Ohio at Central Michigan Line

Written by Steve Janus

The Ohio Bobcats are set to go on the road to face the Central Michigan Chippewas this Thursday. The Bobcats come in off a big 35-31 win over Temple last Wednesday, which put them in a tie for first in the MAC East with Miami (OH) at 3-2. The Chippewas fell 21-24 at Kent State this past Friday, leaving them as the only team with a losing record (2-4) in the West standings. Central Michigan has won four straight in the series by an average of 15 points per game, but are no where near as talented this season as they have been in past meetings.

Taking a look at the week 11 college football lines, oddsmakers currently have Ohio favored by 6.5-points over Central Michigan.

Ohio:

After that impressive win over Temple last week, the Bobcats are getting a lot of respect against the Chippewas this week. While it may seem like Ohio is the clear favorite to win this game, this team hasn’t exactly been blowing opposing teams out in 2011. They had a bad loss at Buffalo earlier in the year and lost at home 20-23 to Ball State. Their only conference win that has been decided by more than a touchdown came against an Akron team that has yet to win a conference game.

Offensively the Bobcats really put together a big time performance against the Owls last week. Tyler Tettleton threw for 258 yards and three touchdowns and Donte Harden rushed for 184 yards and a score, as Ohio piled on 521 yards of total offense against a pretty good Temple defense.

Ohio’s offense relies heavily on the play of Tettleton. The sophomore quarterback has thrown for 2,241 yards with 20 touchdowns to just five interceptions and has rushed for 287 yards and at team-high six rushing touchdowns.

The other two players you have to watch out for are Harden and wide out LaVon Brazill. Harden has rushed for a team-best 698 yards in just seven games, while Brazill has hauled in 44 passes for 740 yards and eight touchdowns.

If the Bobcats offense shows up focused and ready to play, they should have no trouble moving the ball against a poor Central Michigan defense. The Chippewas allowed 422 yards of total offense to a Kent State unit that came in averaging less than 200 yards of offense a game.

Central Michigan:

This has really been a disappointing season for Dan Enos and the Chippewas, but they have shown the ability to play well against some of the better teams in the MAC. The two games that really stand out are a 48-41 win at home over Northern Illinois (only conference loss) and a 27-31 loss at Ball State. The big concern coming into this game is the Chippewas have little to play for after their most recent loss to Kent State. The best they can do is finish 5-7, but that is extremely unlikely with Ohio and Toledo left on the schedule.

In the game against Kent State the Chippewas put up 402 yards of total offense, but the defense simply didn’t show up against one of the worst offenses in nation. Junior quarterback Ryan Radcliff threw for 316 yards and three touchdowns, but also had two interceptions that led to 10 points for the Golden Flashes.

Central Michigan continued to struggle in the running game, managing just 86 yards on 27 attempts. The inability to run the ball has really put a lot of pressure on Radcliff and the passing attack to move the chains. Radcliff has done his part with 2,691 yards and 20 touchdown, but it simply hasn’t been enough to help this team win games.

While the Chippewas will undoubtedly continue to throw the football, they might have a hard time moving the ball against a Ohio defense that is allowing just under 195 passing yards a game.

Betting Trends:

Ohio is 17-7 ATS in their last 24 conference games.

Central Michigan is 3-15 ATS in their last 18 games overall.

Be sure to stop back and check out who Steve Janus has picked to win this week in college football. The expert handicapper is 15-5 over his last 20 college selections.

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