College Football Betting: Coastal Carolina at Massachusetts

By BetOnline September 18, 2019

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Sometimes college football handicapping is as simple as knowing which teams to bet against in specific situations. At this juncture, UMass is so bad the situation might not matter. For that matter, the opponent might not matter either though in this matchup they’re facing a decent enough Coastal Carolina team.

COASTAL CAROLINA AT MASSACHUSETTS
LINE: COASTAL CAROLINA -17
TOTAL: 62.5

What’s really remarkable about UMass is how bad they’ve been despite playing what should have been a favorable schedule thus far. The opening game of this season looked like it should have been a semi-competitive matchup. UMass took to the road to face a Rutgers team that went 1-11 last year, 4-8 in 2017 and 2-10 in 2016. You knew the Minutemen were bad when the college football betting lines showed them installed as a +17 point dog against a foe coming off a one win season. They didn’t disappoint, losing both SU/ATS 48-21.

They were actually favored in their second game of the season facing FCS Southern Illinois at home. The Salukis weren’t just a FCS team but a bad FCS team coming off of a 2-9 season so it made sense that UMass was a -5.5 home chalk. The Minutemen lost 45-20. Last week they faced another team that has struggled in recent years taking on the Charlotte 49ers. Charlotte was 2-10 in 2015, 4-8 in 2016, 1-11 in 2017 and 5-7 last year. Charlotte was a -20.5 home chalk and won 52-17.

This weekend, UMass may face the best team they’ve seen all year. Coastal Carolina has found the going rough since moving up to FBS but so have plenty of other teams. This is a solid program that put up a combined record of 19-5 in 2015 and 2016 before they moved up in the class. The Chanticleers (it’s a ‘proud and fierce rooster that dominates the barnyard‘) are 2-1 SU/ATS this year and with a win at Kansas already this season are not going to be intimidated by the negligible ‘home field advantage’ of UMass.

The Minutemen are #122 in total offense (295.7 yards per game) and tied for #115 in scoring offense putting up just 19.3 PPG. They’re #128 in scoring defense allowing 48.3 PPG and #127 in total defense allowing 536.3 yards per game. Keep in mind that they’ve faced teams with a combined record of 8-27 SU in 2018. UMass is on a 2-14 SU/6-10 ATS run as an underdog and as a dog of 10.5 to 21 points they are on a miserable longterm run of 1-29 SU/8-22 ATS including a 0-7 SU/1-6 ATS run during the past three seasons. Throw in a 3-8 ATS run as a home dog and there’s just no reason not to lay the juice with the Chants. New UMass head coach Walt Bell is likely not the problem–he’s been faced with the daunting task of turning around one of the most miserable programs in college football.