The Marshall Thundering Herd will travel down to Boca Raton to square-off with the Florida Atlantic Owls in some Conference USA football action. The contest is scheduled to get underway on Friday, November 3rd at 6 p.m. EST and can be seen on the CBS Sports Network. As of this write-up, the Owls are a -7.5 point favorite over the Thundering Herd. Currently, the game’s total rests at 66.5 which is only a half a point down from where it opened at.
The Marshall Thundering Herd are entering this match-up in Florida after a horrible performance last week against the Florida International Panthers. In that game, the Thundering Herd came in as home favorites and came out with a 41-30 defeat. Now, Marshall sits 3-1 in conference play and 6-2 overall.
The Florida Atlantic Owls will be looking for the fifth-straight win when they face-off against the Thundering Herd on Friday. In their last battle, the Owls toppled Western Kentucky to the tune of 42-28 on the road. As a result, they remained undefeated in the conference at 4-0 and sport an overall record of 5-3.
Marshall Thundering Herd (6-2)
The Marshall Thundering Herd’s five-game win streak came to a screeching halt when the Panthers handed them a loss at home. Their usually reliable defense allowed Florida Atlantic to rack-up 41 points. They were only allowing 16 points a game to their previous three opponents. It wasn’t all the defenses fault as the offense committed three turnovers and continually put them against a wall.
Quarterback Chase Litton wasn’t bad but some of his decisions cost his club dearly. Against the Panthers, Litton tossed the ball for 363 yards with three touchdowns and two picks. Unfortunately, one of those interceptions went for six points. In 2017, the signal-caller has tossed for 1,913 yards with 16 scoring strikes and five interceptions. He also has an overall quarterback rating of 134.8 and a 61 percent completion percentage.
Two running backs use a combination of speed and strength to matriculate the ball down the field for the Herd. Keion Davis and Tyler King have pitched-in just over 1,000 yards rushing and eight trips to glory. Both backs have carried the ball about 100 times and both boast a little over five yards per rush average. Davis leads the team with 518 yards and King is tops with five trips to pay-dirt.
Quarterback Chase Litton spreads the ball around rather nicely on gameday. Four different pass-catchers receive a lot of attention from their leader under center. Together, the four wideouts have collected over 1,600 yards receiving and 16 scores. Tyre Brady leads this group with 47 catches for 694 yards and seven touchdowns. Even with his impressive production, all four of the receivers have caught at least two touchdowns or more.
Defensively, Marshall had been doing a good job of containing their adversaries offenses. Like mentioned above, the defense had been limiting them to only 16 points a game over the last three contests. After their 41 point let-down last week, the Thundering Herd still sit a 15th in the country in total points against (17.6). The front seven has done an outstanding job at getting pressure on quarterbacks. As of now, Marshall sits second in the conference with 23 sacks.
Florida Atlantic Owls (5-3)
The Florida Atlantic Owls have been on a roll ever since conference play began. Consequently, they have won all for Conference USA games so far and have outscored their foes 51 to 26 in those games. They also are coming off a 42-28 road victory over the Hilltoppers, thanks to outscoring the Hilltoppers 22-0 in the 4th quarter.
The Owls’ offense is starting to click on all cylinders and them scoring on 11 straight possessions in their 69-31 steamrolling of North Texas two weeks back. Quarterback Jason Driskel took over the starting gig after the second game of the season. So far, he has proved to head coach Lane Kiffin that it was the right thing to do. In six games at the helm, Driskel has thrown for just under 900 yards with four touchdowns and three picks.
The passing game takes a back seat to the Owls powerful rushing attack. Leading the way is the best runner in Conference USA and one of the tops in the nation. Devin Singletary has toted the rock 159 times on the year for 1,053 yards and an amazing 18 touchdowns. His 18 scores with his feet are also the best in the country. Teammate Gregory Howell III is a nice change of pace. He adds 526 yards and another three touchdowns to the mix.
No Owls wide receiver has reeling stood out as the go-to guy for Jason Driskel. Instead, four athletes work together to help balance the offense as best as they can. Combined, the foursome has brought in 84 balls for almost 1,200 yards and eight trips to the promised land. Three of the four receivers have an average reception of over 13 yards a catch.
The Florida Atlantic defense hasn’t been exactly dominant through their first eight games of the season. In fact, they are letting schools score an average of 26.8 points a game on them (69th). With that being said, their secondary does have one of the best cornerbacks in the division. Chris Tooley has picked off four passes from opposing quarterbacks in 2017.
Prediction
Las Vegas has the Owls as a -7.5 point favorite at home for this match-up against the Marshall Thundering Herd. I suspect it’s because of their four-game winning streak and the tons of points that their offense is producing. Also, the Herd is coming off a horrible performance at home against the Panthers in which they were favored to win. Either way, the half point hook scares me here because I don’t think Chase Litton will have another bad performance. Plus, Marshall’s defense should do their part to somewhat contain the powerful running game of the Owls.
Line setters also have this over/under at 66.5 points which sounds about right to me. Florida Atlantic has definitely shown the ability to score in bunches. I don’t think the steady Marshall defense is even going to hold them under 30 points. Furthermore, Chase Litton has done great this year and the Owls’ defense hasn’t been able to contain anybody in 2017. These two combinations should produce enough points for this game’s total to hit the over in the fourth-quarter. Take the over 66.5 and skip the spread. #moneytreesgrow @EriktheHun
Trends
The Thundering Herd are 6-2 ATS in their last 8 games overall.
The Thundering Herd are 4-9 ATS in their last 13 conference games.
The Under is 20-6 in the Thundering Herd last 26 conference games.
The Owls are 4-0 ATS in their last 4 conference games.
The Owls are 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games overall.
The Over is 7-1 in the Owls last 8 conference games.
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