With the 2015-16 NCAA Football Bowl Game Season underway, the day after Christmas, the 26th of December 2015 we have the 2015 St. Petersburg Bowl with the 6-6 Connecticut Huskies (American Athletic Conference) playing the 9-3 Marshall Thundering Herd (Conference USA) with the game being played at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida with the kick-off scheduled for 11:05 AM ET and seen on ESPN TV.
If you’re a football fan and Bet on College football at a sportsbook then you must know that the Marshall Thundering Herd is favored at -5 with the Over/under at 44 and -210 on the Money Line, while the underdog Connecticut Huskies are at +5 and +175 on the ML. This is the first time in some 4 years that the Huskies are playing in a Bowl game, while the Thundering Herd plays in their 3rd straight bowl game.
If you’re a big fan of the 6-6 Connecticut Huskies, you know your team this season only had 1win over a team that had a winning record, but still they got a bowl invitation. Sure they took the bid and they bring their staunch defense to play the Marshall Thundering Herd. Don’t miss the St. Petersburg Bowl.
The Huskies for the better part of the season looked to their defense to win their game, and enter this game ranked 17th in FBS with 19.7 points in scoring defense each game, and 34th at 353 yards for total defense. Thus if the Huskies are to beat the Herd they need a top performance from their staunch defense, since they do not have an offense that can blow past the tight defense to the Thundering Herd.
Taking into consideration that Marshall has a strong defense, and then the secondary’s for the Huskies in CB J. Summers could make a difference in this game, as he leads the AAC with interceptions at 7 to date, and the team has 17 intercepts in 2015.
The Huskies on offense are thankful they have their QB B. Sireeffs returning after a concussion, and now is ready to play and for the season he passed for 9 touchdowns and some 1,995 yards and had 7 interceptions for the season.
Then for the fans of the 9-3 Marshall Thundering Herd, your team like the Huskies, also have a strong defense that just might stall the UConn offense, and they also have a team that on offense can move the ball better than their opponent Huskies.
They rank 13th in the FBS on scoring defense with some 18.5 points allowed each game and for scoring offense they rank 45th with 32.8 points each game. However, their drawback in this game is that they are without star RB D. Johnson who season was ended in October from an injury. Since then they have turned to a trio of RB’s in T. Pittman, R. Watson and H. Foster whom combined for 11 touchdowns to date and 1,136 yards rushing.
At QB the Herd will have C. Litton, a freshman that finished the 2015 season with 22 passing touchdowns on some 2.390 yards passing with 7 interceptions to date. Yes they are a superior defensive team, more so than the Huskies, they did see their offense falter in a 49-28 loss on the 27th of November to Western Kentucky. Tune into the St. Petersburg Bowl.
Defensively they are seeking a great day as the attempt to get through the struggling UConn offensive line that this season gave up 35 in the FBS, while the Herd’s defense has 28 sacks to date.
The sports betting prediction for the St. Petersburg Bowl is that the Marshall Thundering Herd proves to be too much for the Huskies of UConn and win the game 28-17!