Maryland
vs.
Florida International
College Football Pick
9/9/16
Florida International will host Maryland on Friday night in a Game that can be seen on CBS Sports Network. Maryland opened up as a -7 point road favorite at betonline but has been bet up to -10.5 by early bettors. The total is 57.5.
Maryland kicked off their season last week with a convincing win over Howard U, 52-13 while Florida International was beaten by Indiana 34-13. But don’t be fooled by the final Scorefor the FIU-Indiana Game. Florida International led 13-12 heading into the 4th quarter before the Hoosiers hung 22 on the board in the 4th. In other words, FIU hung tough for 3.
Florida International looks to be on a year by year progression to a Bowl Game. Their last winning season was back in 2011. They suffered through two miserable seasons, including coach Ron Turner’s first at the helm, which was a 1-11 nightmare. But that 1 win season was followed by a 4-8 2014 and a 5-7 2015. If the patter holds, FIU will win at least 6 this year and land in a Bowl Game for the first time since 2011.
For the Terrapins, it would seem as though things can only get better. Last season was a mess. After a 2-1 start, Maryland dropped 8 straight Games to finish the year 3-9. Their defense was atrocious, giving up 30+ points 8 times and 40+ points 5 times. Coach Randy Edsall was fired in October after 6 Games (uconn fans loved that) and frankly, it seemed as though the team quit.
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The Terrapins brought in DJ Durkin, the defensive coordinator from the Michigan Wolverines to right the ship. With 2 win already under his belt, it shouldn’t be much of a stretch to surpass last years win total. But 6 wins and a Bowl Game may be asking too much. Certainly if that goal is to be met, a win against Florida International is a must.
This is a spot where we’d like to take a close look at Florida International in the 1st quarter and the 1st half. We saw what they did last week for 3 quarters against Indiana. They get to remain at home, and will be one of only two Games on the college football Schedule Friday. The Game isn’t on a major network, with CBS Sports Network televising it, but they’ll still have the college football stage almost to themselves Friday night. In other words, the college football world will know the result of this Game whether they want to or not. The same can’t be said if this Game were on a college football Saturday as this is the type of Game that would get lost amongst all the big Games.
Expect FIU to be sky high for this one and at the very least, make a Game of it early on. Based on last weeks performance, we wouldn’t be surprise to see FIU make a Game of this all the way through. With that in mind, we’ll take FIU plus the points for the 1st quarter and 1st half and we’ll also take FIU +10.5 for the Game.