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Marshall vs. West Virginia Week 1 Gambling Preview & Pick

On Sunday September 4th, 2011 its the Week 1 Marshall Thundering Herd vs. West Virginia Mountaineers matchup. Odds currently have the Mountaineers listed as 21-point favorites, the game’s total has been posted at 52. Here is a betting preview and matchup handicapping tips…

Big East Football Previews – Marshall Thundering Herd vs West Virginia Mountaineers

The Thundering Herd of Marshall, out of Conference-USA storm into Morgantown this upcoming Sunday afternoon to take on the No. 24-ranked West Virginia Mountaineers from the Big East in the season opener for these two in-state rivals. Kick-off is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. and the game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN.

Date/Time: Sunday, Sept. 4 3:30 p.m. (ET)
Venue: Mountaineer Stadium, Morgantown WV.
Broadcast: ESPN
Thundering Herd at Mountaineers Lines by SportsInteraction.com
Pointspread: Mountaineers -21
Over/Under: 52

Click here for the ATS Gambling Report for this game!

Marshall is looking to regain its prominence as one of the best Mid-Majors in the country, but it still might take a few more years to get there after a very average 5-7 campaign in 2010. It enters this season at 10/1 odds just to win its division and 28/1 odds to win the Conference-USA.

The Thundering Herd will also have to get over blowing a 21-6 fourth quarter lead over the Mountaineers in a wild finish that saw West Virginia pull-out a dramatic 24-21 overtime victory as a 12.5-point road favorite in last season’s clash. This loss went on to derail Marshalls’ season with a 1-6 start.

West Virginia survived this early scare, but never really got on track last season with a very pedestrian 9-4 record for a team that had aspirations of winning the Big East and cracking the top 10 of the BCS rankings. Much of the talent from last year’s offense is back including quarterback Geno Smith and a trio of targets at wide receiver made up of Tavon Austin, Bradley Starks, and Stedman Bailey. [soliloquy id=”82219″]

The running game will feature a couple of new faces with Shawne Alston and Andrew Buie getting the bulk of the carries.

The Mountaineers return a good deal of talent on defense as well, which should remain the primary strength of this team. Bruce Irvin, who led the Big East in sacks last season with 14, should make life miserable for the Herd and Keith Tandy should do a good job shutting things down in the secondary.

This matchup has become a bit of an annual rivalry with West Virginia going 5-0 straight-up over the past five seasons, but Marshall getting the best of its against the spread with a 3-2 record overall and ATS wins the last two years. The total has stayed ‘under’ in the last three meetings.

Bet on more of the same, as the Mountaineers get the win, but the Thundering Herd cover the 20-point spread in a game that stays well ‘under’ the 52-point total.

Betting Trends:

Under is 11-5 in MARSH last 16 road games.
MARSH are 16-34-2 ATS in their last 52 road games.
Under is 6-2 in WVIRG last 8 games overall.

The Pick: West Virginia 24 Marshall 14

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By Dave Schwab

David Schwab is a regular contributor to the Cappers Picks Blog. While not cheering for his beloved Philadelphia Eagles David can be found working on his blog at www.eaglesinc.com. David wants to hear from you so please comment below.