San Diego State will be too much for Middle Tennessee
Middle Tennessee vs. San Diego State, 8:00 ET
Now, this is a Bowl Game that I can get behind, or at least want to attend. We have the EasyPost Hawaii Bowl in Honolulu. This might actually be more beneficial for San Diego State as it probably was easier to travel, but both teams should be happy with the weather for the game, and, of course, the atmosphere.
Middle Tennessee comes into this game at 7-5 and has won four of their past five games. They really haven't had to face too many top-tier opponents though. They did win their only game against a ranked opponent this year as they took down Miami in Miami when they were still ranked 25th in the nation. I do wonder if Middle Tennessee can stop the San Diego State passing game. They allow 291 passing yards on average to opponents. If they can't stop the Aztecs through the air they have basically no change. The Middle Tennessee passing game is strong though too. I think they are going to attack San Diego early and often and hope that they can get an early lead. I wouldn't be surprised to see them keep this close for a little while.
San Diego State needs to utilize their defense to win this game. They will need to stop the Middle Tennessee passing game, but they have shown in other games that they can do that. Middle Tennessee's defense is not very good and I expect the Aztecs to get as much as they want on offense. San Diego State has won three of their past five games and the only losses were against Fresno and Air Force. The Air Force game they held their opponent down, but they couldn't make a difference offensively. Against Fresno, they were able to keep it a one-score game, but I think that Fresno had a better offense than Middle Tennessee.
I do think this game goes under, but I'm not confident in that assumption, My bigger thought is that San Diego and Middle Tennessee play a pretty close game to start the game. Then, in the second half, I think that the Aztecs get some stops and they also score on a Middle Tennessee defense that has struggled to put people away. I'm taking San Diego State -7.
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