87th-ranked scoring defense:
3-9 Florida International put up 33 points.
2-10 North Texas put up 26 points
6-6 La Lafayette pu up 42 points
The Trojans held just two teams below 20 points, and again, now they're going to try to contain one of the most prolific quarterbacks in Division I football?
Let me make one final point that gives me an advantage (and no it has nothing to do with the fact the Trojans have a defensive player named Brandon Lang); there are NFL personnel who are still trying to figure out if LeFevour has a strong enough arm to make NFL-like throws. While his arm strength has been tough to gauge because Central Michigan's offense is based on short, touch passes, going against a defense like this might give him ample opportunity to unleash a plethora of vertical throws.
This is LeFevour's graduation party.
It's his gift to his teammates.
It's a salute to Butch Jones, who left for Cincinnati.
And it's a cap on his legacy.
Central Michigan rolls to a 38-24 blowout win tonight!!!
NOTE - With this line tonight, you're going to be seeing it anywhere from 2-1/2 to 3-1/2; right now the majority of lines I am seeing is at 3-1/2 and I want you to BUY THE HALF-POINT down for insurance.
Why do this with a game I am so confident is going to win by double digits? Cause this is still G-A-M-B-L-I-N-G, and anything can happen. I cannot predict injuries or late calls by game officials. We're winning by 10 and some garbage-time TD has this game land on 3, I don't want to get hooked!
So with this line, FOR SURE we're buying down to -3. And if you have a -3, purchase it down to -2-1/2 ... why not? Let's insure this winner even further for all the same reasons!!!
Karl Garrett
20 DIMER - CENTRAL MICHIGAN CHIPPEWAS
As you can imagine, I do a lot of reading, and studying before I pull the trigger on a selection, and a lot of the reading I have done has talked about this Troy team being very dangerous tonight.
I agree to a certain extent, as Troy does bring some strong credentials to the table tonight, and they are playing a lot closer to their campus than the Chippewas are, BUT I will be siding with Central Michigan in this one, as my belief is QB Dan Le Fevour is the difference maker.
Central Michigan went 7-2 against the spread this season when favored, and they are looking for a little "closure", as they have lost their last pair of bowl games leading up to this one.
Sure, coach Butch Jones has departed for Cincinnati, but that fact is directly reflected in the line, and to me there is no value in backing Troy plus this small price.
LeFevour and his Chipps close it out with the win and cover.
10 DIMER - DREXEL DRAGONS
VCU comes in at 9-3 this season, while Drexel is at 7-8 thanks to their last win over Georgia State that stopped a 3 game slide.
Excellent chance for the Dragons to even their season ledger at 8-8, as they do owe the Rams a few paybacks, as VCU is on a 6-game series win streak, going 4-2-1 against the spread in that span!
This will be the Rams 1st road game since December 19th, and I have a feeling the oddsmakers are trying to bait you into backing them at this near pick price, but don't do it.
Drexel will come through with the home win, as they even their season record to 8-8.
Take the Dragons!
RIGHT ANGLE SPORTS
1 Unit Wyoming -3
1 Unit Virginia Commonwealth +1