College Football Predictions: Marshall vs. Memphis Preview

Written by Jake Thompson
Thursday, 17 November 2011 20:05

Predictions are ready in our preview of Thursday’s college football game between Marshall and Memphis.

Thursday’s game between the Marshall Thundering Herd (4-6) and the Memphis Tigers (2-8) might not even be close to the most exciting on the college football schedule, but it’s perfect for our predictions on the final score.  We feel this is the easiest game to figure out today, and we hope that our preview helps everyone win some easy money on a fairly slow day in sports.  Start time of the Marshall vs. Memphis game is set for 8:00 PM ET, and the game will be shown regionally on a Fox Sports Net channel.

Memphis is the home team, but Marshall is the 11.5-point favorite on the spread odds at Legends Sportsbook.  The Thundering Herd were 28-13 home winners last year and also took a 27-16 game in Memphis during the 2009 season.  Marshall has now won 3 straight games against Memphis, while these teams have gone under the total in 5 of their 6 head-to-head meetings since 2005.  Tonight’s total sits at 50.

Marshall’s Offense vs. Memphis’ Defense:

The Thundering Herd are only averaging 20.7 points per game while not excelling at either the run or the pass, but you have to figure that they are better than those statistics indicate because of the teams they’ve played.  Marshall has had to go through strong defenses like West Virginia, Virginia Tech, Louisville, and Central Florida this year, making their statistics appear worse than they would be with a normal CUSA schedule.  The Thundering Herd score plenty more points when they can run the ball, and you have to expect that to happen against a Memphis defense that gives up 190.1 rushing yards on 5.2 yards per carry this season.

Memphis’ Offense vs. Marshall’s Defense:

The Tigers have gotten surprisingly strong play out of quarterback Taylor Reed (1581 yards, 57.1%, 10 TD, 4 INT) despite their inability to run the ball at all.  Part of the reason for the horrid rushing statistics (96.2 yards a game on 2.9 a carry) are that Memphis usually gets behind early and has to abandon the run, but they haven’t even been at an average level when not in that situation this season.  Marshall’s defense doesn’t have the most impressive rush defense in the nation, but they’ve been excellent at limiting opposing offenses that aren’t elite.  Once again, facing some high-scoring teams hasn’t done any favors to the season statistics on this side of the ball for the Thundering Herd.

Marshall vs. Memphis Score Predictions:

The Thundering Herd can put up a decent amount of points when outrushing their opponents, and I think that happens easily here tonight.  Memphis can score against lesser defenses, but I believe that Marshall is too smart to allow that to happen.  Memphis has scored a season high of 17 points in the 6 games this season in which they’ve been outrushed by 100 or more yards, and I expect that statistic to once again show it’s in this game.  My Marshall vs. Memphis predictions say to go with the Thundering Herd, as well as the over.

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Marshall 34

Memphis 20