How and what to watch for Ohio vs. Central Michigan

The Central Michigan Chippewas and Ohio Bobcats will get their seasons started as one of six MAC games to take place on Wednesday night.

Central Michigan are the returning MAC West champs after finishing with a 6-2 record in the conference last season as well as 8-6 overall. Central Michigan lost in the conference title game to Miami (OH), and the Chippewas were handled by San Diego State 48-11 in the New Mexico Bowl. The Chips will likely be without quarterback David Moore, though his long suspension was expected to expire on Oct. 7 after testing positive for a banned substance. The program is still waiting to hear back from the NCAA to determine when he will be eligible to play.

Ohio finished 7-6 in the 2019 season including 5-3 in the conference, which place the Bobcats in a tie for second place in the MAC East division. They finished in the top three in scoring defense and scoring offense among MAC teams last season. The Bobcats will need to find a way to replace three-year starting quarterback Nathan Rourke, who was fantastic for Ohio. He threw for 7,456 career passing yards with 60 touchdowns. Who better to replace him with than his younger brother Kurtis Rourke? It will either be Kurtis Rourke or UNLV graduate transfer Armani Rogers at quarterback on Wednesday night.

Central Michigan won eight of the last nine matchups in this series including four straight. These two teams have not met since 2017, a 26-23 Chippewas win on the road.

Game Time/TV Channel/Streaming

You can watch Ohio vs. Central Michigan on Wednesday, November 4th at 7:00 p.m. ET on ESPN, or you can stream it via the ESPN app with a cable or streaming service login.

Point Spread, Totals, Odds, Trends

Point spread: Ohio (-3) vs. Central Michigan
Point Total: 58
Money line: Ohio (-136), Central Michigan (+112)

• Ohio is 3-7 against the spread in its last 10 games.
• Ohio is 4-1 against the spread in its last five road games.
• Central Michigan is 4-1 against the spread in its last five games against Ohio.
• Central Michigan is 8-3-1 against the spread in its last 12 games.

Betting splits

Ohio: (23% of handle, 52% percent of bets)
Central Michigan: (77% of handle, 48% percent of bets)

The Best Bet

These are expected to be fairly evenly matched teams, which is obvious with the spread coming out with Central Michigan as a 1.5-point favorite. While I do not have a strong play on which side to take, let’s go with the point total. Both teams have question marks at the quarterback position, which could lead to keeping the ball on the ground a fair amount, limiting possession and keeping the point total low. Let’s take the under here.

Pick: Under 59.5

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