Thursday night College Football and we will see the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs take on the North Texas Mean Green at Apogee Stadium in Denton, Texas. The game has a start time of 8:00 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on CBSSN. Current Vegas odds have the Mean Green listed as 3.5 point favorites, while the total is set at 47.5.
Analysis: The Louisiana Bulldogs come in at 1-1 on the year and that one win was a shocker as they beat the Lafayette Ragin Cajuns on the road by 28 points, as 16 point dogs. The Bulldogs were never challenged in the game and looked like the team that went 9-3 back in 2012. The Bulldogs put up 533 yards of total offense and was very balanced, rushing for 238 yards, while passing for 295 yards. It was a nice bounce back for them after losing by 32 points at Oklahoma the week before. Cody Sokol has been solid behind center this year, connecting on 63.8% of his passes for 486 yards with 4 TDs and just 1 INT so far, while leading the ground attack has been Kenneth Dixon, who has 226 yards on 28 carries (8.1 ypc) thus far. The Bulldogs rank 84th in total offense (389 ypg) and 67th in scoring (32 ppg), while on defense they rank 95th in yards allowed 425.5 ypg and 101st in points allowed (34 ypg).
The North Texas Mean Green also come into this game at 1-1 on the year. In their last game they were very impressive in beating the SMU Mustangs 43-6 in a game that they were aided by 5 turnovers. Statistically not so dominating as they outgained the Mustangs by just 79 yards in the game. The offense put up just 353 yards in the game, but did have a solid showing on the ground, as they ran for 245 yards in the game. Defensively they had a very nice game, allowing just 274 yards to a Mustang team that has now scored just 6 points in their first 2 games of the year. The Mean Green are a run based offense that is led by Reggie Pegram, who has run for 136 yards in the first two games of the year. North Texas ranks 124th in total offense (223.5 ypg) and 95th is scoring offense (25 ppg), while on defense they rank 41st in yards allowed (313.5 ypg) and 67th in points allowed (22 ppg)
Pick: Going to go with the Bulldogs in this one as they look to get revenge for last year's 15 point loss to the Mean Green. North Texas is in rebuilding mode as they have just 9 starters back this year and it really has shown, especially on the offensive side of the ball, where they have averaged just 223.5 ypg. Last week they did beat SMU 43-6, but still it wasn't that impressive as they outgained them by just 79 yards and put up just 353 yards of total offense. SMU turned the ball over 5 times and that's really what aided North Texas in the game. Louisiana Tech ran into a tough Oklahoma defense in their opener, but in game two they took on a much softer defense and they exploded for 48 points and 533 yards in the game. The defense may be about equal in the game, but La Tech has a huge edge on offense and they are 5-0 ATS in their last 5 games off a DD ATS win. I look for payback here from the La Tech side.
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