No. 21 Missouri Tigers at Arizona State Sun Devils (-7), Total 53.5 |
The Missouri Tigers and Arizona State Sun Devils meet up in one of the top college football games in Week 2 inside Sun Devil Stadium Friday night.
Missouri tallied a 17-6 season-opening victory over the Miami (OH) RedHawks, failing to cover as 19.5-point home favorites. The Tigers offense sputtered throughout and will need to get much better heading into this contest.
“Offensively, we’re just very sporadic,” Tigers head coach Gary Pinkel stated. “For the number of experienced players we have out there, that’s a little disappointing.”
Defensively, the Tigers were outstanding, limiting the RedHawks to just six points and 270 yards of total offense. It’s not a surprising result due to the unit leading the Big 12 Conference a year ago in scoring defense, allowing just over 16 points a game.
Being placed as a seven-point road underdog will definitely surprise many due to the squad’s 22-game winning streak against non-conference opponents during the regular season. The last loss that Missouri suffered in this situation came against New Mexico in 2005.
Sophomore quarterback James Franklin was named the team’s offensive player of the week in his first career start, accounting for 201 yards of total offense. He takes over the controls for the departed Blaine Gabbert, who was a first-round selection of the Jacksonville Jaguars in the NFL draft.
Missouri enters with a 12-14-2 all-time mark against members of the current Pac-12 conference, last facing a non-Colorado team back in the 2006 Sun Bowl, scoring a two-point conversion late to come away with a 39-38 win over the Oregon State Beavers.
Bettors will be interested in knowing that the Tigers are 9-9 ATS when playing with six or less days of rest.
Arizona State virtually went through the motions in a 48-14 season opening win over UC Davis, failing to cover as 37.5-point home favorites. The Sun Devils will now play their second straight contest at Sun Devil Stadium, hosting the Tigers in a “Black Out” that has the city of Tempe buzzing.
“We are going to have to play a lot better in that game than we did tonight, but I’m excited for next Friday,” Sun Devils head coach Dennis Erickson stated after the Week 1 win.
The two schools have met five times in the series, with the Sun Devils trailing, 3-2. The last meeting was back in 1990.
Running back Cameron Marshall continues to be a force offensively, catching four passes for 86 yards and rushing for two touchdowns against the Aggies.
Defensively, the unit is still considered one of the top play-making groups in the country, producing eight tackles for negative yardage or no gain a week ago, which is on par for the 143 it totaled in 2010.
Bettors will find that the Sun Devils are 9-3 ATS in their last 12 home games, which may prove to be the difference.
The ‘under’ is certainly playable—with the Devils falling below the number in 13 of their last 21 games.
