GMAC Bowl Betting Odds
Opening Line: Chippewas -4 / Spartans +4 O/U 63
Wednesday January 6, 2010 on ESPN
In a match up of two teams with great offenses the Troy Spartans take on the Central Michigan Chippewas in the GMAC Bowl. Troy has one of the best passing offenses in the nation and they had the nation's 4th ranked offense overall. They will have to win this game with their offense since the Trojans' defense only ranks 100th in the nation. Central Michigan is not slouch on offense themselves, as they ranked 15th in the nation in scoring and they scored at least 45 points 5 times during the season. Troy won their last 2 games of the season and was 0-1 against teams ranked in the top 25. Central Michigan won their last 4 games of the season and they did not play a ranked opponent all season.
In their last games Troy beat Louisiana-Lafayette 48-31 and Central Michigan beat Ohio 20-10.
This season Central Michigan was 9-3 ATS and Troy was 7-5 ATS.
Troy's solid offense is led by QB Levi Brown (3,868 yds 22 TD 9 INT), who ranked 2nd in the nation with 322.3 passing yards per game. He has several targets, but his main man is WR Jerrel Jernigan (62 rec 947 yds 4 TD), who averaged 15.3 yards per reception this season. The Spartans do not have the strongest rushing offense ranked 61st in the nation, but the RB duo of Shawn Southward and DuJuan Harris can really take some pressure off Brown if they can pick up some yards in this game. The Chippewas rank 28th in the nation on defense, but unfortunately for them they are better at defending the run than the pass. Since the Troy defense is not strong their offense may have to score a lot of points to pull off the upset.
Central Michigan has the nation's 33rd ranked offense and they are led by QB Dan LeFevour (3,043 yds 27 TD 6 INT), who also leads the team in rushing with 701 yards and 14 TD's on the ground. LeFevour is joined in the backfield by RB Bryan Schroeder (486 yds 5 TD). WR Antonio Brown is LeFevour's main target with over 1,000 yards this season and 9 TD's. Troy does not have a good defense and while they are decent at defending the run they rank 117th out of 120 FBS schools in pass defense so LeFevour may have a huge game.
Future Betting Odds
NCAAF Handicapping
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