Bodog Beat

Will you be putting your money on Marshall?

The NFL, as usual, didn’t schedule a Sunday night game this week in deference to the World Series, so Conference USA is stepping into the football void with Marshall at Central Florida going opposite the Fall Classic. The Golden Knights have opened as 7-point favorites on Bodog’s college football odds.

Both teams enter off impressive wins last week. Marshall beat UAB 27-7 behind 315 yards passing and two touchdowns from quarterback Brian Anderson. But Marshall’s star is a player of the same name: running back Darius Marshall. He has gained at least 82 yards in every game and has 952 rushing yards (No. 2 in country) and 10 touchdowns. And don’t think it’s just against weak competition: He had 109 yards against Virginia Tech earlier this year.

UCF had 465 yards of offense in last week’s 49-7 win over Rice, the largest margin of victory in a road game in school history. The Knights also have the top rushing defense in C-USA (11th in the nation), allowing 92.29 yards per game, and have only allowed two rushers to gain over 100 yards on the season. They also lead the conference in scoring defense and are sixth nationally in tackles for loss.

Since these schools joined C-USA, UCF is 4-0 against Marshall – including a 30-14 win in 2008. When pondering the college football odds on this one, don’t panic if UCF is down at the half.  The Knights have trailed at intermission in six games this year (except last week) but have outscored opponents 110-63 in the second half.

Look for this one to be low scoring, as Marshall also has a good defense but is near the bottom of the nation in scoring. Neither team has a great passing offense. The difference is probably that UCF can hit the big play – it has 19 pass plays of at least 20 yards. For comparison, both teams beat Memphis by similar scores this year and lost to East Carolina by similar scores.