Ben Burns is one of the only handicappers who cashed in with his bowl picks on the 2008 New Orleans Bowl. A lot of experts thought they were all over the bowl game lines but Burns is one of the few in the business who came up with Southern Miss and here is why:
I’m taking the points with SOUTHERN MISS. Troy is favored by more than field goal primarily because of having the better record (8-4) and the slightly more impressive stats. However, the Sun Belt isn’t exactly one of the country’s better conferences and the Trojans only non-conference victory came vs. 1-AA Alcorn State, which finished with a 2-10 record. Now the Trojans will be taking on a Southern Mississippi squad which is playing its best football of the season, having won four straight. It should be noted that the Golden Eagles already faced the two teams which finished #2 and #3 in the Sun Belt. They won on the road at Arkansas State and they dismantled La.-Lafayette by a score of 51-21. Including those results, the Golden Eagles are 7-0 (5-2 ATS) their last seven games against teams from the Sun Belt.
The Golden Eagles are capable of putting up big numbers on offense, having scored 70 against UAB and having scored 27 or more in eight games overall. In fact, they set the school record this season with 5,220 yards of total offense. Additionally, the defense has been superb lately. During the four game winning streak, the Golden Eagles surrendered only 35 points, holding each of those opponents to less than 260 yards of total offense and under 100 yards rushing. I expect the Golden Eagles to carry that positive momentum into this evening’s game and look for them to move to 4-1 ATS the last five times that they played with two or more weeks of rest in between games. *Main Event