Michael Cannon
Wednesday's Plays...
20 Dime ?
CENTRAL MICHIGAN
Take the points with Central Michigan tonight in the Motor City Bowl over Purdue.
Now, these two teams met earlier this season and Purdue rolled to a 45-22 win as a 21 ?-point chalk. The Boilermakers were up 38-0 at the half before the Chippewas made any noise.
So why would I back Central Michigan if they couldn?t cover a 21 ?-point impost earlier this year against Purdue, especially if the line is single-digits tonight?
Simple. Central Michigan is going to have the motivational edge here, first of all having revenge, but mainly because they have picked up three decisive wins on this field over the past 12 months, a pair of MAC Championship games and last year?s 31-14 bowl romp over Middle Tennessee.
Purdue closed the regular season with three consecutive losses, stayed on campus through December, and takes a bus ride to Detroit over the Christmas Holiday.
Sounds more like a punishment than a reward, doesn?t it?
The Boilermakers will also be fighting to get the rust off tonight, as they last played on November 17, while the Chippewas played on December 1.
Look, I know Central Michigan doesn?t have much of a defense and it?s going to take everything they have just to keep Purdue from marching up and down the field, but Purdue?s secondary isn?t anything special either, ranking 73rd in the nation.
Central Michigan?s Dan LeFevour is an outstanding quarterback and can lead the Chippewas to several scores himself. He became just the second quarterback in college history to rush for over 1,000 yards and pass for more than 3,000 yards in one season.
The other one? Vince Young.
Pretty special company there for LeFevour.
Purdue is 1-6 SU and 2-5 ATS in its last seven bowl games.
MAC bowlers are 10-3 ATS off a straight up win, and the Chippewas are 11-3 SU and 10-4 ATS in games off a SU double-digit win (they beat Miami, OH by 25 in the league championship game).
Take the points as LeFevour leads the charge and keeps the Chippewas within the number tonight.
10 Dime ?
HORNETS
Take the Hornets as the small road chalk tonight over the Grizzlies.
Memphis isn?t good enough to stay this close at home against New Orleans, especially since the Hornets will welcome back Peja Stojakovic to the lineup.
The Grizzlies had to make some adjustments while Pau Gasol was sidelined with a toe injury. Hakim Warrick and Casey Jacobsen were getting more minutes, while Rudy Gay shifted to power forward.
Now that Gasol is back, they can get back to normal but Gay looked liked he was struggling, scoring 19 points before fouling out for the third time this year and second time in the last four.
If the Hornets make Gay a point of defensive emphasis, look for him to struggle again tonight.
The Grizzlies aren?t good enough to overcome that, even at home.
Lay the small number with the Hornets as they grab the road win and cover.
5 Dime ?
PISTONS
Take the Pistons as the road chalk over the Nets.
Detroit throttled New Jersey 118-95 earlier this month at Auburn Hills.
There?s not much that?s changed between these two since that game, except that the Nets will be at home tonight. That doesn?t really translate into an advantage, since the Nets have been a terrible spread team at home, going just 3-10-1 ATS in their first 14 games at East Rutherford.
Detroit is 4-1 ATS in the last five meetings and 5-2 ATS in the last seven in New Jersey.
The Pistons are just a far superior team and should walk away with an easy win and cover.
Take Detroit minus the points.
