Florida Atlantic - Central Michigan

the Motor City Bowl Friday, December 26th, 7:30pm Detroit, Michigan

Florida Atlantic (6-6)______SunBelt______-32.89 Wk Opp oPts Score 1 Texas 445.80 L, 10-52 2 UAB -166.76 W, 49-34 3 Michigan State 220.54 L, 0-17 4 Minnesota 19.39 L, 3-37 5 Middle TN State -134.69 L, 13-14 6 Troy 76.73 L, 17-30 8 Western Kentucky -369.32 W, 24-20 9 LA-Monroe -216.40 W, 29-28 11 North Texas -396.09 W, 46-13 12 LA-Lafayette -61.26 W, 40-29 13 Arkansas State -51.75 L, 14-28 14 FL International -116.85 W, 57-50

Central Michigan (8-4)______MAC_____94.95 Wk Opp oPts Score 1 Eastern Illinois -462.94 W, 31-12 2 Georgia 230.80 L, 17-56 3 Ohio -164.35 W, 31-28 4 Purdue -107.74 L, 25-32 5 Buffalo 91.13 W, 27-25 7 Temple -96.01 W, 24-14 8 Western Michigan 167.71 W, 38-28 9 Toledo -230.71 W, 24-23 10 Indiana -210.04 W, 37-34 12 Northern Illinois -31.83 W, 33-30 13 Ball State 332.62 L, 24-31 14 Eastern Michigan -260.22 L, 52-56

Neither Florida Atlantic no Central Michigan played a tough schedule this year - only four teams in the blue each. At least the Chippewas beat two of their tough opponents - the Owls best win was over LA-Lafayette. Yikes.

Stats Matchup
Team	Florida Atlantic	Central Michigan
Points (rank)	-32.89 (#67)	94.95 (#46)
Record	6-6	8-4
Opp. Points (rank)	-750.66 (#98)	-741.60 (#97)
Opp. Record	68-76	66-70
Points (% of Opp. Avg)	25.2 (86%)	30.3 (116%)
dPoints (% of Opp. Avg)	29.3 (114%)	30.8 (123%)
Rush Yds (% of Opp. Avg)	141.0 (85%)	134.3 (83%)
dRush Yds (% of Opp. Avg)	183.0 (125%)	138.6 (100%)
Pass Yds (% of Opp. Avg)	250.5 (114%)	292.8 (144%)
dPass Yds (% of Opp. Avg)	219.1 (105%)	285.7 (128%)
Tot Yds (% of Opp. Avg)	391.5 (101%)	427.1 (115%)
dTot Yds (% of Opp. Avg)	402.1 (112%)	424.3 (116%)
ST Yds (% of Opp. Avg)	123.3 (98%)	123.5 (101%)
dST Yds (% of Opp. Avg)	106.8 (84%)	137.0 (119%)
Penalties / Pen. Yds	7.8 / 74.2	5.8 / 57.6
TO's / TO Margin	2.3 / -9	0.9 / +4

Their offenses are a little better than their defenses, so we might see some points in this one. The Owls have a bad habit of coughing up the ball and taking penalties, which won't help them here.

The Line: Florida Atlantic +6.5

The Call: Central Michigan by 10

The Result: Florida Atlantic 24-21

Man, I'm having a rough go of it calling these bowls so far. Jeez. Props to the Owls - they seem to have a knack for winning in December under Schnellenberger. Central Michigan was a bit of an afterthought in the MAC this year with Ball State and Buffalo being the stories, but that's probably not a bad thing after this loss.