Miami at Appalachian St – Preview and Prediction
MIAMI FLA 3.5 APPALACHIAN ST (52)
Implied Projected Score: Miami Fla 27.75 App St 24.25
MEGALOCKS LINE – Miami 6
The Game
This is a huge home date for Appalachian St. They get a well-recognized ACC team to come to Boone, NC and try to leave with a victory. Miami is off to a 2-0 start but has not faced any real competition as of yet. The Mountaineers took Tennessee to overtime on the road. This is going to be a battle.
The Match-Up
Miami offense vs Appalachian St defense
The Hurricanes have played a couple of soft opponents, but nonetheless, have established a nice identity so far in terms of pounding the running game. They have a fantastic 1-2 punch at RB as both Joseph Yearby and Mark Walton have over 200 yards on the ground. QB Brad Kaaya has been a bit off so far in the young season but there is no reason to think he will not turn it around. Overall, it is better to have the run game working and the passing game a bit off than the other way around. At least when you play a tough road opponent.
The Mountaineers went toe to toe with an excellent Tennessee team on the road and almost pulled the upset. However, they did give up over 100 yards to Jalen Hurd in that game, as well as over 100 yards to Ray Lawry in the tilt vs Old Dominion. Miami is going to get their yards on the ground. The key will be pressuring Kaaya into mistakes or at least minimizing the damage when the Canes try and stretch the field.
Appalachian St offense vs Miami defense
Senior RB Marcus Cox is such a fantastic RB and it will be fun to watch him go up against the Miami defense. YES, it is early, but the Miami run defense has been lights out so far and they are also among the FBS leaders in sacks and tackles for loss. Our feeling is that Appalachian St will be able to run on Miami since they managed to run on the Volunteers. The question will be can they limit the negative plays due to PENETRATING PENETRATION by the Miami defense. QB Taylor Lamb is very good but does not have any proven weapons in the passing game. They will probably use a similar game plan to the one that almost pulled the upset on opening weekend.
MEGA morsels
CROWD WILL BE ROCKING GUY must have 240,000 make-believe Twitter units on this game already….It does not get better than a really good under-the-radar team playing at home against big bad Miami…..The Hurricanes have a bye next week so should not be focused on anything other than the task at hand….Miami’s injury and suspension list is still over 21 pages long but they seem to be playing well right now….We are more concerned about their lack of depth hurting them later in the season.
Summary
Hard to go against the home team. They are hungry and well coached. Oh, and really good. Our numbers still show some value with the Canes but the market does not agree. Line holding steady around -3.5.
Conclusion
Official play: Miami -3.5 -106 (do not play higher than -4)