by Chuck Sommers
Sunday, Nov 20, 2022
42-yardTime: 7 p.m. ET
Venue: Peden Stadium, Athens, OH
Where to watch: ESPNU
Opening Odds at USA Sportsbooks
DraftKings: NL
FanDuel: Ohio -10.5
BetMGM: NL
Caesars: NL
Season record
Bowling Green: 6-5 (5-2 MAC)
Ohio: 8-3 (6-1 MAC)
The college football fun never stops and we're inching closer to conference championship season. A lot of big games are still to be determined in who will play whom and where, and our top-notch handicappers have been at the forefront for the last month or so providing you with the winners you need to head into December with some confidence in your pocket. How can you be so sure? Of course you have to look at the likes of Kyle Hunter going 20-8-0 over the last 30 days, as well as Will Rogers at 22-14-0 over the last month. What about Vegas Writer? He's sitting at 12-6-1 over the last 30 days since joining our team of champion handicappers that has been killing it everywhere this year. You see the success rate. You need to be on board to join our guys who can get you where you need to go for the homestretch of the college football season. Make sure you're keeping tabs here at bigal.com to find out what our champion handicappers are thinking in all sports!
Bowling Green - Ohio preview, analysis and prediction
Last week
Bowling Green: won 42-35 at Toledo
Ohio: won 32-18 at Ball State
The winner of this game will be going on to the Mac championship game. If you had told me earlier this year that the Bowling Green Falcons would be considered the team to be going to said conference title game, I probably wouldn't have believed you. But they are here with a 5-2 conference record and are on the cusp of playing for a conference title. The only team standing in their way of that feat has been the best team in the conference all season long, the Ohio Bobcats.
The winner of this game will be going on to the Mac championship game. If you had told me earlier this year that the Bowling Green Falcons would be considered the team to be going to said conference title game, I probably wouldn't have believed you. But they are here with a 5-2 conference record and are on the cusp of playing for a conference title. The only team standing in their way of that feat has been the best team in the conference all season long, the Ohio Bobcats.
Whoever wins this game is likely bound to be facing the Toledo Rockets in the conference title game as the winners of the east division. Bowling Green has won five of six coming into this game and is coming off a 42-35 victory over Toledo last week. As the snow rained down in Toledo, it was the Falcons coming away with the game-winning play. Matt McDonald threw a 42 yard touchdown pass to Ta’ron Keith with nine seconds remaining, with Keith also catching the two-point conversion, to win the game.
McDonald actually had a very good game despite the low completion percentage. He threw for 395 yards and four touchdowns. Two of them went to Odieu Hiliare, who caught 8 passes overall for 246 yards. And if you've ever wanted to see what it looks like when the stock market has a sharp crash, go on ESPN and look at the win probability chart in this game because it was absolutely insane.
Bowling Green has definitely turned it around since conference season began. And if you ever needed a true reason as to how, Toledo entered that game as 15-point favorites with the total at just 46 1/2. Clearly, no one thought that the offenses would combine for nearly 1000 total yards and that the Bowling Green defense would force three turnovers, but here we are.
Ohio meanwhile does not want to lose anytime soon and quite frankly I don't think we're going to see them lose at all at this point. The Bobcats won their sixth straight game last Tuesday in a 32-18 victory at Ball State. When we talk about the best teams in this conference, it clearly has to be Ohio with not only how they've been able to win these games but the offense has remained consistent no matter where it's gone. Even if you look at how they fared against Miami-Ohio when quarterback Kurtis Rourke threw for 362 yards, they put up 37 points on the road.
The Ohio quarterback was held to just 169 yards passing on 12 of 16 passing, but the bulk of the work went to Ohio running back Sieh Bangura, who ran it 23 times for 148 yards and two touchdown in what was a dominant effort for three quarters.
We've got two really good quarterbacks playing in this game, and given the magnitude of who actually wants to play for a conference championship, one of them is going to have to take over. Speaking of the over, whatever it is before kickoff I would highly suggest that you lay it very hard on the over because they're going to be a lot of offensive fireworks in this game.
Prediction
At the end of the day, you want to trust the home team who has been the best team in this conference all year long to play for a championship. And Ohio's offense has been so good whether it be passing the ball or running the ball, that it is going to be a high-scoring affair, very entertaining, and Ohio gets the job done. Ohio by 7
Betting trends
Bowling Green 59-57 ATS after 3 straight conference games since 1992.
Bowling Green is 7-10 ATS after a conference game the last 3 years.
Ohio is 11-4 ATS after playing a conference game the last 3 years; 7-0 against conference opponents this year.
Statistical leaders
Bowling Green:
Passing: Matt McDonald -- 2,422 yards, 21 TD, 5 INT
Rushing: Jaison Patterson -- 543 yards, 1 TD
Receiving: Odieu Hiliare -- 696 yards, 6 TD
Ohio:
Passing: Kurtis Rourke -- 3,256 yards, 25 TD, 4 INT
Rushing: Sieh Bangura -- 788 yards, 10 TD
Receiving: Sam Wiglusz -- 794 yards, 10 TD
Don't miss our champion handicappers' free picks and expert football picks today. And if you enjoyed this Bowling Green Falcons - Ohio Bobcats prediction, be sure to drop by every day for our daily college football projections and previews.
Chuck Sommers
About the Author:
Chuck Sommers has camped outside of sportsbooks since he can remember, learning the tricks and nuances of the trade. He still has nightmares of betting $5,000 on the Raiders in the Tuck Rule game but has since turned that to 25 years of veteran handicapping greatness. You can find him mostly in the shadows at the Red Rock or Aliante casinos wondering if the over is cashing on any given Sunday.
