Miami vs Toledo Spread

Written by Jason Lowry

This Friday the MAC conference gives a duo of games, and today we are going to take a close looks at the matchup that puts the 2-8 Miami RedHawks against the 2-8 Toledo Rockets. Both these teams sit tied in their respected divisions at 1-5, and a combined 7 game losing streak. Last week the Redhawks pushed their streak to 3 with a 31-16 loss to Ball State, while the Rockets one upped them losing their 4th straight 27-17 against Western Michigan. For those of you looking to bet on NCAA football this Friday, the oddsmakers have the Rockets 3.5 point favorites at home over the Redhawks.

Now its hard to complain about a loss to Ball State, as the Cardinals are a perfect 10-0 and a highly rated football team, but this team just isn’t that good. Against Ball State the Redhawks didn’t play terrible as the offense had 330 yards of total offense, including 254 through the air from quarterback Daniel Raudabaugh. Now the ground game wasn’t so good, as they had just 76 yards on 26 carries. This week they are facing a team that is playing just about as bad as they are, but its never easy for mediocre teams to play on the road.

The Redhawks defense did a pretty good job against Ball State for the most part, as they held the Cardinals to just 14 second half points, after giving up 17 in the 2nd quarter. The defense didn’t have much success against the run or the pass though, as they had 195 on the ground and another 289 through the air. The defense did make some big plays, as they had a fumble recovery and an interception in this one. This defense is going to need to come up with even more big plays this weekend, as you need everything you can get on the road.

Now the Rockets have offense just can’t seem to come up with the big games when it needs to, and last week Rockets couldn’t get much of anything going till the 4th quarter when they were pretty much down and out of it. The Rockets had a good chunk of yards in this one, as Morgan Willams and DaJuane Collines combined for 151 yards on the ground, and Aaron Opelt got it going through the air, with 213 yards including a 27 yard first quarter strike to Stephen Williams that actually put the Rockets up 7-0.

After getting that early lead the defense decided to let Western Michigan pour on 20 straight, as they got beat on the ground and through the air. The Broncos passing attack did all the scores as Tim Hiller had 3 touchdown passes. The Rockets did make some big plays on this side of the ball as well, grabbing a pick and fumble, but it can’t give up the big plays like it did last week. We think the Rockets will come ready to go in this one, as its their last realistic shot at a win this season.

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