2009 New Orleans Bowl Middle Tennessee vs. Southern Miss Picks & Predictions

Last Updated on December 20, 2009 12:00 pm by drew

New Orleans Bowl Pick

The 2009
New Orleans Bowl takes place from the Superdome Sunday night at 8:30PM ET when Southern Mississippi faces

Middle
Tennessee
State.

Bet The New Orleans Bowl
The Blue Raiders are 9-3 this season and 9-3 against the point spread. Middle

Tennessee has won and covered in its last six games, finishing second in the Sun Belt Conference. All three betting losses came in games where the Blue Raiders were underdogs.

Southern Miss is 7-5 on the season and 6-5 against the point spread odds. The Golden Eagles have won two of their last three, and covered in three straight. All five losses for Southern Miss this year came on the road.
Oddsmakers from online sports book SBGGLOBAL have made Southern Miss 3.5-point favorites over

Middle
Tennessee
State on Sunday night. The over/under total for this game has been established at 59.

Middle
Tennessee
State has a solid offense that is scoring 31.2 points per-game. Quarterback Dwight Dasher has thrown for 2,627 yards with 21 touchdowns, but also has 14 interceptions. The tandem of Dasher and D.D. Kyles have combined for 1,775 yards rushing and 14 touchdowns on the year. The Golden Eagles are giving up 24.5 points per-game, but have a solid run defense that is holding opponents to just 121.5 yards per-game on the ground.

Southern Miss is scoring 33 points per-game thanks to a solid rushing attack, led by Damion Fletcher, who has 937 yards and eight touchdowns. Tory Harrison also has 626 rushing yards and eight touchdowns. The Blue Raiders have the top scoring defense in the Sun Belt, limiting opponents to 23 points per-game. They lead the conference in team interceptions with 17.

One of the keys to look at in this pick is that Southern Miss doesn’t turn the ball over much. Quarterback Martevious Young has just one interception with 13 touchdowns passes on the season. While the Blue Raiders have a lot of interceptions, they may not be able to force Young into making bad throws if they can’t stop the Eagles’ running game. For Southern Miss, they have to make Dasher a passing quarterback and not let him get outside the pocket for big runs. That will especially be key on third downs. We feel that the Golden Eagles will be up to the challenge defensively and will keep Dasher and the Blue Raiders in check in order to win by more than a field goal. We suggest a pick of Southern Miss with the under.

Our New Orleans Bowl Free Pick for this matchup is: SOUTHERN MISS -3.5 and UNDER 59.
College Football Bowl Season Betting Trends
Middle Tennessee is 5-0 ATS in its last 5 games

Middle

Tennessee is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games

Southern Miss is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games

Southern Miss is 12-5 SU in its last 17 games

Middle
Tenn
State:

8-1 ATS off win by 17+ points

6-0 ATS second half of season

Southern Miss:

18-6 Under off road loss

6-1 Under off SU loss/ATS win

Bowl Season College Football Injury Report
MIDDLE TENN ST

No significant injuries.

SOUTHERN MISS

[DL] 09/10/2009 – Willie Parker out for season ( Eligibility ) 

[QB] 10/04/2009 – Austin Davis out for season ( Ankle ) 

[DE] 10/15/2009 – Roshaad Byrd out for season ( Ankle ) 

[DB] 10/22/2009 – Michael McGee out for season ( Knee ) 

[WR] 11/14/2009 – Justin Jordan out indefinitely ( Disciplinary ) 
New Orleans Bowl Odds
Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders +3.5 Over 59 (+155)

Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles -3.5 Under 59 (-175)
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Posted: 12/20/09 12:00PM ET