Florida Atlantic Owls at No. 17 Michigan State Spartans (-32), Total 50 |
Florida Atlantic was handed a 41-3 loss by the Florida Gators last week, failing to cover as 34-point underdogs, while the total stayed below the posted total of 49.5. It wasn’t a good way to start the season in head coach Howard Schnellenberger’s last year on campus.
“It’s even harder in the film to look and see what your effort is,” Schnellenberger commented. “But I thought our effort level improved as the game went on.”
The Owls were led offensively by junior quarterback Graham Wilbert, who was making his first career start, completing 14 of 26 passes for 107 yards. He will be hard-pressed to have much success against another ranked opponent and the team has dropped four games in a row since the end of the 2010 campaign.
Bettors will be interested to know that the Owls are 7-18 ATS over their past 25 games and the ‘under’ is 15-10 in those contests.
Michigan State looks dead ahead to a showdown with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish next week and is coming off a 28-6 win over Youngstown State as 34-point home favorites. The Spartans finished the game with a 142-yard advantage in total yards.
These two teams met in the same situation a year ago, with the Big Ten team picking up a 30-17 win as 26-point favorites over the Sun Belt Conference member. Michigan State is 0-2 ATS in its last two opportunities against teams that hail from the Sun Belt.
Spartans head coach Mark Dantonio has tallied a 37-15 record against non-conference competition since 1999, including a 12-1 mark inside Spartan Stadium.
Fifth-year senior quarterback Kirk Cousins continues to move up inside the record books at Michigan State, becoming the fourth player in school history to eclipse 6,000 passing yards.
Bettors will find that the Spartans are 6-8 ATS at home and the ‘over’ is 7-6 in those games.
