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**deadheadct** · 11-18-2009, 04:11 PM

Wednesday's Selections ... 20 DIME - CENTRAL MICHIGAN CHIPPEWAS - (if line is 14 1/2, you buy the 1/2 and only lay 14.) - Going to ride the Chippewas again tonight.

First of all, love the line move here as this line opened CMU -17, and has moved all the way down to 14. My guess is the public is jumping on Ball State because of their impressive effort last week versus Northern Illinois.

Trust me folks, NIU is not to be confused with Central Michigan.

NIU is one dimensional. The rely on the run, and are not known for putting up big points and forcing you to open up your offense. Fact of the matter is, Ball State matched up really well with NIU.

They don't match up at all with CMU.

Last week after falling behind Toledo 14-7 on the opening play of the 2nd quarter on National TV, Central Michigan exploded for 49 unanswered points for a 56-28 rout.

I am talking about a Toledo team that has the 22nd overall offense in the country coming in and they couldn't keep up with this CMU offense.

So my question tonight is this. How is Ball State going to match points with the 109th ranked offense because trust me folks they are not going to shut down CMU.

CMU is smart enough to force Ball State to throw to beat them and for my dollar I don't think Tanner Justice is up for the task tonight.

Ball State was thrilled with his 11 of 19 performance for 139 yards last week at Northern Illinois, but that isn't going to be enough to get it done here.

I really feel people are missing this game because they feel Northern Illinois and Central Michigan are about even since they will be playing next week for the MAC West title, but quite frankly that is like comparing apples to oranges.

Unlike Northern Illinois, CMU is an offensive juggernaut right now, peaking at just the right time playing their best football of the entire year.

CMU has covered every game this year with exception to their 20-13 road win at Buffalo laying 9 1/2 and at Boston College as a 5 1/2 point dog losing 31-10.

This is the class of the entire MAC conference playing an inferior opponent who has one win this year against Eastern Michigan. For the life of me I can't see Ball State staying within 21 points of Central Michigan tonight.

I have a Central Michigan offense that has put up over 400 yards total offense in all 6 of their MAC games this year and in 3 of those they put up over 500 yards total offense against Akron, Eastern Michigan and Toledo.

The bottom line is Ball State will not be able to hold up defensively for 60 minutes in this game against CMU and they are going to have to match points and they don't have the offense to do that against a pretty darn good CMU stop unit.

CMU is ranked 33rd stopping the run, 21st in scoring defense and that does not bode well for a average at best Ball State offense.

I will jump all over CMU tonight, go against the line move and look for a 3 touchdown win for Central tonight.

5 DIME - ATLANTA HAWKS - I said on Monday, you don't start rolling into Boston as a double-digit road dog, and beat the Celtics by double digits unless you are playing your best basketball of the year.

I jumped on the Hawks against the Blazers on Monday night and they got it done for me in OT, and I will come right back with them here against the Heat.

I said going into Monday that Atlanta was on a tear since their double digit loss at Charlotte, a game I had the Bobcats as a 5 dime winner.

With exception of that no show by Atlanta, they have now covered every single game this year. Think about that folks.

Atlanta has won their 4 home games this year by 11 over the Pacers, 11 over the Wizards, 25 over Denver, 23 over the Hornets and covering the 3 1/2 over the Blazers.

Now they catch the Heat off a home loss to the Thunder and playing only their 3rd road game of the year, the fewest among any NBA team this year.

Perfect set up for the Hawks as they roll to a double digit win.

5 DIME - UTAH STATE AGGIES - Ok, so let me get this straight...

Idaho goes into Utah as a 10 point underdog and beats the Utes outright 94-87 and now Utah is laying 3 1/2 to the best team in the WAC in Utah State?

Utah lost their starting center in Nevill along with their other 3 top scorers, so as you can see, not an easy task losing your top 4 scorers from a year ago as you can see from their outright loss to Idaho.

Just like the Vandals, Utah State returns 4 starters from last years squad that combined for 186 starts and 239 games played as a group in their Utah State careers.

Plus they get back 6' 8" sophmore Nate Bendall, who played for the Aggies his freshman year, went on a mission and now comes back home.

He spent a year at Salt Lake Community College where he led them to the NJCAA National championship. The kid can flat out play.

The leader of this crew is senior point guard Jared Quayle, who scored in double digits in 24 of their final 28 games last year and along with Tyler Newbold won't miss a beat in the backcourt.

In their season opener they rolled into Weber State as a 3 point road favorite and delivered a 66-60 win and now off that tune up game get a crack at their in-state rival Utah.

There is no doubt in my mind that for one of the few times Utah State is flat out the better team and I fully expect them to do just as Idaho did, deliver the outright win.

FREE SELECTION - BUFFALO-MIAMI-OHIO OVER

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