Eastern Michigan Eagles vs. Old Dominion Monarchs Betting Preview
Where: Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium, Nassau, Bahamas
When: Friday, December 23, 2016, 1:00 PM ET
Line: Eastern Michigan Eagles (+4) vs. Old Dominion Monarchs (-4); total: 65.0 – view all NCAA Football odds and lines
TV Broadcast: ESPN
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Betting on the Eastern Michigan Eagles (+4)
To say that the Eastern Michigan Eagles improved this season from the last would be an understatement. They were an abysmal one-win team in 2015, but head coach Chris Creighton has outstandingly turned the program around en route to its first winning season since 1995.
Friday will mark only Eastern Michigan’s second-ever bowl game in school history, and the team prevailed with a win the first time around over San Diego State in 1987. And with a dynamic offense in tow – one of which the school has never seen before – EMU certainly can make it two-for-two.
Brogan Roback sounds like a name of a bruiser of a linebacker on defense, but he’s really the team’s starting quarterback with a strong passing game nonetheless. Roback broke his school’s single-season highs with his 3,549 passing yards and 23 touchdown passes, and he’s been the main catalyst as for how his team racked up 5,447 offensive yards and 365 points scored – both new school records as well.
However, the Eagles’ 87th-ranked defense is what kept them from becoming a true contender in the Mid-American Conference. They’ve given up 435.9 yards on average to their opposition this season, and already appear outclassed to contain an even more prolific Old Dominion offense ahead.
Then again, and even though they sport a merely decent 7-5 record for the season, they only lost three games against the spread at that.
Betting on the Old Dominion Monarchs (-4)
In just three years in the FBS, the Old Dominion Monarchs find themselves in their first-ever bowl game behind a sizzling run to cap off their 2016 campaign. They enter Nassau this week with a five-game win streak and victories in eight of their last nine, with their only loss during that span to eventual C-USA champions Western Kentucky.
While the Monarchs and Eagles are from different FBS conferences, they’ve actually battled one another in each of the past two seasons. Old Dominion won both contests, and it seems as if a third win over EMU is on the horizon because the former is just as great (if not better) on offense than the latter.
Senior quarterback David Washington’s efficient play under center anchors the Monarchs’ offense, as he’s just one of four QBs in the FBS to finish the season with over 25 passing touchdowns (he had 28) and just four interceptions or less.
Perhaps an even bigger threat for Eastern Michigan this Friday is OD running back Ray Lawry, who has 1,122 rushing yards – six 100-yard games – and 11 TDs this season along with a sweet average of 6.3 yards per carry. It was Lawry who also humiliated the then-lowly Eagles in last year’s meeting, as he racked up 223 rushing yards and four scores.
Given how relatively porous Eastern Michigan’s defense is, we expect Old Dominion to dissect that D with ease. All the more promising is the fact that the Monarchs are very careful with the ball on offense as well. They have just nine turnovers the entire season (three of them even came in the regular-season finale alone against Florida International) to go with a nice plus-13 turnover margin.
Writer’s Prediction
The Monarchs (-4) prevail with a superb 34-21 victory in their maiden bowl-game appearance.
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