The Miami-Ohio Redhawks and the Northwestern Wildcats meet in week 1 college football action from Martin Stadium on Saturday afternoon. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best bets for this game. Here’s a Northwestern vs Miami-Ohio Prediction.
Miami-Ohio Team Preview
The Miami-Ohio RedHawks come into the 2024 campaign hoping to improve on a fantastic 2023 season where the RedHawks finished 11-3 overall, including a 7-1 mark in MAC conference play and picked up a 23-14 win over Toledo in the MAC championship game. The RedHawks would get an invite to the Cure Bowl, a game that Miami-Ohio would unfortunately fall short in by a final score of 13-9. Brett Gabbert is back with a clean bill of health after suffering a gruesome leg injury midway through the year, and his return is big for Miami-Ohio as he made the offense go when he was on the field.
Keyon Mozee and Kenny Tracy will battle Purdue transfer Dylan Downing to take over lead running back duties after Rashad Amos bolted to Ole Miss, and Cade McDonald and Javon Tracy return for the RedHawks’ receiving corps, while Andre Johnson and Preston Daniel transfer in from Arizona State and Florida State respectively. On defense, Brian Ugwu will take over the charge after logging 8 sacks and 62 TFLs last season. Linebacker will likely be the core of the Miami-Ohio defense after Matt Salopek led the Redhawks with 143 tackles and Ty Wise had 122 tackles with 8 sacks of his own.
Why the Miami (OH) RedHawks will win
- The underdog has won three of Northwestern’s last four games.
- Miami (OH) has covered the spread in seven of its last eight games against non-conference opponents.
- Northwestern has failed to cover the spread in four of its last five season openers as a favorite.
Northwestern Team Preview
The Northwestern Wildcats come into the 2024 season looking to build on a solid start to the Dave Braun era in Evanston, finishing the year 8-5 overall including a 5-4 mark in Big Ten conference play. The Wildcats culminated the year with a 14-7 win over Utah in the Las Vegas Bowl. Mike Wright will transfer in from Mississippi State to hopefully give Northwestern some stability at QB after the Wildcats ran through four different pivots last year. Cam Porter is back as the journeyman back in Northwestern’s backfield, while Joseph Himon will be expected to take on a bigger role as the RB2 on the depth chart.
Bryce Kirtz and A.J. Henning are back to lead Northwestern’s receiving corps as two of NU’s top three receivers from last year. On defense, Adrian Hubbard returns to lead the Wildcats’ pass rush and will be flanked by Carmine Bastone and Najee Story while Xander Mueller is back at linebacker after recording 110 tackles and 3 INTs last year. Devin Turner and Coco Azema will be expected to lead the secondary for the Wildcats after a lot of turnovers in Northwestern’s back line.
Why the Northwestern Wildcats will win
- Miami (OH) has lost seven of its last eight season openers.
- Northwestern has won each of its last five home games against non-AP-ranked teams.
- Northwestern has covered the spread in each of its last seven games.
- Miami (OH) has failed to cover the spread in each of its last four road openers.
Northwestern vs Miami-Ohio Prediction
I’m looking at the under here. I want to take a shot on Miami-Ohio, and I still might, but this just feels like a low-scoring game where the first to 24 wins if we even get that high. I think Northwestern’s going to take some time to come together as a unit, especially with a new voice at QB and Miami-Ohio will be up to the task, but even with their best they’ve still had some issues offensively outside of MAC conference play at times. Give me the under here.