Which Miami Will Be Victorious Friday Night?

Miami Ohio vs. Miami Florida, 7:00 ET, Friday Night

Friday Night Lights are typically reserved for high schoolers or Coach Taylor and Tim Riggins, but in this case we get some solid matchups to consider for our betting needs. With College Football back, we don't need to focus in on just baseball, we get to have another sport to have plays in. Friday night brings us the battle of the Miami schools, though one is in a much cooler part of the country than the other.

Miami Ohio doesn't really have the same name recognition of the one in Florida, but it has had some football success. You probably first heard about them when they had Ben Roethlisberger under center. Now they are in the MAC, one of my favorite conferences because of the high-powered offenses and lack of defense. Those are probably the most fun games to watch most years. They have a decent enough quarterback playing for them in Brett Gabbert and he should be able to move the ball against the Hurricanes, but don't expect it to be some sort of dominating performance. He can certainly air it out, and I'm not sure that Miami FL has the best cornerbacks to stop the passing attack. Still, the level of talent disparity between the two teams should be fairly evident by the end of the first quarter. Gabbert was out most of last season, and the RedHawks turned to the run game in his absence, but I'm expecting a bit more balance out of them now. It isn't really a question of if the RedHawks will lose this game, more a question of by how much will they lose.

MIAMI GARDENS, FLORIDA - OCTOBER 22: Tyler Van Dyke #9 of the Miami Hurricanes looks on during the second quarter against the Duke Blue Devils at Hard Rock Stadium on October 22, 2022 in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Photo by Megan Briggs/Getty Images)

The Hurricanes, poorly named this week with the storms going down in Florida, are looking to rebound from what was a disaster of a year. In his first year as head coach, Mario Cristobal basically had everything that could go wrong, go wrong. The team started with high expectations and dropped to 5-7 by the end of the season. Part of the issue was that their quarterback Tyler Van Dyke was getting injured and couldn't play at times. He should be back and I'd expect him to tear apart the RedHawks defense. If he can't, and the Hurricanes struggle to score, I would be very surprised if this team makes a Bowl Game this season. Perhaps that is haste judgment as Van Dyke will need to reconnect with old receivers and establish a rapport with the new ones, but a lot of the season hinges on how many points he can put up. Aside from the obvious of needing more points than your opponent, the Hurricanes were the definition of average on defense.

I am a little concerned that Miami Ohio could keep this game close. The over feels like the right play here, and I think one of the best looks in this game is to take the over for Miami Florida's points at 30.5 at -125. They should be able to find the endzone multiple times. Realistically, they need either five touchdowns or four and one field goal for this to cash and that seems very doable. The RedHawks quarterback also was putting some bulletin board material - it was pretty tame, but still - out there for the Hurricanes to use as a bit of added motivation. Take the Hurricanes team total over.

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