The X’s and O’s of the Little Caesars Bowl predictions aren’t shared by many expert handicappers, but here at Bankroll Sports, we are giving up all of our insight and telling you all of the keys to the game for the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers vs. Central Michigan Chippewas. The Little Caesars Bowl picks are some of the hardest to make this year of all of the bowl games, so don’t miss out on all of our Western Kentucky vs. Central Michigan predictions!

2012 Little Caesars Bowl: Western Kentucky Hilltoppers vs. Central Michigan Chippewas
2012 Little Caesars Bowl Location: Ford Field, Detroit, MI
2012 Little Caesars Bowl Date/Time: Wednesday, December 26th, 7:30 p.m. (ET)
2012 Little Caesars Bowl On TV: ESPN, Watch ESPN

Click Here For The Rest Of The 2012-13 Bowl Game Schedule And Other Bowl Game Previews

Key #1: Central Michigan has to figure out how to score against a bowl team
The Chippewas haven’t done a whole heck of a lot over the course of the year against bowl teams this year. They won just six games, and none of those games came against bowl teams. In fact, Central Michigan was crushed 41-7 by the Michigan State Spartans, 55-24 by the Northern Illinois Huskies, 50-35 by the Toledo Rockets, 31-13 by the Navy Midshipmen, and 41-30 by the Ball State Cardinals. That’s nothing but losses, and all of those losses came by at least 11 points, while many of the games weren’t even remotely close. Granted, this is likely just as bad, if not the worst of all of the bowl teams that the Chippies have played thus far this year, but still, the situation remains the same. This isn’t Akron, or Eastern Michigan, or Massachusetts, or any of the other lousy teams that CMU beat this year. This is a legitimate game against a team that has won 14 games over the course of the last season and a half.

Little Caesars Bowl Odds at BetRevolution Sportsbook
Western Kentucky Hilltoppers -5.5
Central Michigan Chippewas +5.5
Over/Under 57.5
Click Here to Bet Your Little Caesars Bowl Picks!

Key #2: The moment cannot be too big for the Hilltoppers
It has got to be good to be a Hilltopper right now. Western Kentucky has won those 14 games over the course of the last two seasons. It is unfortunate that the Hilltoppers and Head Coach Willie Taggart are no longer a unit, as Taggart has left for the brighter lights of the South Florida Bulls, but the man that is coming to town now is Bobby Petrino. Petrino might have a checkered past, but there is no doubt that he has won just about everywhere that he has gone, and he should be winning at WKU as well. That being said, this is the first bowl game that the Hilltoppers have ever played in, they have to prove that they are ready to play at this level. Last year, they were snubbed out of a bowl game in spite of the fact that they finished out the year by winning seven of their last eight games and covering nine in a row. This is a veteran team led by QB Kawaun Jakes, but in the end, the team has to prove that it is truly good enough to handle this moment of playing in a bowl game in a standalone time slot against a reasonable team, though this is a nice spot against what is clearly the worst of all of the 70 bowl teams this year.

Key #3: The Chippewas have to figure out how to stop the run
It is clear that RB Antonio Andrews has to be a monster on the ground for the Hilltoppers to win their first ever bowl game. He rushed for 1,609 yards and 11 TDs this season, and he has taken right over for RB Bobby Rainey, who has been one of the most accomplished rushers in the country over the course of the last few years. Andrews rushed for 230 and 238 yards in his last two games of the year, and he averaged 5.8 yards per carry this year. Andrews also averaged 154.3 yards per game on the ground in his last 10 games of the year, and he had at least 88 yards in all of those games. Central Michigan ranked 97th in the country against the run at 196.7 yards per game allowed. That number was all the way up to 246.8 yards per game against teams that qualified for bowl games this year. If all of that continues in this game, this game could end up being a blowout.

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For the first time in the history of the program, the Florida International Golden Panthers are going to be playing in a bowl game. They’re heading to the Motor City in this post-Christmas treat in order to make your college football picks, as they take on the Toledo Rockets in a standalone game on Sunday night. Which team will help make great Little Caesars Bowl picks for you this weekend? Find out with these three keys to the game.

Key #1: Wesley Carroll has to be the leader for FIU both on the field and on the sidelines
Carroll transferring to Florida International really made a tremendous difference this year for the Golden Panthers. They know that the need to really get some strong leadership in this game, and Carroll is the only player that has even sniffed a bowl game before. Carroll was the starting quarterback in the 2007 Liberty Bowl, which featured an ugly 10-3 win for the Mississippi State Bulldogs over the UCF Knights for the team’s first bowl win in a number of years. Carroll went 8-of-18 for 39 yards with a pick, and he ran for 21 yards in the victory, but we have to remember that he was only a freshman at that point. Now, he is a senior leader for a very young team that is clearly on the rise in the Sun Belt. His numbers were exactly stellar this year, as he only threw for 2,483 yards with a TD/INT ratio of 15/13, but he was clearly head and shoulders above most of the rest of the signal callers that the Sun Belt had to offer this year. Carroll helped Head Coach Mario Cristobal put together a well balanced offense, and averaging 403.8 yards and 28.3 points per game were both the all-time highs for the Golden Panthers in their brief history.

Key #2: With Austin Dantin out, the offensive line has to help the Rockets
QB Austin Dantin was having a great year for the Rockets before he was injured at the end of the season, which really has only left QB Terrance Owens left to lead this offense. Owens has played relatively well in his first collegiate action as well, completing 60.3 percent of his passes for 1,112 yards and 12 TDs against just two picks, and he might be well on his way to having a great career at Toledo. However, at times, he has been flustered this year, and he clearly doesn’t have the legs that Dantin had, which limits his ability to escape. That means that Owens is going to want to turn around and hand the ball off to RB Adonis Thomas quite a bit. Thomas averaged a whopping 6.0 yards per carry this year, and though he didn’t quite reach 1,000 yards on the season, he did score six times and is a legitimate threat to make it to the century mark in every game that he plays. The trick is going to be opening up holes for Thomas and giving Owens time in the pocket to deliver the football. That means that this offensive line is going to have to play quite well against the Golden Panthers, who had a sneakily good defense this year at 365.1 yards per game allowed.

Key #3: FIU must stop the man that Toledo must get the ball to: Eric Page
Through three games this year, WR Eric Page only had 13 catches for 156 yards and a TD. In his final nine games, the sophomore averaged a whopping 9.0 catches and 102.8 yards per game, and he scored seven times. For his career, Page already has 176 catches for 2,240 yards and 15 trips to the end zone, and he is going to be a force to be reckoned with in this one even though he is only a sophomore. These last two games of the regular season, wins against both the Bowling Green Falcons and Central Michigan Chippewas, produced 21 catches for 238 yards and three TDs, and Page has also found the end zone in five straight. The Golden Panthers ranked No. 40 in the country against the pass this year at 205.5 yards per game. They did have a few games this year in which they faced some great receivers, and for the most part, they did fairly well. They kept WR Jeff Fuller down to just four grabs for 73 yards for the Texas A&M Aggies, and they limited WR Jerrel Jernigan for the Troy Trojans to just 32 yards in spite of the fact that he had ten receptions.