R + L Carriers New Orleans Bowl
Southern Miss vs. Middle Tennessee
New Orleans, LA – December 20, 2009 at 8:30 PM ET – ESPN
Southern Miss (7-5) from Conference USA and Middle Tennessee (9-3) from the Sun Belt Conference go head to head on Sunday in the RL Carriers Bowl in New Orleans. The Southern Miss Golden Eagles are currently favored by anywhere from 3.5 to 4 points. The over/under is listed at 57.
Middle Tennessee comes into the New Orleans bowl with a hot 6 streak win. Their 3 losses came to Clemson in their first game, and then back-to-back to Troy and Mississippi State in October. Their mid-to-late season winning streak has had a lot to do with Middle Tennessee’s outstanding defensive play. In the last 6 games, they’ve only allowed an average of 19 points. This is Stockstill’s fourth year as Head Coach, and second bowl game.
Southern Miss, with 7 season wins, comes off a disappointing 25-20 loss to East Carolina. Even with 5 losses this season, the point margins were slim. In 4 out of 5 they lost by 7 points or less. Their worst came to Auburn with a final score of 30-17. The Golden Eagles’ produce decent numbers on offense and should be interesting to watch against a tight Middle Tennessee defense. Junior QB Martevious Young has been hitting 58.2 percent of his passes. He has 13 touchdowns and only one interception. Southern Miss hasn’t done too bad on the ground either with running backs Damion Fletcher and Tory Harrison carrying the football. Fletcher averages 4.6 per carry, and Harrison 6.6. Larry Fedora is in his second year as Head Coach and enters his second bowl game.
Overall, Middle Tennessee has a better record and better overall stats, but they also play less difficult opponents than Southern Miss. This one should be a close matchup.
Middle Tennessee Trends:
Middle Tennessee is 5-0 ATS in its last 5 games |
Middle Tennessee is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games |
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Middle Tennessee's last 6 games
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Southern Miss Trends:
Southern Miss is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games |
Southern Miss is 12-5 SU in its last 17 games |
The total has gone UNDER in 6 of Southern Miss's last 8 games |
Pick: Middle Tennessee +4. Expect the Blue Raiders to continue their streak with another ATS and probably SU win as well. This one should be close and will likely go under 57.
Spread Stats by Bodog |
