Last tips

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Notre Dame has scored 197 points before halftime in previous 10 games. The only time they failed to reach 14 was against Stanford. In all other home games they finished with at least 17. The weather tonight will be foggy but the Fighting Irish are quick enough on offense to score at least three times before the break.

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Marshall has outscored opponents 249-78 in the opening half while UAB is 173-192. Only one team in early starts escaped by losing by less than 12 – MTSU on October 11th (28-17). And the Thundering Herd needs style points to earn a place in New Year's Day bowls so there will be no slowing down for the nation's #2 scoring offense.

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Jamaal Charles is the heart and soul of KC’s offense. After the rough start of the season he’s scored 8 rushing and 2 receiving TDs and is responsible for almost 40% of all Chiefs’ scores. And, BTW, Raiders are his favorite opponent – 9 of his 37 career TDs are against them. And this season Oakland is 11th in most rushing TDs allowed.

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Kent State has not won an opening quarter all season. Even against Army in their only win this season. They are definitely the worst running team in MAC and 124th in FBS. And in the snow storm in Buffalo all passes will be an adventure. Throw in the uncertainty at QB (Colin Reardon and Nathan Strock had been interchanged in the last two games and in both occasions the team started playing OK on offense only in the second half) and Kent State and you’ll understand why the Golden Flashes are the only winless team in the conference. Finally: this season Kent State has been outscored 84-23 in the opening period while Buffalo is even at 73-73.

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Northern Illinois have trailed after first quarter in MAC play this season only once – on October 10th against Central Michigan. But led in every game away from home. Ohio has won the first quarter only twice all season – against 1-9 Sun Belt Idaho and against 3-7 Buffalo.

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The weather forecast for tonight is awful: -10 with a chance of snow and winds of 31 km/h. In such conditions every pass is an adventure and moving the ball on the ground is a priority. Both teams are among the worst in MAC – Akron is 10th out of 13 (109th nationally) with 116.2 YPG, and Massachusetts is 11th (114th in FBS) with 108.3. Points will be hard to come tonight.

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Titans were held scoreless in the first four games of the season. That’s when Jake Locker was the QB. After his benching Charlie Whitehurst and Zach Mettenberger engineered a scoring drive in the first quarter. On a positive trend and facing a little banged Steelers’ secondary let’s hope Titans prolong the streak.

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Browns are for real, there’s no doubt. They made Andy Dalton look like a rookie last week and today they’ll face QB Ryan Mallet making his first NFL start. Houston will be without top RB Arian Foster and Alfred Blue is not exactly best suited for the expected cold weather. Cleveland will welcome back DEs Desmond Bryant and Billy Wynn and hope to be able to control the line if scrimmage.

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Dwayne Allen is a very interesting case. He has caught just 26 passes in previous 9 games but have scored 7 TDs. And more than half of them are less than 10 yards in length. That said Allen is a great redzone weapon. Combine that with the heavy New England LBs that are good against the run but struggle against the pass and you have a favorable match-up.

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KC is the only team in NFL that hasn’t given up a rushing TD all season. Unfortunately they are facing the team with the most TDs on the ground with 14. Marshawn Lynch is responsible for 9 of them (including 4 last week against NY Giants) and as a dual threat he also has caught 3 TD passes.

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Matt Forte is Chicago’s leading rusher. Matt Forte is Chicago’s reception leader. Matt Forte is tied for first among Bears in TDs scored this season. In cold weather (temperatures will not climb above zero and there’s a chance for snow) running the ball takes center stage.

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Lost in the frenzy surrounding Peyton Manning is the fact that RBs have scored 9 TDs so far. Top target Ronnie Hillman is out with a foot injury and the question is: who will take his carries near the goal line? Montee Ball is back from a groin injury fresh and hungry and hopefully ends his two-month long TD drought.

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Bengals are a far cry from last year defensive unit mainly due to injuries but because of a rookie coordinator. Two things they are extremely bad against is stopping the run and covering tight ends. Mark Ingram is the only healthy back for the Saints so he’ll have to carry the load and probably the rock to the endzone. BTW, there are only three teams that have allowed more rushing TDs than the Bengals.

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Bengals are a far cry from last year defensive unit mainly due to injuries but because of a rookie coordinator. Two things they are extremely bad against is stopping the run and covering tight ends. Guess what? Jimmy Graham is finally healthy and scored in three consecutive games. Perfect time to extend the streak to four.

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I usually don’t bet on SEC as in my opinion they do not comply with NCAA rules and are basically semi-pro teams. But there’s one very appealing stat – since 2001 Alabama has scored no TDs in the first quarter of the game following the meeting with LSU! Miss St has lost only one first quarter all season and if the Bama streak holds this one is a sure bet.

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A win tonight and MTSU will go bowling. Blue Raiders are 5-4 (4-1 in C-USA) and all their losses have come against teams with winning records – Minnesota (7-2), Memphis (6-3), Marshall (9-0) and BYU (5-4). FIU is already out of the picture at 3-7 and on a four-game losing streak after allowing 10 unanswered points in the last 90 seconds at Old Dominion. Like they say “Bad teams always find a way to lose”. BTW, MTSU can’t take the game lightly as there’s still a mathematical possibility that there will be too many bowl eligible teams in C-USA and 6-6 will not guarantee a berth.

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This is probably the last chance for Rutgers to become bowl eligible in their first season in Big Ten. Scarlet Knights lost three straight games by a combined score of 41-135 but they were against three ranked teams – Ohio State, Nebraska and Wisconsin. Now after a bye week they face a team that once was explosive on offense but after QB Nate Sudfeld went down with a shoulder injury on October 11th has thrown for 103 yards. Combined!!! Rutgers are terrible against the run and a little erratic on offense but I’ll bet that the good QB Gary Nova will show up in his final home game.

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I’ve been riding Marshall all season but this time I’ll switch sides. I don’t think Rice wins today. But don’t forget the C-USA title game in 2013. The same Marshall team was destroyed 41-24. Rice is on a six-games winning streak and already bowl eligible. They will need a lot of help (three wins and a loss by Louisiana Tech at Old Dominion) to win the West division but at 6-3 (4-1 in C-USA) the small Harvard as they are known is allowing just 2.5 YPC in league play. They also held four of the last five opponents to less than 265 yards on offense. The streak will end but not without a fight. And there’s never been a difference of more than 13 points in Marshall’s wins in the series.

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USC has scored an opening quarter TD in all nine games this season. Cal did it six times so far but in matches they didn’t Bears committed a turnover. USC has outscored its opponents 108-20 in Q1, for Cal the score is 80-66. It’s easy why the over is the attractive bet, isn’t it?

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This is like an elimination game. Both teams are 5-4 and while the winner will be holding the second wild card in AFC the loser will need a lot of help and a minor miracle to make the playoffs. Bills are on a three-game winning streak against the Dolphins during which they limited the opponents to 31 points in total. Miami lost starting LT Brandon Albert to a season-ending knee injury and with LG Daryn College uncertain (he didn’t practice this week at all because of a bad back) it may become a long day for QB Ryan Tannehill against the #1 defense in sacks. CB Cortland Finnegan is also out which means a start for Jamar Taylor who is yet to record a defended pass in his NFL career!