Game 2 332
11 am Miami, Ohio at Ohio -16
2* William Hill
The Pick Ohio
#332 -16 2*
William Hill
The 1-4 Miami Redhawks travel to face the 4-1 Ohio Bobcats
on Saturday. We like the Bobcats in this
one.
Miami’s defense is what opposing players dream about. They have allowed 188.8 yards per game on the
ground and 257.8 yards through the air for the season. That’s total yardage of 446 yards per
game. That translates to a Redhawk
defense that gives up 35.6 points per game.
That’s very bad news especially considering the Redhawks score only 17.4
per game.
Ohio is on the other side of the coin. They average a healthy 27.8 which should
surely go up after a week against the weak Redhawk defense. They also give up just 18.2 points per
game. The Bobcats allow 48 yards less
rushing and 50 yards less passing yardage than the Miami, Ohio team.
It’s no shock that the Redhawks are 1-4. They opened game 1 as 13.5 favorites versus
Presbyterian and won 26-7. They gained
466 yards in a balanced attack and gave up just 318. Presbyterian is ranked #224 of all college
football programs by Jeff Sagarin. He
also has Miami, Ohio at #163 and Ohio at #80.
I don’t put a lot of stock in the Sagarin rankings but at least you have
his rough idea.
Game 2 the Redhawks took on Wisconsin and were spanked 58-0. At the time that seemed reasonable, but Wisconsin’s
stock has dropped considerably. The Redhawks
ran 24 times and gained 3 yards. They
did get 160 in the air and commit 4 turnovers.
In Game 3 Miami, Ohio took on Cincinnati and played well
losing just 37-33 as 21 point dogs. They
did gain 448 yards total to only 545 for Cincy.
Things turned sour for the Redhawks in game 4 against
Western Kentucky. The Redhawks were laid
to waste 56-14 as 20 point dogs. They
gained 291 total yards and allowed 569 to W. KY. The Redhawks suffered 4 more turnovers.
Game 5 saw the Redhawks lose a close one 20-14 against Kent
State. They went 21-51 for 325 yards in the air, their best performance of the
year. But they only gained 91 yards on
the ground. They outgained Kent who had
350 total yards and committed 4 more turnovers.
Turnovers have been the plague for the Redhawks. They have given it up 15 times in 5
games. The defense has only got 8 in
return.
Turnovers have not been near as costly to the Bobcats. Their offense has only 5 turnovers and they
defense has collected 11. We might well
see at least one TD from this strong turnover edge today.
Ohio is neither an offensive juggernaut nor a defensive
stronghold. But they are pretty handy in
both cases. They won game 1 as 6.5 favs
against Idaho by a 45-28 margin. They
outgained the Potatoheads 489 to 391.
Game 2 found them testing the Thundering Herd and they
passed the test as 3 point dogs winning 21-10.
They were able to hold Marshall to just 84 yards through the air.
The Bobcats won again in game 3 against SE Louisiana as 14.5
chalk. The Bobcats won 35-14 and went
pass happy collecting 346 yards through the air and 115 on the ground. SE Louisiana gained 322 total.
Next came a date with Minnesota which the 7.5 dogs barely
lost, 27-24. Minny did scorch them for
468 total yards while the Bobcats could only gain 345.
Last week Ohio slipped by Akron 14-12 as 2.5 point
favorites, infuriating all Ohio Bobcat bettors.
They were stuffed on the ground but did the same to Akron. The Zips held a 231 to 179 advantage in the
air.
So what are we looking at here? Miami, Ohio has lost their last 4 games by
110 points. Even if we toss out
Wisconsin and Cincinnati, the Redhawks have been drubbed by a 76-28 margin in
their last 2. It just doesn’t look like
they can match up at all against Ohio.
Ohio won last year’s contest at Miami, 24-21 as 3 point favorites. In 2013 at Ohio, the Bobcats blasted the
Redhawks 41-16.
Considering the turnover differential and an offensive and
defensive edge, I am taking the Bobcats in this one.
The Pick 2* Ohio
Bobcats -16 -110
William Hill