College Football Betting: Massachusetts at Ohio
The day after Friday is known as ‘Black Friday’ and that’s an apt description of how things have gone for MAC entrants Massachusetts and Ohio over the past month or so. Actually, UMass has been one of the worst teams in college football–if not *the* worst–all season long. UMass is staring at a second straight 1-11 season though their pointspread performance has improved this season. That notwithstanding, they still have a losing record ATS at 5-6. Ohio got off to a decent start this season before slumping mightily over the past month. They enter this contest having lost three straight games SU and four straight against the spread. Going back even further, they’ve lost four of their last six games straight up going 1-5 ATS in that stretch.
One major question when deciding whether to lay or take a bunch of points in a mismatch game like this involves the intrinsic ability of the underdog–do they have the mental toughness or talent to make a game of it? In this case, it’s not likely. This is UMass’s second year at the FBS level and they looked completely overwhelmed last year when stepping up in class. The Minutemen were underdogs of 31 or more points three times last year and they failed to cover in all three games. The Minutemen return only four starters on offense from a team that struggled against top flight opponents last year. This is not only a team that has lost just about every time out since moving up to college football’s top level but have been non-competitive in doing so. UMass is 9-15 ATS since moving to FBS though they have been much more competitive in MAC games.
Ohio still can salvage a winning season and perhaps even a minor bowl bid with a win here and there’s really nothing about this UMass team that leads us to believe they won’t take care of business. Ohio should also be well prepared–they last played 10 days ago while UMass was in action less than a week ago. Ohio is nothing special but they should be able to conclude their season with an easy win and cover here.
BET OHIO -17′ OVER MASSACHUSETTS
