Tuesday gives us more than just playoff baseball, as the betting slate today gives us a little college football. The good ole Conference USA and Sun Belt are sending us two intriguing matchups with Coastal Carolina taking on App State and Liberty playing Jacksonville State.
I've dug into each game and have found a couple of edges to exploit. Here are 2 best bets for October 10. Good luck!
Liberty @ Jacksonville State UNDER 57.5
The Flames are 5-0 after defeating Sam Houston State last week 21-16. It was not enough to cover but still a win is a win. Quinton Cooley ran for 106 yards and a score while CJ Daniels caught 5 balls for 157 yards and a score.
The Flames led 21-10 at the break but failed to score in the 2nd half. The defense stepped up and held the Bearkats to 4-14 on 3rd down and kept them under 75 rushing yards. Offensively they finished with almost 450 total yards while averaging closer to 500 on the season.
Jacksonville State dropped 45 points last week and defeated the Blue Raiders of Middle Tennessee State by 15 whiles being slight underdogs last week. Zion Webb threw for 186 yards and 2 touchdowns and added 101 yards on the ground and another score. Malik Jackson is still leading the way for the Gamecocks on the ground with 93 yards per game.
Both defenses have been good all year. Liberty has been allowing just 18ppg and Jacksonville State has been a bit better at 17.5ppg. Combined, they are averaging over 66ppg, but the total is closer to 56.
We expect these defenses to continue to play tough and keep this game low scoring. If the offenses are going to be successful, it will likely be on the ground where the time of possession should be grinded out, again favoring the under.
Key Betting Trends for Liberty at Jacksonville State
- The total has gone UNDER in 8 of Liberty's last 12 games.
- The total has gone UNDER in 3 of Liberty's last 4 games.
- The total has gone UNDER in 7 of Jacksonville State's last 10 games.
- The total has gone UNDER in all 3 of Jacksonville State’s home games this season.
Coastal Carolina +5.5 over Appalachian State
It has been a letdown of a season through the early part for the Chanticleers to this point. They are coming off back-to-back losses to Georgia State and Georgia Southern. The good news this week is that they are out of the state of Georgia and in North Carolina for this one against App State.
They had a bye last week and should be well prepared for this contest. Grayson McCall has been moving the offense with 260 yards per game but has tossed 6 interceptions for his same number of touchdowns. The defense is still allowing almost 24ppg which ranks them 96th in the country.
The Mountaineers have been trading wins for losses all season. They won their last matchup in a grandiose fashion as they came from behind and won on a Michael Hughes 54-yard game winning field goal over ULM. They have been one of the best teams on 3rd down with a 47.4% conversion rate.
They are 32nd in the country in scoring with 36.4ppg which is good enough for 32nd in the countries. That said, they have struggled defensively and are allowing almost 31ppg. Nate Noel has been their bell cow and is averaging over 130 yards per game on the ground and has 4 touchdowns to this point.
This is a perfect spot for Grayson McCall to get right after this early part of the year. He should be able to throw all over this weak Mountaineer defense and the Chanticleer defense should have a solid game plan to slow down Noel and the App St rushing attack. That said, we still are going to need these points to cover this one.
Key Betting Trends for CC at App State
- CC is 2-1 in their last 3 games against Appalachian State.
- App St is 3-7 ATS in their last 10 games at home.
- App St is 1-10 ATS in their last 11 games against an opponent in the Sun Belt conference.
