Phillips Week 7 College Football: Tuesday (10/7) College Home-dog Play

Troy at Florida Atlantic (+3.5): Week 7 opens up with an early home-dog play in the Sun-Belt conference. Troy is a respectable 2-2, while FAU is 1-4. A quick glance at this game would appear to give Troy a considerable edge. However, FAU has played an impressive schedule including games at Texas, at Michigan State, at Minnesota, and a tough last second loss last week at Middle Tenn St. The only win came at home verse UAB 49-34. FAU is only averaging 15 points a game, while Troy is averaging almost 33. FAU has clearly struggled on the road, but most teams will struggle against tough defenses in the Big 12 and Big 10. Troy is coming off two consecutive road games at Ohio State and at Oklahoma State. Troy now must go on the road for a third consecutive time. That is a lot of traveling for any team. With the exception of a poor performance against Minnesota, FAU’s D has been impressive holding Michigan State to only 17 points and Midd Tenn St to 14. FAU is 2-2 ats this year. FAU should benefit by being home for the first time in a while and should be excited to play in a televised game in front of their home crowd. Look for FAU to take advantage of a tired Trojans team that may come out flat. If FAU can jump on them early they should be able to pull off a solid conference win. (Rating +2). While Troy was clearly the better team, FAU made several poor decisions on offense and special teams. Home-dogs cannot win or cover when they make silly TOs and that was simply the downfall of FAU tonight. When they were able to mount an offensive attack, they failed to convert those opportunities into points, failing to get any points on three different trips inside the red zone. Troy 30 FAU 17