College football's bowl season continues Tuesday with the Little Caesar's Pizza Bowl pitting Western Michigan against Purdue. The scheduled start time for the game is 4:30 p.m. and it will be televised nationally on ESPN. Purdue opened up as a 2.5 point favorite but the line has been bet down to just 1.5 points. The total is currently sitting at 62 points, being bet up from 60 where it opened. Both teams come into the game after lackluster seasons but a win in a bowl game could cap that season off with a positive note.
Free Analysis: Let's be honest from the start here. I don't think the right team is favored in this situation right now. In my opinion Western Michigan is the better football team and Purdue shouldn't be giving points. QB Alex Carder and the Broncos are rolling out an offense that scores 36 points per game and even in the MAC, which has been bad historically at bowl games, is pretty damn good. Purdue actually has had a pretty good offense in the last few weeks as well. The Boilermakers totaled 80 points in the final three contests after scoring just 70 points in their previous four games. Purdue uses a two quarterback system, which never really seems to work at a high level of college football, with Caleb TerBush and Robert Marve. Both have strengths and weaknesses but I really don't think either is a legit Big Ten quarterback. Plus the Boilers have struggles all over the place as Ralph Bolden is out with an ACL problem and leading tackler Dwayne Beckford got a DUI last week. Whoops. On the other hand Carder threw for 28 touchdowns and just 10 picks. Jordan White caught 115 passes this season and 16 scores, the most catches in the country. With 3,922 career receiving yards, White is 110 shy of becoming the MAC's all-time leader. Offensively the Broncos are very upbeat and will score points today in this contest. Western Michigan ranked next-to-last in the MAC in total defense this season, giving up 434.1 yards per game. However, tackle Drew Nowak was named the league's defensive player of the year after recording 20 tackles for loss. He'll have to be a force tonight for the defense to stay together against Purdue.
Free Pick: I honestly think the wrong team is favored in this contest. Sure, it's just under two points which is less than a score, but it's still important. Western has played some decent competition this season and I think they'll be up for this game today. The Broncos rank 8th in the country in total passing yards per game as Carder likes to whip it around the yard. Most will look at this matchup as a middle of the road MAC team against a Big Ten school, where Western should probably be outmatched at every level. But I don't see that happening, I think Western is the pick to go with. Offensively I think they will give some problems to Purdue's defense and they'll be able to score some points. I like Western Michigan to keep Purdue's defense on the field and rack up points. To me, Purdue is lucky to be in this spot and I don't think they'll be able to get up intensity-wise for this contest.
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