Danica is the Luncheon Guest

Tonight's entertainment, the current GoDaddy.com Bowl that used to be referred to as the GMAC Bowl back in the day, features the Blue Raiders of Middle Tennessee State and the Miami O Redhawks, champs of the MAC.

MTS comes in at a very average 6-6.  Miami O had a 9-4 season, won the MAC, and lost their coach to Pitt.  Karma is a sometimes a bitch, as Miami's coach, Mike Hayword, learned when he deserted his troops for a bigger job in Pittsburgh, only to be subsequently put on permanent furlough by Pitt due to his pending felony charges, but I am digressing, tsk, tsk.

The setting for tonight's clash of Less Than Titans is Mobile, Alabama, a seemingly pleasant southern city of around 200,000, located on the Gulf of Mexico.  I read the city's vitae and looked at the photos, and I am reminded that I did the same last year, and reached the same obviously forgettable conclusion, evidence by the fact that I have nothing substantial to share with you about Mobile.

Danica, the one-name raced driver (like Cher uses only one name for instant recognition, so can Danica)  is there, in Mobile, as she is GoDaddy's frontperson, guest speaker at the big bowl game luncheon.  I don't care much for Danica, or Cher, but I like her GoDaddy commercials (Danica's, not Cher's), and there surely will be a mittful of them this evening.  My pal Scotty, he of the keen eye for the absurd, had dubbed Danica the reincarnation of Marvin the Martian. There is some merit in his argument, though I demur at his suggestion that Marvin has a better body, though Danica's hottie pictures don't really work for me. 

Maybe Scotty's right.

Each team arrives on a streak: Middle Tennessee has a 3 game winning streak, Miami O is riding a 5 win wave.  It's been a few weeks since either of them played, so the streaks aren't all that compelling.  Their respective ATS records are, and Miami O's record prevails.  So does their strength of schedule.  I keep on looking for evidence of a trap play here and if there is one, I'm not seeing it.  Miami O started as a 2 point favorite and has moved way around to a 2 1/2 point dog to Middle Tennessee.  It appears to be the result of Haywood's defection plus news about the Miami QB being replaced by a freshman.  The QB news isn't so critical, as the freshman has been at the helm for the last two games, including the MAC championship win.  Northern Illinois posted a big bowl victory after their coach hitched up the U-haul and drove off, so Miami O should do the same.

Miami O +2 1/2.