New Orleans Bowl Betting

Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles (7-5) vs. Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders (9-3)
Opening Line: Southern Miss -3.5 / Middle Tenn. State +3.5 O/U 59
Time: 8:30 PM EST Sunday December 20, 2009 on ESPN

The Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles are playing in their 2nd New Orleans Bowl in a row and this season face a Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders team that is hot winning their last 6 games of the season. The Blue Raiders finished 2nd in the Sun Belt Conference behind Troy, who they beat this season. The Golden Eagles played a tougher schedule and were 0-2 against ranked teams this season while the Blue Raiders did not face one ranked opponent during the season.

This season Southern Mississippi was 6-4-1 ATS and Middle Tennessee State was 9-3 ATS.

Middle Tennessee has the nation's 30th in the nation and are led by QB Dwight Dasher (2,627 yds 21 TD), who also led the Blue Raiders in rushing (953 yds 11 TD). He is the key to the offense, as if he has a good game the Blue Raiders will be tough to beat. Dasher can pick up yards on the ground and he has 2 solid WR's in Patrick Honeycutt (36 rec 411 yds 4 TD) and Chris McClover (31 rec 486 yds 4 TD), who each averaged at least 11 yards per reception this season. Dasher may have a huge game in the air since the Southern Miss D, which ranks 77th, only has the nation's 113th ranked passing defense. However, the Golden Eagles are solid at getting to the opposing QB with 34 sacks on the season, which ranked 12th in the nation.

Southern Miss also has a good offense ranked 31st in the nation led by QB Martevious Young (1,590 yds 13 TD 1 INT), who took over the starting duties in the middle of the season. The Golden Eagles' strength on offense is running the ball with the RB duo of Damion Fletcher (937 yds 8 TD) and Tory Harrison (626 yds 9 TD). The Blue Raiders rank 50th on rushing defense, 49th overall, and their main goal will be containing the 2 backs from moving the chains on the ground. The Blue Raiders have a great line, as they led the country with a per-game average of 8.83 tackles for a loss and finishing 4th in sacks with 3.17 per game.