NCAAF Pick: Marshall -10 (-110) at BetOnline (visit our BetOnline Review)
UConn was one of this year’s biggest surprises in college football, winning more games than in the last 4 seasons combined. The Huskies return to a bowl for the first time since 2015. Coach Jim Mora took over a 1-11 team and went 6-6 in his first year at the helm.
Now, the Huskies will try to finish with a winning record for the first time since 2010. Their opponent, Marshall, enters at 8-4 and will try to snap a three-bowl losing streak.
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Marshall Thundering Herd vs. UConn Huskies
Monday, December 19, 2022 – 02:30 PM EST at Brooks Stadium
Preview
The Myrtle Beach Bowl will host one of the first games of this year’s Bowl Season, and it will be a matchup of a perennial bowl team and one of this season’s biggest surprises.
Coach Jim Mora took over a UConn team that finished 1-11 last year and promptly turned things around. The Huskies have won more games this year than in the previous 4 years combined. In fact, since UConn’s last bowl, following the 2015 season, the Huskies had won a total of just 10 games heading into this year.
They went 6-6 in Mora’s first year at the helm and will now try to finish with a winning record for the first time since the 2010 season.
UConn’s opponent in their last bowl, in 2015, was Marshall, and the Thundering Herd have been a more consistent visitor to the postseason. Marshall has gone to a bowl every year but one since 2013.
The Herd finished this season 8-4, 5-3 in the Sun Belt and enters on a four-game winning streak. They hope that will help them snap a three-bowl losing streak dating to 2018.
UConn Do It
UConn is in its second year as an independent, meaning the team had to build a schedule from scratch, which included some tough road trips early in the season. The Huskies opened 1-4, including 3 straight losses to Power Five teams - home against Syracuse and at Michigan and North Carolina State.
The combined score of those losses was 148-24, and it appeared that another 1-11 debacle was on the docket.
Instead, Mora rallied his team, pointing out that most other teams in the country were starting their conference schedules at that point, and were 0-0 in the conference. So, he invented his own conference and reset the team’s record for the last 7 games.
Sure enough, the players responded, going 5-2. Mora gave out “UConn-ference champions” t-shirts last week.
After injuries cost UConn starting quarterback Ta'Quan Roberson and leading rusher Nathan Carter, the Huskies have been led by a pair of freshmen on offense in quarterback Zion Turner and running back Victor Rosa. Turner has been a dual threat, while Rosa has combined with sophomore Devontae Houston for more than 1,000 rushing yards.
Running Wild
Marshall has had a balanced offensive attack for much of the season, but the running game appears to be peaking as the year winds down. Rasheen Ali who set the team’s freshman rushing record in 2021, missed the first 10 games of the season with an injury. He stepped back in after returning and didn’t miss a beat.
He led the team in rushing in his first game back. In his absence, senior running back Khalan Laborn has ranked 13th in the country in rushing with 1,400 yards and 16 touchdowns. The duo each produced a 100-yard game in the regular season finale, and they’ll look to control the clock for the Herd in the bowl game.
Cam Fancher took over as quarterback midway through the season and has already produced the fourth-best quarterback rushing season in school history, so his dual-threat ability adds to the team’s running attack.
The team’s stifling defense is also paired well with a powerful ground game. Marshall ranks in the top 20 nationally in scoring defense and leads the country in the lowest third-down conversion rate on defense.
The Picks
It’s been a magical season for UConn, but the Huskies enter at a disadvantage, talent-wise.
Marshall should be able to keep the Huskies in check with one of the country’s best defenses and put together long drives that will wear down the UConn D with a solid 1-2-3 punch on the ground.
Look for the Herd to pull away at the best US betting sites.
NCAAF Pick: Marshall -10 (-110) at BetOnline
NCAAF Pick: Under 41 (-110) at BetOnline
*The line and/or odds on picks in this article might have moved since the content was commissioned. For updated line movements, visit BMR’s free betting odds product.
