The only college football bowl game taking place on Monday features one of the more unlikely matchups of the postseason as the Marshall Thundering Herd are set to take on the UConn Huskies in the Myrtle Beach Bowl. For the Herd, this marks their sixth straight year making a bowl game. Meanwhile, the Huskies have not been bowling since the 2015 St. Petersburg Bowl which was played against none other than Marshall! The Marshall vs UConn odds and college football betting picks are heavily in favor of the Sun Belt Conference representative.
The following game preview provides the college football betting odds, trends and FEI Index ratings before sharing our official Marshall vs UConn prediction for the Myrtle Beach Bowl matchup.
Marshall vs UConn Prediction | College Football Betting Picks
Myrtle Beach Bowl
Marshall Thundering Herd (8-4, 5-3 SBC) vs. UConn Huskies (6-6)
Date: Monday, December 19, 2022
Time: 2:30 p.m. EST
Venue: Brooks Stadium — Conway, SC
Coverage: ESPN
This season was Marshall’s first playing in the Sun Belt Conference and only the second of head coach Charles Huff’s tenure. The Thundering Herd acquitted themselves well in what proved to be one of the country’s toughest Group of 5 leagues. After a slow start to league play, the Herd rattled off wins in five of their final six games. The Herd also sprung an early-season upset win over Notre Dame. Marshall finished the year ranked eighth nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency and ninth in scoring defense.
For a program that hadn’t won more than three games in a season since 2015, playing in a bowl game seemed like a longshot for UConn coming into the year. After starting out the Jim Mora Jr. era 1-4, the Huskies flipped the script. An upset win over eventual Mountain West Champion Fresno State kicked off a stretch in which UConn won five of six to clinch bowl eligibility. Winning six games becomes all the more impressive when one considers all of the key injuries that the Huskies had to overcome.
Marshall vs UConn College Football Betting Picks and Odds
All college football betting odds for Marshall vs UConn can be found at BetOnline Sportsbook.
Moneyline: MAR: (-450) | CONN: (+360)
Point Spread: MAR: -12.5 (-110) | CONN: +12.5 (-110)
Total: 41 — Over: (-110) | Under: (-110)
College Football FEI Ratings
The following table shares the Fremeau Efficiency Index rankings for both teams involved in this Myrtle Beach Bowl matchup. The purpose of the FEI ratings is to represent the per-possession scoring advantage that a team would be expected to have on a neutral field against an average opponent. The rankings for offense and defense are out of 131 total FBS-level teams.
Fremeau Efficiency Index (FEI) ratings are from Football Outsiders
| Team | Overall FEI (Rk) | OFEI (Rk) | DFEI (Rk) |
| Marshall | -.01 (67) | -.79 (118) | .80 (11) |
| UConn | -.61 (112) | -.71 (109) | -.53 (103) |
Marshall vs UConn College Football Betting Trends
- Thundering Herd are 0-5 ATS in their last five games played in the month of December.
- The UNDER is 5-0 in the Thundering Herd’s last five games following an ATS loss.
- Thundering Herd are 0-4 ATS in their last four games after allowing more than 280 yards passing in their previous game.
- Huskies are 4-0 ATS in their last four non-conference games.
- The OVER is 6-0-1 in the Huskies’ last seven games against teams with a winning record.
- Huskies are 5-0 ATS in their last five games against inefficient offenses averaging more than 15.30 yards per point.
- Thundering Herd won their only recent head-to-head meeting against the Huskies which came in the 2015 St. Petersburg Bowl.
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Marshall vs UConn Prediction | College Football Betting Picks
The Marshall vs UConn odds have moved two full points in favor of the Thundering Herd. The fact that this line move has transpired despite the fact that Marshall was a double-digit favorite to begin with is noteworthy. It’s also concerning that the line has moved against UConn despite more than half of all public bets siding with the Huskies.
The styles of both teams playing in the Myrtle Beach Bowl are incredibly similar. Throughout the season, the path to success for both Marshall and UConn has been to play tough defense and run the football. Of major concern for UConn in this matchup is how stout the Herd have been when it comes to stopping the run. Marshall allowed only 101.6 rushing yards per game during the regular season, the tenth-fewest in all of college football.
Needless to say, the Huskies will probably have to go well over their per-game passing yards average of 101.1 in order to pull off a college football betting picks upset. Fortunately for UConn, two of the team’s top receivers, Cameron Ross and Keelan Marion, could be available on Monday after missing most of the season with injuries. Quarterback Zion Turner will certainly need all the help he can get in this matchup.
On the other side of the ball, the Huskies’ defensive front faces a tall task in trying to slow down the RB tandem of Khalan Laborn and Rasheen Ali. Marshall’s passing attack also came on late in the year after switching to Cam Fancher at quarterback.
All of this being said, the best of the number on Marshall has long since dissipated. Given how the Thundering Herd suffocated mediocre offensive opponents all season long, a low-scoring outcome seems like the most reasonable bet to make at this juncture.
UNDER THE TOTAL will be our official college football betting Marshall vs UConn prediction for the Myrtle Beach Bowl.
For what it’s worth, the ESPN Matchup Predictor gives Marshall a 79.8% chance to win this game outright.
Bet: UNDER 41 (-110 at BetOnline Sportsbook)
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