Marshall Thundering Herd vs Houston Cougars Gambling + Handicapping
This is going to be a tough week for Marshall, especially on the road, but thanks to a home upset of Southern Miss, they are currently at the top of the Conference USA East division standings.
Marshall Thundering Herd vs Houston Cougars
Robertson Stadium – Houston, Texas
Saturday October 22 – 4:30PMMoneyline: Houston -1800, Marshall +1150
Spread (ATS): Houston -20.5
Over/Under: 59.5
Odds courtesy of 5Dimes
Marshall
They have picked their spots wisely as they (and ECU) are the only teams in the nation standing at the tops of their divisions with losing overall records.
The Thundering Herd are going with freshman quarterback Rakeem Cato so it should not be surprising that their performance has been so inconsistent this season. Cato and sophomore running back Tron (great name) Martinez give Marshall a pair of high quality athletes that are enabling them to compete better. It helps when you don’t have to outscheme your opponents on every single play. Both have room to improve and as they do the Thundering Herd are likely to climb the conference rankings.
These teams have met twice in 2007 and 2008 splitting the games with the home team winning each time. Houston is one of the most explosive passing teams in the nation and Marshall is only ranked 73rd against the pass. To have a chance at keeping it close they have to be able to significantly win the time of possession battle keeping the Cougars attack off the field. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
Houston
The Houston Cougars and Boise State Broncos are the only teams outside the BCS conferences that still have perfect records. The Cougars are currently ranked 21 in the polls and if they continue to win they will continue to climb although their ceiling might be top 15 as they really haven’t played anybody this year. They have to be zeroed in on a matchup with SMU later this month but it won’t mean anything if they don’t take care of business from now until then.
Case Keenum and the Cougars are up to their old tricks, leading the NCAA in passing offense and total offense while fourth in scoring. Their last time out was a particularly good performance where the offence (56 points) was matched by the defense (3 points allowed) in a surprising rout of East Carolina. With the way Keenum has the attack humming this team should win any time the defense can hold a team to 30 points or less.
The Cougars have a great opportunity to finish the season undefeated, realizing the promise that was dashed last year when Keenum went down for the season. As you can tell by the spread the Cougars should win easily but they have played several close games where there the defense has let the opponent stay in the game forcing Keenum to keep bombing away. Marshall is not as dynamic as some of those previous opponents so an easy victory is to be expected.
ATS Pick: Houston -20.5
Over/Under Pick: Over
Score Prediction: Houston 49 – Marshall 24
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