Quote:
Originally Posted by 702guy
question for you as I think u follow the SBC?
I have been riding the James Madison gravy train this season. The only speed bump is when they at played UL Monroe as a -16 fav last week. I bet JM and almost drove off of the road when I saw they had only scored 19 pts. into the 4th qtr. (honestly I was expecting them to win like 56-14ish)
UL Monroe is 4-1(!) with a completely new coach and players. Are they a legit -6.5 fav vs. Southern Miss, who seem to be amongst the worst FBS teams in 2024?
I would sooner file my taxes honestly than to bet on Louisiana Monroe as a favorite.
Granted I did not see them coming preseason at all. Was pretty impressed at how they played against Texas, just by not getting blown off the ball and kept grinding. I like LaMo's "slow the game down" factor and pass rush (I mean, they got pressure on Arch Manning). Took them as a huge dog against Troy and JMU but...
Well I'm on Southern Miss but it was early +7 (wasn't going to take them any lower) and +245 mL, and before I'd watched the JMU game. My numbers would favor ULM by less than a field goal and I liked how Southern Miss looked off the bye against LaLa (an actual good offense).
Eh...then I watched the JMU game and LaMo really threw them a curveball by passing all the time--who would have guessed because it was a facet they had previously appeared completely incompetent at the 25% of the time they tried it and that was before they'd made it down to their third stringer (not injuries, benched for being bad). Got a couple of good breaks but played with a lot of heart and smart coaching until the last 5 minutes.
Great plan and signature win but now it's on film and how many more surprises have they got, you know? USM had a weird UNLV-but-just-for-drama thing with qbs but at least now the starter's been getting more reps in practice.
I'm more down on JMU than you; had an 8-1 turnover advantage in those two big crush games and 2-1 in each of the last two and their FCS game was way too close. Seems like their qb got a hot hand but has cooled off lately. I'd be wary of any opponent with a good pass rush (but congratulations on being in the Sun Belt!) and that turnover luck swinging.