Jim Feist continued his great run with his college bowl picks with another winner on the total of the Middle Tennessee State/Southern Mississippi game. Let’s see what you missed with his expert analysis on the game.
Feist’s Premium Play on Middle Tennessee State/Southern Mississippi OVER 57.5
From the New Orleans Superdome, this should be a fun offensive game indoors with two fast, multi-dimensional offenses. Southern Miss (7-5 SU, 6-4-1 ATS) has done well under Coach Larry Fedora, despite injuries and at times shaky defense (24.5 ppg allowed). The offense lost sophomore QB Austin Davis (9 TDs, 2 picks) halfway threw the year, out the rest of the season after tearing a ligament in his left foot against UAB. Redshirt junior QB Martevious Young (13 TDs, 1 pick) stepped in and has been very good with 1,590 yards passing, 270 rushing. He had a whale of a game against Houston, with 334 yards, 3 TDs and no picks in a 50-43 defeat. Senior RB Damion Fletcher has rushed for 973 yards despite being hampered by a hamstring injury that forced him to miss one game, plus senior RB Tory Harrison (626 yards, 6.6 ypc) and 6-foot-6 soph WR DeAndre Brown (720 yards) lead a speedy offense that averages 33 ppg. They delivered an impressive 44-34 win over Tulsa as Young had 4 TDs, no picks and 276 yards (though the defense allowed 589 yards). Middle Tennessee State (9-3 SU/ATS) missed out to Troy on a Sun Belt title, but did everything else right, riding a 6-0 Su/ATS run into this bowl. The offense is loaded, averaging 31 points, 181 yards rushing and 238 yards passing behind senior QB Dwight Dasher (21 TDs, 14 INTS), a duel threat who leads the team in rushing (938 yards) for first-year offensive coordinator Tony Franklin. The receiving corps is very talented behind senior 6-4 WR Chris McClover (486) and senior WR Patrick Honeycutt. The defense allows 23 ppg and got bombed by speedy Troy, 31-7. Southern Miss defeated Troy in last year’s New Orleans Bowl, winning 30-27 and that was a far better defense than this MTS state. Look for an offensive show, Play Southern Miss/Middle Tennessee State Over the total.