Ball State Cardinals at No. 22 South Florida Bulls (-20), Total 50 |
Ball State is set to play its second straight game in a NFL stadium after coming away with a 27-20 win over Indiana at Lucas Oil Stadium last week. The Cardinals picked up the victory as 4.5-point neutral-site underdogs.
The team was extremely balanced offensively in gaining 210 yards on the ground and 173 through the air. Quarterback Keith Wenning threw for two touchdowns and ran for another.
“The most important people are those guys in the locker room,” said Pete Lembo after his head coaching debut. “They have been through a lot of highs and lows.”
Wenning started the final 10 games as a true freshman in 2010 and has a first-year running back to hand the ball off to. Jahwan Edwards gained 84 yards on 16 carries in the opener, after gaining over 2,979 yards in his prep career.
The offensive line is a very experienced group that returned seven players that combined for 93 starts before the season.
Ball State is 11-6 ATS as an underdog and the ‘under’ is 11-5 in those contests. Bettors will also be interested in knowing that the team is 9-3 ATS in road games.
South Florida is now ranked in the polls after coming away with a 23-20 victory over-then-No. 16 Notre Dame last week. It’s the first time the Bulls have moved into such heights since 2009.
“At the end of the year we’ll talk about the rankings and all that because that’s the only time it really matters,” commented Bulls head coach Skip Holtz. “So what we’ve got to do right now is just focus.”
Holtz knows that his team was pretty fortunate in picking up the win, as the Bulls were out-gained by a 508-254 margin.
Quarterback B.J. Daniels will need to be much better for South Florida to cover such a number, throwing for just 128 yards in the opener, while also rushing for 37 yards. He was erratic at times in 2010, tossing 13 interceptions to 11 touchdowns.
Bettors will find that the Bulls are 2-8 ATS in home games the past two season and the ‘under’ is 6-4 in those contests.
