Andrew Ortenberg
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Real football on a Wednesday, what more can we ask for? We’ve got a three-game slate of the MACtion that is sweeping the nation, and we’re going to make sense of it all. While this will unfortunately be the last week of mid-week MACtion before they go back to playing on Saturdays, what better way to cap things off than with a parlay that has a value play from every game to send us off with a bang? Let’s dive in:
Ball State -14.5
Toledo @ Eastern Michigan Over 59.5
Central Michigan -1.5
Parlay odds: +571
There is a solid chance we might see 100 combined points tonight between these two teams #MACtion 💰
— Pickswise (@Pickswise) November 18, 2020
Ball State -14.5 vs. Northern Illinois Huskies
I think the Cardinals blow out Northern Illinois here. The Huskies haven’t even been competitive through their first two games, losing them by a combined 49 points. Their ‘closest’ loss was by 19 to Buffalo, but even that was misleading, as they trailed by 33 late in the game before a couple of garbage time scores made it look more respectable. They followed that up by getting pummeled by Central Michigan 40-10.
They’ve shown no ability to stop the run, giving up 5.4 yards per carry to Buffalo and 5.6 to Central Michigan. Their own ground game isn’t much of a threat, as they average only 2.9 yards per attempt themselves. Ball State has scored at least 31 points in each of their first two contests, so I don’t worry about them having enough offense to cover a spread this large. This one will be decided by halftime.
Be sure to check out our full preview for this game.
Toledo @ Eastern Michigan Over 59.5
This one has shootout written all over it. In Eastern Michigan’s last game they gave up 38 to Ball State in a game with 69 total points scored. They let Ball State put up well over 500 yards of total offense, and are now facing a Toledo team with plenty of punch themselves. Toledo has put up 38 points in both of their games, and that should probably be their floor here. They have three different running backs with over 100 rushing yards already, and Eastern Michigan won’t be able to stop their ground game.
Toledo couldn’t stop Western Michigan late last week, and their soft coverage led to the Broncos putting up 41. It wouldn’t shock me if this game eclipsed the 79 we saw scored in that one. The over is also 6-2 in Toledo’s last eight games and 9-3-2 in Eastern Michigan’s last 14.
Be sure to check out our full preview for this game.
Central Michigan -1.5 vs. Western Michigan
I often like to fade teams coming off improbable last-second victories, and Western Michigan certainly fits that bill here. They pulled off one of the craziest wins you’ll see in many years last week, beating Toledo after trailing by 10 with less than a minute to play. They’ve been basking in the glow of that all week, and I think Central Michigan will catch them a bit flat-footed here as a result.
The Broncos got out-gained in that game, and their first victory was over Akron, the doormat of the conference. Central Michigan has opened with wins over Ohio and Northern Illinois, and they scored at least 30 points in both of those. Exciting quarterback Daniel Robertson should be able to carve up a Western Michigan secondary that just got shredded by Toledo.
Be sure to check out our full preview for this game.
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