Back Purdue On Football Point Spread Against Ball State

Saturday, September 18th offers up the largest slate of bet on football action to date in the 2010-11 college football season! One of the games offered up is this non-conference clash set to go from Ross-Ade Stadium where the Purdue Boilermakers will look to send the Ball State Cardinals back home with their tails between their legs.

Ball State Cardinals vs. Purdue Boilermakers

Game Date/Time: Saturday, September 18th, 12:00 ET
Game Location: Ross-Ade Stadium, West Lafayette, IN
TV/Radio Broadcast: Big Ten Network, XM, Sirius

NCAA Football Odds

Ball State Cardinals (+16.5) -110
Purdue Boilermakers (-16.5) -110
Over/Under 49

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The Cardinals and Boilermakers have met seven previous times on the college gridiron with Purdue winning every time. They last met back in 2006 in Ross-Ade where the Cardinals hung tough covering the 17-point spread in the 38-28 defeat.

Both clubs come into today’s match-up struggling in certain areas on both sides of the ball.

Ball State enters off an embarrassing 27-23 outright defeat to Liberty in a game the Cardinals went off the board as 10.5-point favorites in. Head coach Stan Parrish’s squad had a heck of a time trying to contain the Flames passing attack giving up 276 yards through the air while allowing Liberty QB Mike Brown to complete 63 percent of his passes; two for TDs.

They did however secure three INTs which bodes well against the Boilers considering Purdue quarterback Robert Marve has thrown three of them to date.

Speaking of Purdue’s passing attack, it’s been pretty much nonexistent. When on, it’s been inconsistent. Marve has only thrown for 391 yards and a TD in two games this season. His WR corps was inexperienced coming into the season, but now it’s even greener with leading pass catcher Keith Smith done for the year after tearing his ACL vs. Western Illinois.

Because of it, the Boilers have had to rely on their ground attack for the offense to succeed. At 164.5 YPG, the ground attack is about average in terms of the rest of the nation coming in ranked #58. They could see a dramatic spike in the stats this week though with Ball State giving up 100+ in each of its first two games of the bet on football season.

 NCAA Football Insider Tip: Ball State simply doesn’t have the athletes or depth to compete with PU in this one. The Cardinals have had no luck passing the ball against a pair of FCS teams to start the year, so I by no means expect them to just all of a sudden get it against an FBS opponent. Though it excels at running the ball, it’s yet to go up against a defensive front anchored by the likes of a Ryan Kerrigan. He’s a one-man wrecking crew that will wreak havoc in the Cardinals backfield throughout the games entirety.

This will be exactly the spot that Robert Marve shines. BSU will get worn down by the Boilers constant barrage on the ground, which will open passing lanes for the WR corps to gain some much needed confidence.

Though the visitors sport a number of impressive bet on football ATS trends in this match-up (5-1 ATS L/6 vs. Big Ten), they failed to earn a cover against its first two lesser tiered opponents of the year. Purdue’s a big boy and will move to 5-1 ATS its L/5 non-conference battles in a game I foresee getting out of hand.

My NCAA Football Predictions: Purdue Boilermakers (-16.5) -110

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