How and what to watch for Montgomery Bowl: Memphis vs. FAU

On Wednesday night the 7-3 Memphis Tigers meet the 5-3 FAU Owls in the Montgomery Bowl to cap off 2020 for two first-year head coaches.

Memphis has a good record, but they have struggled so much in the last two months. While winning four of their last five games, they're just barely squeaking past teams that they would normally blow out. And they have one of the worst pass defenses in the country, though that shouldn't matter much as FAU doesn’t throw the ball too much. Brady White has been one of the best QBs in Tiger history, and this could be his last game suiting up in the blue and white. It’ll be a tough going-away present though as the Owls pass defense is limiting opponents to under 200 yards per game on average.

The boys from Boca are breaking with tradition for a Willie Taggart-coached team. While Willie’s teams are typically known for their offense, this Owls squad is a defensive juggernaut. They hold opposing offenses to just 16 points per game and under 350 total yards. Though they don’t take the ball away all that much with just eight turnovers forced in 2020. That was a hallmark of the Owls team in 2019, which won the C-USA title. The offense has been a struggle, averaging under 150 yards passing each week and not much better on the ground. FAU is scoring at a 20 ppg clip, which is less than ideal for any team in this era of high-powered offense.

Game Time/TV Channel/Streaming

You can watch the Memphis Tigers and Florida Atlantic Owls in the Montgomery Bowl on Wednesday, December 23 at 7:00 p.m. ET on ESPN. You can stream it via WatchESPN or the ESPN app with a cable or streaming service login.

Point Spread, Totals, Odds, Trends

Point spread: Memphis (-8.5) vs FAU
Point Total: 50
Money line: Memphis (-315), FAU (+245)

• The Tigers haven’t been helpful to bettors who put faith in them, going 3-9 ATS in their last 12 games.
• Though Memphis has been dominant over C-USA opponents, going 6-1 ATS in their last seven games against teams from the conference.
• FAU has been just as bad ATS recently, going 1-4 in their last five.
• Thanks to that defense, the total has gone under all but two times in their last eight games

Montgomery Bowl Betting splits

Memphis Tigers: (59% of handle, 59% percent of bets)
Florida Atlantic Owls: (41% of handle, 41% percent of bets)

The Best Bet

Memphis has looked bad in recent games, and this FAU defense is a pretty solid crew. But the owls offense will probably struggle as well. Let’s go punts!

Pick: Under 50

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