Big Al's Daily Angle: EPL and NCAA Football Preview

by Big Al Staff

Friday, Oct 30, 2020
The Friday sports card features three games in college football and an afternoon match in the English Premier League. Florida International was to play Marshall in college football as well but called the game off given their lack of scholarship players available to play after a COVID outbreak.

The Friday night game on ESPN features a battle of two Big Ten opponents looking to rebound from opening game losses last week.

Minnesota hosted Michigan for the Saturday night prime-time game on ABC but got dominated in a 49-24 loss. The Golden Gophers’ defense only returned five starters from last year while losing five of their top six tacklers from that team. Minnesota was tenth in the nation by allowing 306.6 yards-per-game, yet allowed the Wolverines to generate 478 yards of offense while averaging 8.8 yards-per-play behind Joe Milton's first career start at quarterback. The Golden Gophers allowed 35 points in the first half to the Wolverines.

Maryland was embarrassed last week in Evanston, where they lost to Northwestern by a 43-3 score. They surrendered 537 yards to a Wildcats’ offense was 123rd in the nation last year. Northwestern ran the ball 53 times for 325 yards against the Terrapins. Maryland has five starters on defense back that was 109th by allowing 449.2 yards-per-game with 177.9 of those yards coming on the ground.

Maryland was only 3-9 last season, but they have bowl aspirations in Locksley’s second year with the program with twelve starters back. The Terrapins lost all three of their games decided by one scoring possession while losing 36 starts from the first-string to injuries last season. Minnesota has 13 starters back from Fleck’s 11-2 team defeated Auburn in the Outback Bowl by a 31-24 score.

BetOnline lists the Golden Gophers as a 19.5-point road favorite with the total set at 61. The ESPN broadcast begins at 7:30 PM ET. 

At 9:30 PM ET, East Carolina travels to Tulsa to play the Golden Hurricane. The Pirates are 1-3 this season after losing at home to Navy by a 27-23 score back on October 17th. Tulsa raised their record to a 2-1 mark with their 42-13 victory at South Florida last Saturday. 

The Golden Hurricane are 17-point favorites with an over/under of 61. ESPN2 has the broadcast.

At 9:45 PM ET, Wyoming hosts Hawai’i. The Cowboys lost their opening game of the season last week with a 37-34 upset loss in overtime at Nevada. The Rainbow Warriors began their season last Saturday with a 34-19 upset victory at Fresno State, where they were 2.5-point underdogs. 

Wyoming is a 1-point favorite with a total of 59. FS1 broadcasts the game.

Match week 7 of the English Premier League begins on Friday with Crystal Palace traveling to Wolverhampton. The Wolves are -1 goal line favorites with a total of 2. The NBC Sports Network broadcasts the game at 4 PM ET.

All photographic images used for editorial content have been licensed from the Associated Press.

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