{"id":9989,"date":"2010-12-30T00:07:31","date_gmt":"2010-12-30T00:07:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/?p=9989"},"modified":"2010-12-30T00:07:31","modified_gmt":"2010-12-30T00:07:31","slug":"capital-one-bowl-alabama-vs-michigan-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/2010\/12\/capital-one-bowl-alabama-vs-michigan-state\/","title":{"rendered":"Capital One Bowl: Alabama vs. Michigan State"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s not the national championship. It\u2019s not even a BCS bowl. The Alabama Crimson Tide therefore have to be disappointed with playing in the Capital One Bowl. But they have a quality opponent in Michigan State and a chance to make a statement, so sports betting<\/a><\/span> fans could get treated to a fun game.<\/p>\n

(15) Alabama Crimson Tide (9-3) vs (7) Michigan State Spartans (11-1)<\/p>\n

Saturday, January 1, 1:00 p.m. ET<\/p>\n

The favorite: Alabama -10<\/p>\n

Over\/Under: 52<\/p>\n

Alabama won\u2019t be satisfied with its 9-3 record but such is life in the SEC. The defending national champs\u2019 three losses came to three other excellent teams: South Carolina, LSU and Auburn. The first two came on the road and the last loss to Auburn came in a game Alabama led 27-0 before Heisman Trophy winner Cameron Newton took over.<\/p>\n

Alabama found itself overvalued against the college football betting<\/a><\/span> spread in big games this year; the Crimson Tide are 1-4 ATS over their last five games against teams with winning records. However, they\u2019re 5-0 ATS in their last five non-conference matchups, so the previous stat once again reflects the hardship of playing in the SEC. Alabama is 1-4 ATS over its last five games when favored by 3.5 to 10 points.<\/p>\n

The Crimson Tide tend to crank up the offense in bowl games; their last four bowl affairs have gone OVER the \u00a0total. The over is also 6-1-1 in \u2019Bama\u2019s last eight matchups against non-conference opponents.<\/p>\n

Though Michigan State is 5-1 against the spread over its last six against teams with winning records, it\u2019s just 3-8 ATS over its last 11 contests as an underdog. The Spartans are 1-5 ATS over their last six as a dog of 3.5 to 10 points.<\/p>\n

Five of the Spartans\u2019 last seven games have gone UNDER the betting<\/a><\/span> total but six of their last seven non-conference affairs have gone over the total. The overall trends for the Capital One bowl seem to be pointing toward offense over defense.<\/p>\n

Statistically, Alabama still flirted with elite status this season. It has the country\u2019s No. 6 overall defense, ranking 11th<\/sup> against the pass, 23rd<\/sup> against the run and fifth with just 14.1 points allowed per game. Mark Ingram\u2019s followup to his Heisman Trophy-winning 2009 season was marred by injuries and inconsistency so Alabama\u2019s rushing offense slipped to 36th<\/sup>. Greg McElroy had a productive season as a passer, however, and the Crimson Tide averaged 260.3 yards through the air per game (28th<\/sup>).<\/p>\n

Michigan State matches up as a well-rounded but underwhelming opponent, ranking 38th<\/sup> in total offense (408.5 yard per game) and 26th<\/sup> in defense (329.8 yards). Thanks to quarterback Kirk Cousins and running back Edwin Baker, both of whom were effective this year, the Spartans are 43rd<\/sup> in passing and 41st<\/sup> in rushing.<\/p>\n

Michigan\u2019s greatest strength is run defense. The Spartans allow 114 yards per game this year, good for 20th<\/sup> in the nation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s not the national championship. It\u2019s not even a BCS bowl. The Alabama Crimson Tide therefore have to be disappointed with playing in the Capital One Bowl. But they have a quality opponent in Michigan State and a chance to make a statement, so sports betting fans could get treated to a fun game. (15) … Continue reading Capital One Bowl: Alabama vs. Michigan State<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports_betting_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9989"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9989\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9992,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9989\/revisions\/9992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joeduffy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}