FiveStarPick.com will be giving its members the ‘total’ in tonight’s game between the Northern Illinois Huskies and the Ball State Cardinals.  Las Vegas sportsbooks have listed Ball State as 9-point favorites with the total set at 47.   The game will be televised on ESPN2 tonight at 8pm.

The Cardinals (8-0 Straight Up, 6-1 Against The Spread) will be dealing with the pressure of an unbeaten season tonight in addition to their longshot hopes of qualifying for a BCS game.  Last week, Ball State won easily over Eastern Michigan, 38-16.  Cardinals QB Nate Davis seemed to struggle against the Eagles completing only 17 of 31 passes for 241 yards and 2 TDs.  They failed to cover the 27-point spread which was their first non-cover of 2008.

Northern Illinois (5-3 SU, 5-2 ATS) hosted Bowling Green last week as 7-point home favorites.  Freshman QB Chandler Harnish went just 5-12 for 45 yards and 2 INTs.  Amazingly, the Huskies came away with a 16-13 win thanks to 2 Mike Salerno field goals in the fourth quarter.  But what the Huskies are really proud of is the top defense in the MAC.  They lead the conference in scoring (13.6 points per game), passing defense (161.6 yards per game) and stopping the run (104.4 YPG).

Now let’s talk trends.  The Cards are 10-3 SU and 8-4 ATS when favored since 2003.  The Huskies are 1-3 SU, but 4-0 ATS in their last 4 as road dogs.  The road team has gone 6-4 SU, but just 5-5 ATS in the last 10 head-to-head meetings between these two teams.

So who covers the spread in today’s game?  Why not let FiveStarPick.com help you with the answer?  Aren’t you tired of getting cold called by services that tell you about their 750,000 star play that’s a guaranteed winner?  Here is a bit of advice…NOTHING is guaranteed when you are betting on sports!  These so called “handicappers” call 500 people on a Saturday morning and give them all a free play; 250 people will get NIU +9 and 250 will get Ball State -9.  After the game ends, they call back the 250 people who won and pitch them on charging thousands of dollars to their credit cards for more guaranteed winners.   We are not your typical sports handicapping service.  We care about our members and we live and die on every play. Why?  Because we are moving thousands of dollars of our own money on the same plays we give you. Gambling on sports is how we make our living.  Do we win every play?  Absolutely not and we will never pretend to.  Our plays are always posted for all to see, including our losing streaks. But by the end of the year we always seem to have a few hundred thousand dollars of the sportsbook’s money in our casino account.  Let us try and do the same for you.  Join our family of winners today and start your winning streak tonight.

Jimmy the Geek – FiveStarPick.com