San Jose State Spartans (7-0) vs Ball State Cardinals (6-1)
Thursday, December 31, 2020 at 2:00 pm
At 2 pm, our selection is on the Ball State Cardinals + the points over San Jose State. Both teams come into this game off big upset wins in their respective conference championship game. Ball State claimed the Mid-American Conference title with a 38-28 upset of Buffalo, as 12-point underdogs. And that was Ball State's sixth straight win, and fourth straight ATS win. Likewise, the undefeated (7-0) Spartans won the Mountain West Conference for the first time in their history when they upset Boise State, 34-20, as a 6.5-point underdog in the title game. Unfortunately, .500 (or better) Mountain West favorites have been dreadful vs. .500 (or better) non-conference foes when both teams entered the game off a SU win, as the Mountain West has cashed just 25 of 80 games. That doesn't bode well for San Jose today. Nor does the fact that bowl favorites of more than 6 points have gone 0-6 ATS off an upset win in their conference title game. Or that .850 (or better) bowl underdogs of +7 (or more) points have cashed 69% in the bowls since 1980 against foes off SU/ATS wins. But the clincher is that .800 (or better) bowl teams off an upset win (like Ball State) have gone 12-0 ATS their last 12 when not favored by more than 4 points. Take the Cardinals. Good luck, as always...Al McMordie.
Al’s Pick Ball State Cardinals: +10 -110
AUTHOR: Al McMordie
