FiveStarPick.com looks forward to another win tonight as we give our members the ATS winner of the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl which features the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Texas Longhorns.  Las Vegas sports books have listed the Longhorns as 8 point favorites with the total set at 51.5.

Ohio State entered the season with a new quarterback, Todd Boeckman. Chris “Beanie” Wells went down with a foot injury in the season opener against Youngstown State and Boeckman fell apart.  To add insult to serious injury, he then lost his starting job to true freshman Tyrelle Pryor.  Pryor completed 63 percent of his passes for 1,245 yards, had 12 touchdowns and just 4 interceptions.  But OSU’s numbers really aren’t that great…Ohio State ranks 105th nationally in passing, gaining just 148.1 yards per game through the air.

Ohio State’s rushing numbers must be off the charts, right?  But beleive it or not, they are only 28th in the nation in rushing by gaining 191.6 YPG on the ground.  Beanie Wells is OSU’s fuel and ranks 7th in the nation with 1,091 rushing yards and eight scores.  What’s more impressive is that he gained all of his yards in just nine games.  OSU will need Wells at the top of his game if they hope to beat the Longhorns tonight.

Texas doesn’t have a very big defensive line, averaging just 273.8 pounds per man, but they’re very fast and can stop the run.  In the 2008 season, they allowed just 73.6 rushing YPG and ranked 2nd in the nation amongst all teams in the FBS.  Texas’ D-Line leads the nation with 3.67 sacks per game and ranks 15th in the country with 7.08 tackles for a loss per game.

The ‘Horns offense will encounter a OSU defense with great fundamentals. Texas ranks 9th in the country in total offense this year by gaining 476.4 YPG. A big reason was Heisman candidate Colt McCoy.  McCoy completed 77 percent of his passes for 3,445 yards and threw 4 ½ touchdowns to every one interception.  McCoy slung the ball a lot to WR Jordan Shipley and WR Quan Crosby. Shipley averaged 12.4 yards per catch this season while leading the school with 11 touchdowns. Cosby caught 78 passes for 952 yards and eight scores.  Quiet the tandem.

This is just the third meeting all time between these college football powerhouses.  In their last head-to-head meeting, Ohio State won as a three-point road ‘dog, 24-7.  The Buckeyes have failed to win or cover in their last two BCS games, but were 4-0 SU and 3-1 ATS in their first four appearances.  Texas is making its 3rd Bowl Championship Series appearance in as many years.

So who covers the spread in the Fiesta Bowl?  It’s time to step up your game, become a member of our family and find out.  Why not try our service out for 2-days and see if our talent for picking winners exceeds your expectations?  With over 2300 active members, you owe it to yourself to find out why FiveStarPick.com is the most accurate sports handicapping service on the net.  Our dime bettors won nearly $100K in 2008.

Jimmy the Geek – FiveStarPick.com

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