CFB: Little Caesars Pizza Bowl - OHIO vs. MARSHALL (1:00 PM ET, ESPN)

Little Caesar’s Pizza takes over sponsorship of the game more commonly known as the Motor City Bowl. Former conference rivals will square off in the 2009 rendition of the series, as Ohio and Marshall meet. Ohio is a small 2.5-point favorite, and backed by

2009-12-28

Little Caesar’s Pizza takes over sponsorship of the game more commonly known as the Motor City Bowl. Former conference rivals will square off in the 2009 rendition of the series, as Ohio and Marshall meet. Ohio is a small 2.5-point favorite, and backed by 77% of bettors at Sportsbook.com, according to the BETTING TRENDS page.

The Thundering Herd was a fixture in this game in the late 90s, winning it in ’98, ’99 and 2000. They haven’t been to a bowl game since ’04 however, and make it back to Detroit in ’09 sporting a 6-6 record. While with the MAC, Marshall had won seven of the L8 head-to-head meetings with Ohio, the last one in ’04. The Bobcats are a two-point favorite for this game after finishing 9-4 SU and ATS. They are on an 8-2 spread run overall but have never won a bowl game, going 0-2 (0-1 ATS).

With Mark Snyder having resigned from the head coaching position at Marshall at the end of the 6-6 regular season, this is no time to be backing the Thundering Herd in a bowl game. I have to question whether they are even deserving of being in a bowl game at all. Their StatFox Outplay Factor Rating is -3.4, a full 6.6 points fewer than Ohio’s, and they only averaged 21.8 points per game this season on offense. One of the StatFox Game Estimators also projects about a seven-point win for the Bobcats. Look for Ohio to leave Ford Field this time around with a much happier feeling.

LITTLE CEASARS PIZZA BOWL Series Trend: The Motor City Bowl gets a new name for ’09, with Little Ceasar’s Pizza stepping up to fill the spot. It could be a welcomed change for the MAC, as teams from that conference have gone just 2-5 SU & ATS in the L7 games of the series. In terms of totals, seven of the L10 games have gone UNDER. In past Motor City Bowl games with lines of 6-points or higher, the dog is 3-1 ATS. In those with at less than six, the favorite is 5-3 ATS. Marshall played in this game in ’97, ’98, & ’99, winning the latter two.

Top FoxSheets.com ATS Trend
MARSHALL is 22-38 ATS (-19.8 Units) in road games when playing on a Saturday since 1992. The average score was MARSHALL 23.3, OPPONENT 26.5 - (Rating = 1*)

Top FoxSheets.com Total Super Situation
Play Under - Any team against the total (MARSHALL) - in a bowl game, in a non-conference game between two teams from second tier division 1-A conferences. (34-8 over the last 10 seasons.) (81%, +25.2 units. Rating = 4*)

Find more great betting info on this game on the GAME MATCHUPS page.