The Ohio Bobcats are favored by 7½ NCAA football betting points versus the UAB Blazers in the 2017 Bahamas Bowl. Regardless of who wins or loses, though, executive director of the event Richard Giannini is confident fans will find a festive, family atmosphere. There will be for example, a Bahamas Bowl Youth Football Clinic. The question is, however, will the Blazers and the Bobcats out on a clinic of their own on the gridiron? The former better do, that is, if they want to tally their first-ever Bowl win in their first attempt since 2004.
The 2017 Bahamas Bowl
- Date: Friday, 22nd December
- Time: 12:35 PM
- Venue: Thomas Robinson Stadium, Nassau, Bahamas
- Online Sportsbook Odds for People Gambling on College Football:
UAB +7½ (-110) 55½ (-110) +255
Ohio -7½ (-110) 55½ (-110) -310
UAB tends to go over following a poor yardage performance
Head coach Bill Clark has been like sildenafil citrate to the University of Alabama at Birmingham football program. The Blazers finished the 2017 regular season 8-4 (6-2 in conference play) and placed 2nd in the C-USA West Division. Not too shabby for a school that hadn’t played football since 2014. Verily my brothers, I say unto thee that this is the most notorious resurrection since, well, never mind. The point is you can call it a comeback. Moreover, UAB didn’t just ‘arise and walk.’ In particular freshman running back Spencer Brown, who had 1,292 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns this season. Brown has averaged 125.4 yards in wins but just 72.3 in losses.
Did You Know: Conference USA Freshman of the Year Spencer Brown gained 848 of his 1,292 yards AFTER contact (66% percent) according to @PFF_College pic.twitter.com/yH2EfuRIYW
— UAB Football (@UAB_FB) December 15, 2017
The total has gone over in nine of the Blazers’ last 10 games after passing for fewer than 170 yards in the previous contest. Additionally, UAB is 10-3-1 ATS in its last 14 games, and 5-0 against the NCAA football betting spread when playing a team with a winning record.
Back-to-back losses get Ohio winning and covering
Ohio’s cheerleaders have a tradition. They do a pushup for each point every time the Bobcats score. This year’s regular season tally was 1,077. One man was to thank, or blame, as the case may be, for that. QB Nathan O’Rourke threw 15 TD passes (and caught one himself, though he probably didn’t throw that one) and ran for the second most scores among all NCAA Division I players (21). Collectively, the Bobcats scored an average of 12.6 more points per game this season. “Things have gone extremely well,” he said. “Going into the non-conference games (at the beginning of the season), I knew the other quarterback was going to start, and I would go in at some point. I just tried to prepare like I was going to start and took advantage of the opportunities I got.”
Ohio lost the last two games of the season. That could be a blessing in disguise, though, regarding the 2017 Bahamas Bowl. The Bobcats are 6-1 SU and ATS in its last seven games following consecutive losses. They also are 5-0 in their last five non-conference games at home and 6-1 against the NCAA football betting spread in their last seven neutral site games.