Southern Miss Golden Eagles vs Troy U Trojans
New Orleans
Louisiana Super Dome
Sunday, Dec. 21
ESPN, 8:15 p.m. ET
Spread:  Troy -4.5
Total:  54.5

My Pick:  Troy has been an up and coming program for the last couple years and this year they finally won the Sun Belt conferance outright as well as the possibility of doing something they have never done before which is finish a season with 9 wins and a bowl victory.  On paper both of these teams are very similar in rankings and averages on offense, but its the step up play of both defenses that has made the difference to each team.  The Golden Eagles were a dismal 2-6 allowing 35 points a game up until November where they allowed just 35 points total over their last 4 games.  The Troy defense has also been great this year and taking pressure off of fill in QB Levi Brown allowing him to run a more smooth offense which starts with a run to develop the pass.  For Southern Miss I think they will focus on clock control by running their work horse Damion Fletcher who has amassed over 1200 yards this season with 9 TD’s.  The Trojans on the other hand may need to be a bit more aggresive and mix it up with the pass right away to develop a rythem.  Either way this game comes down to whose defense shows up to play.  Neither team has an advantage in Louisiana, but with the spread at 4.5 and looking back on Troy’s season scoring I like the Trojans to blow them out.  Give the points.

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