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4 UNITS NHL Boston Puck-Line 1.5 (+143)
4 UNITS NHL Boston Puck-Line 1.5 (+143)
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David Banks
Saturday December 24, 2011 (8PM ET)
Nevada Wolf Pack vs. Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles
Christmas Eves lone bowl game has the Nevada Wolf Pack (7-5, 5-7 ATS) and Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles (11-2, 8-4-1 ATS) squaring off in beautiful Honolulu in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl; kick-off from Aloha Stadium is set to go live on ESPN & ESPN3.com at 8:00 ET.
Off one of the best seasons Nevada ever had a year ago when it went 13-1 SU and beat Boston College in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl, the Wolf Pack were once again expected to win the WAC with Boise State bolting for the Mountain West Conference. Head coach Chris Aults kids almost lived up to the lofty expectations by churning out a 5-2 SU record (1-6 ATS), but Week 11s home loss to Louisiana Tech saw them just come up short. Even though Colin Kaepernick moved onto the NFL, Nevadas Pistol Offense still took care of business racking up an average of 522.8 YPG (#5) while scoring an average of 32.9 PPG (#31). QBs Cody Fajardo and Tyler Lantrip both had exceptional campaigns throwing for a combined 3143 yards and 16 TDs, while RB Mark Lampford was the teams leading rusher with 728 yards on 5.6 yards per carry. The problem came on the defensive side of the ball where the Wolf Pack surrendered 372 YPG (#52) and 25.2 PPG (#58). Nevada went just 2-4 SU & ATS in its six road games played away from Mackay Stadium.
Last we saw the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles, they dominated the then undefeated Houston Cougars in the CUSA Championship Game. Southern Miss went off the board lofty 12-point underdogs in that contest, but went out and took it to Case Keenum and the Cougars winning outright by a 49-28 final count. Unfortunately, the Golden Eagles 11-2 SU campaign did not go without notice as the North Carolina Tar Heels came a calling and hired Larry Fedora to become their next head coach. Still, this is a very proud and experienced program making the trip to the islands led by senior QB Austin Davis who had himself one heck of a season throwing for 3331 yards and 28 TDs. He was the ringleader of an offense that gained an average of 471 yards (#13) and scored an average of 37.8 PPG (#14). Defensively, the Golden Eagles had problems defending the pass (#70 at 232.7 YPG) but proved stout in defending the run (#20 at 112.6 YPG) while giving up an average of 21.1 PPG (#29). Southern Mississippi won and covered five of its seven road games.
These programs opposed one another twice in the late 90s with Southern Miss winning each contest both straight up and against the closing number. The Wolf Pack stand 3-2 SU but just 0-4-1 ATS when playing on two or more weeks of rest and have failed to cover each of their last four bowl game appearances; they do however check in 5-1 ATS their L/6 as underdogs. Southern Miss has failed to win or cover each of its L/2 neutral field battles, but owns a perfect 4-0 ATS mark versus the L/4 +.500 opponents faced and have covered each of the previous five times it played off a 20+ point win.
PICK: Nevada / Southern Mississippi OVER 62.5 PointsComment
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Master Sports
CBB:
GOM: 763 - West Virginia +5.5 vs. Baylor at 9pmEST ESPN
strong - PITTSBURGH -11.5 vs. Wagner at 8pmEST ESPNU
strong - UCLA -7 vs. Richmond at 9pmEST FOX Prime Ticket
like - Utep +10.5 at KANSAS STATE at 5:30pmEST ESPNU
like - GEORGE MASON -7 vs. Manhattan at 7pmEST no TVComment
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