Northwestern Wildcats vs Texas Tech Red Raiders Gambling Preview + Predictions
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2011 TicketCity Bowl Preview – Wildcats vs. Red Raiders Lines
Date/Time: Friday, January 1, 12 PM ET
Venue: Cotton Bowl, Dallas TX
Broadcast: ESPNU
Northwestern Wildcats vs. Texas Tech Red Raiders Betting Lines from Sportsbook.com
Money Line: Northwestern (+330) Texas Tech (-400)
Spread: Texas Tech -9.5
Over/Under: 60.5
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Northwestern Wildcats vs. Texas Tech Red Raiders Preview
Northwestern has not won a bowl game since way back in 1949 and it does not look like they will break that streak with how they ended the season. Texas Tech ended the season well winning 3 of their last 4 games including beating Missouri, who were ranked 12th at the time. College football lines have Texas Tech as heavy 9.5-point betting favorites with a total of 60.5.
The Wildcats really have the odds stacked against them in this inaugural TicketCity Bowl. They are without All Big 10 QB Dan Persa as well as their 3 leading rushers and they finished the season badly. In their last 2 games they were blown out both times giving up a combined 118 points and 848 rushing yards
Texas Tech has one of the best passing offenses in the nation ranking 8th in passing yards per game and QB Taylor Potts threw 7 TD with only 1 pick in his last 2 games. The Red Raiders will likely have some home field advantage in this game since this game is being held in Dallas.
In their season finales Northwestern was beat down 70-23 by Wisconsin while Texas Tech beat Houston 35-20.
This season Northwestern was one of the worst betting teams in the nation going 3-9 ATS and Texas Tech was only 5-6-1 ATS.
Northwestern will be going with freshman QB Evan Watkins because Dan Persa was lost for the season with an Achilles injury in the 3rd to last game. Watkins only passed for 258 yards with 1 TD and 4 INT in the last 2 games of the season. Luckily he has WR Jeremy Ebert (59 rec 919 yards 8 TD), who led the big 12 in receiving yards, and will be facing a Tech passing defense that ranked dead last among FBS schools.
The Wildcats offensive line has to protect their young QB, but they gave up an average of 3.3 sacks per game on the season and the Red Raiders have a good pass rush with 24 sacks. Look for Tech to come after Watkins all game long to take pressure off the weak secondary.
Northwestern leading rusher Mike Trumpy is a question mark for this game because of injury and their 2nd leading rusher was Persa. On top of that their 3rd leading rusher will transfer and will not play in this game. Still, the Wildcats had seldom used guys and Watkins rush for 161 yards in the loss to Wisconsin. Tech has the nation’s 67th ranked rushing D and if they stuff the run they will be in good shape.
The Wildcats have the nation’s 85th ranked passing offense and they will have their hands full with the WR combo of Lyle Leong (64 rec 808 yards 17 TD) and Detron Lewis (79 rec 803 yards 6 TD). Leong was tied leading the nation with the most receiving TD and he will add to that total in this game. Potts will have time to find his targets against a weak Wildcats’ pass rush that only ranked 101st in the nation with 16 sacks.
The strength of the Red Raiders’ offense is not their rushing attack, ranked 82nd in the nation, but Baron Batch (805 yards 5 TD) and Eric Stephens (542 yards 5 TD) may both rack up the yards if Northwestern and their 92nd ranked rushing defense played like they did in their last 2 games.
Sure, a 9.5-point spread is pretty big, but the Red Raiders have the offense while the Wildcats are banged up and struggled on both sides of the ball to end the season. Watkins will play well, but he will be pressured all game and will not get much help from the depleted rushing offense. Take Tech to cover the spread and with the offense they have take the Over as well.
Betting Trends
The Wildcats are 5-7 ATS in their last 12 non-conference games and 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games when they are the underdog and the Red Raiders are 5-2 ATS when they are favored by 3.5 to 10 points.
Pick: Texas Tech and the Over
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