Troy at Central Michigan

GMAC Bowl - Ladd Peebles Stadium, Mobile, AL. The Troy Trojans will be making their second consecutive Bowl appearance, after losing to Southern Miss a year ago. They certainly didn't have too many tough encounters in a weak Sun Belt Conference this season. When they stepped out, they were thrashed including a 31-14 setback to an ordinary MAC team in Bowling Green. How did they fare vs. Bowl teams? The Trojans lost to Florida by 50 points, to Arkansas by 36 and to Bowling Green by 17. CMU played a very difficult out-of-conference schedule and still went 11-2 this year. They lost to Arizona by just 13 and they beat Michigan State outright. They also beat the aforementioned Bowling Green 24-10. Their closest in-conference game came early, a 7-point win. No team came within single digits on CMU the rest of the way in eight games. The Trojans will not be able to stop Dan LeFevour who set records both in the air and on the ground where he has over 700 yards. Central Michigan won their games this year by an average margin of 33-17 and they went 6-2 on the road. Troy was just 4-3 on the road, actually getting outscored 29-36 on average! The Trojans have to match scores to win, but unfortunately they are out-manned on both sides of the ball. I like the Chippewas to win and cover here.