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Posts Tagged ‘Beef O’Brady’s Bowl spreads’

December 11th, 2012 By Andrew Ryan

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To beat the Beef O’Brady’s Bowl odds, you have to put a heck of a lot of work into the game. Our college football expert handicappers have done just that here at Cappers Info, and we think that we have the winning edge for the clash between the UCF Knights vs. Ball State Cardinals.

Beef O’Brady’s Bowl Picks: UCF Knights vs. Ball State Cardinals
Date: Friday, December 21st, 7:30 ET
Location: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, FL
Beef O’Brady’s Bowl Betting Odds: UCF -7
UCF vs. Ball State Live TV Coverage: ESPN

This is one of the rare bowl games where we think that the favored team is just going to come out and pummel the underdog, as we think that there is a clearly discord between where Ball State and UCF happen to be at in their respective seasons. Remember too, that this is a de facto home game for the Knights, and even the juniors know that this is going to likely be their last shot at a bowl game with a pending bowl ban potentially coming next season along with the move to the Big East.

QB Keith Wenning really didn’t have all that great of a year for Ball State, and though his ground game is good, averaging 214.2 yards per game, this is a tough draw against a UCF team that saw a heck of a lot of teams that were more talented and more aggressive on the ground than this one. The Cardinals did come out and win their final six games of the season, but none of those games, save for against the Toledo Rockets on the road, were really all that impressive when you think about it.

The challenge for the Knights is going to be getting the ball moving on the ground. RB Latavius Murray is considered one of the most talented backs to ever play at UCF, and that’s quite the statement, knowing that both Marquette Smith and Kevin Smith went on to have tremendous athletic careers. Where the Cardinals are really going to get themselves in trouble though, is trying to stop Murray and the rest of the UCF rushers. The Knights can deploy any number of backs in the backfield, and when they do, they are tough to stop. QB Blake Bortles has done a better job as the year has progressed of making smart reads and not turning the ball over, and if he keeps that up, the Knights should really take advantage of a defense that ranked 104th in the nation in total ‘D’ this year at 459.8 yards per game against a schedule that really wasn’t all that brutal.

UCF vs. Ball State Pick: UCF Knights -7
Beef O’Brady’s Bowl Score Prediction: UCF 41 – Ball State 20

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Posted in College Football |

 
December 2nd, 2012 By Andrew Ryan

5Dimes SportsbookMy 2012 Beef O’Brady’s Bowl picks between the UCF Knights and the Ball State Cardinals are all set and ready to go here at Cappers Info. The Beef O’Brady’s Bowl kickoff starts at 7:30 p.m. ET at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, FL, and I’m going to be your expert college football handicapper that points you towards the winning bet for the UCF vs. Ball State game.

2012 Beef O’Brady’s Bowl
Ball State Cardinals (9-3, 9-3 ATS) +7
UCF Knights (9-4, 6-7 ATS) -7
Over/Under 61.5

Statistically speaking, the Knights and the Cardinals are really the same team. UCF would rather run the football, but a lot of its running comes out of the shotgun and other spread out formations with multiple receivers on the field. Ball State, like so many teams in the MAC, utilizes a pair of outside receivers to go with a quarterback that has some mobility, but would rather give it off to one of many backs in the system.

History doesn’t necessarily bode well for Cardinals in bowl games. They haven’t been to a bowl since 2008, and even when they have gotten to their five postseason games, they’re 0-5 to show for their work. In those games though, include some real high scorers, including an 82-point International Bowl against Rutgers and a 57-point GMAC Bowl against Tulsa. Historically, this Ball State defense has been run right through, but the team has done a significantly better job over the course of the last four games of the year, allowing no more than 27 points in any of those games. It’s going to take UCF getting into the 30s to have a shot at this ‘over’, and that just doesn’t seem all that likely to happen when push comes to shove.

5Dimes

Remember that Head Coach George O’Leary preaches to his team good defense and running the football. It’s a team that allowed 22.5 points per game this year and didn’t allow any of its final seven foes to score more than 24 points against it. With as badly as the Ball State defense has played this year though, this ‘total’ has been pushed artificially high. Yes, this is a game that is going to be played on turf in a fast tracked dome, and the Beef O’Brady’s Bowl has historically been a game that features plenty of offense, but when push comes to shove, this one just isn’t getting into the 60s.

Ball State vs. UCF Picks & Tips: Under 61.5

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Posted in College Football Tips, Football Tipster |