Bears vs Warhawks NCAA Football Spread/Handicapping
Louisiana-Monroe burst onto the scene a couple weeks ago with an overtime win at Arkansas. The Warhawks lost an overtime game last weekend at Auburn.
Baylor Bears vs. Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks
Malone Stadium, Monroe Louisiana
Friday September 21, 8:00 PM EST on ESPN
College Football Betting Odds from GTBets.eu
Moneyline: Off
College Football Spread: Baylor -7 (-110) vs. Louisiana-Monroe +7 (-110)
Over/Under: 68.5
Two overtime games in a row against SEC teams shows that Monroe has clearly taken major steps in the right direction. Baylor is without RG3 this year, but there are still plenty of quality players on the Bears roster.
Baylor looks to go 3-0 with a win at Louisiana-Monroe here. This is an interesting Friday night matchup.
Baylor
It’s extremely tough to replace a Heisman Trophy winner. With RG3 now doing his thing in the NFL, it is up to Nick Florence to lead the team at the quarterback spot. Florence threw for 341 yards and four touchdowns in the team’s season-opening win against SMU.
The Bears were seven-point favorites in that game, but they blasted SMU 59-24. In two games, Terrance Williams has 13 receptions and two touchdown catches. Baylor scored 48 points last week against Sam Houston State.
Clearly, this is still a very dangerous offense.
The Baylor defense was lit up multiple times last year. Have they gotten any better this year? The jury is still out on that question. They allowed 24 points against SMU and 23 to Sam Houston State, so it looks like defense will still be a problem.
The front four isn’t good at getting pressure on the quarterback, and the secondary has been beaten deep far too often in the past couple years.
Louisiana-Monroe
Louisiana-Monroe was completely off the map before this season started. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
In fact, the Warhawks haven’t had a record better than .500 since 1994. The team went 4-8 last year, but hopes are obviously much higher this year after the team’s non-conference performances over the last couple weeks.
Todd Berry didn’t have any success at Army, but he seems to be turning this program around nicely. Louisiana-Monroe is able to be this competitive largely because of star quarterback Kolton Browning. Browning has thrown six touchdown passes and just one interception in the team’s first two games.
He is a very good passer, but he can also make plays with his feet to keep the play alive. Browning is both the team’s leading passer and rusher.
The Warhawks have put up 328.5 passing yards per game through the first two weeks of the year.
The defense has struggled against the run. The Warhawks defense is giving up 175.5 rushing yards per game so far this season.
The Baylor offense has been great so far this year, so this will be a major test for this unit.
It’s tough to predict exactly how Louisiana-Monroe will come out in this one. The Warhawks have had two straight draining games against SEC opponents, so they could be a bit flat.
On the other hand, the Warhawks have a great leader at quarterback and they should be able to score bunches of points on this Baylor defense. Baylor’s offense is still very good, and I think they’ll put up a big number here.
Look for a high scoring game.
Trends:
Over is 4-0 in Bears last 4 non-conference games.
Over is 4-0 in Bears last 4 games following a S.U. win.
Over is 6-0 in Bears last 6 games following a SU win of more than 20 points.
Over is 4-0 in Bears last 4 games after allowing more than 280 yards passing in their previous game.
Over is 3-0-1 in Bears last 4 games following a ATS loss.
Over is 4-0 in Warhawks last 4 non-conference games.
Over is 4-0 in Warhawks last 4 games after allowing less than 170 yards passing in their previous game.
Free College Football Pick: Over 68.5
