The X’s and O’s of the Independence 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 Ohio Bobcats vs. Louisiana Monroe Warhawks. The Independence 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 Ohio vs. Louisiana Monroe predictions!

2012 Independence Bowl: Ohio Bobcats vs. Louisiana Monroe Warhawks
2012 Independence Bowl Location: Independence Stadium, Shreveport, LA
2012 Independence Bowl Date/Time: Friday, December 28th, 2:00 p.m. (ET)
2012 Independence 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: Ohio has to get healthy along its offensive line
Health has been a big time problem for the Bobcats all season long, but the offensive line has taken the biggest hit for sure over the course of the last few weeks. Many don’t realize just how important the OL is for these smaller schools. The bigger schools tend to have some depth up front, while the little ones just don’t have the resources to go out and recruit second and third string offensive linemen for the “just in case.” For Ohio, that “just in case” has been enacted quite a bit of late, knowing that the team has five linemen that are on the injury report for this game. Just in the last game of the season against the Kent State Golden Flashes, with virtually an entirely new offensive line protecting him, QB Tyler Tettleton was sacked eight times and ended up losing 35 yards rushing on the day. Tettleton can move around in the pocket, but Cam Newton wouldn’t be able to find any running room or throwing room with an offensive line as bad as this one has been over the course of the last few games. If basically a whole month off didn’t get the Bobcats healthy, it at least needed to get the guys that are able to play in a position to block for Tettleton, or this is going to be a long game for the Ohio offense.

Independence Bowl Odds at BetRevolution Sportsbook
Ohio Bobcats +7
Louisiana Monroe Warhawks -7
Over/Under 60.5
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Key #2: Kolton Browning needs to have one of those hero moments
QB Kolton Browning made himself an immediate hero in Monroe when he rushed for the touchdown in overtime that beat the Arkansas Razorbacks way back at the beginning of the season. It was the biggest play in the biggest game in the history of the ULM program, and it was the game that really sparked this 8-4 season, easily the most successful for the Warhawks of all-time. This is the first time that they have played in a bowl game in their school’s history, and Browning is the man that is going to have to figure out how to be the man to win this one. It doesn’t matter what else anyone does on the field. As long as Browning still has a chance to make some magic happen at the end, he has proven time and time again, in spite of the fact that he doesn’t have the flashiest numbers in the world, that he can get the job done. Ohio’s defense has been prone at times this year to mobile quarterbacks in the MAC, and this might not be an exception to that rule.

Key #3: Beau Blankenship has to keep the ball moving on the ground
You might not realize it, but RB Beau Blankenship rushed for 1,500 yards this year for the Bobcats in spite of the shoddy play of the offensive line. The Iowa State transfer rumbled for 109 yards against a Penn State Nittany Lions defense that proved to be a strong unit at the end of the year, and he also rushed the ball 43 times for 269 yards and two TDs against the Massachusetts Minutemen in his best game of the season. This is a man that is a horse for sure. It isn’t about the yards per carry for Blankenship, though he did average a healthy 5.1 yards per tote on the season. It’s that he averaged carrying the ball 24.4 times per game and really wore down some of these defenses. This might be the best rushing attack that ULM has seen all season long, and it is going to be a real test to a ‘D’ that allowed just 135.8 yards per game this year on the ground, ranking 32nd in the nation. If Blankenship doesn’t get his 25 carries in this game and doesn’t turn those carries into at least 100 yards, the Bobcats are in a boatload of trouble.

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The lowest rated team left in the dance, the Ohio Bobcats, are going to try to beat the NCAA basketball betting lines for a third time and make for another March Madness odds upset when they take on the North Carolina Tar Heels in the Gateway to the West.

2012 Sweet 16 Matchup: #13 Ohio Bobcats vs. #1 North Carolina Tar Heels
West Region Location: Scottrade Arena, St. Louis, MO
Sweet 16 Date/Time: Friday, March 23rd, 7:45 p.m.
Wisconsin vs. North Carolina Television Coverage: TBS

Key #1: North Carolina’s guards need to keep the tempo of this game moving
It’s all about the tempo in this one. We already know that the Tar Heels have been slowed down this year by the loss of Dexter Strickland from February, and now, the question is there as to whether or not Kendall Marshall is going to be able to play. Marshall had a screw inserted into his wrist to try to stabilize it, and it is still highly questionable as to whether he is going to be out there or not. Even if he is, there is a real question as to how effective of a player he can be. The Ohio guards tend to play stingy defense, and DJ Cooper, even at just 5’11”, is going to be a nuisance to try to get around. He has quick hands and averages well over a pair of steals per game. If the tempo stays hot like Carolina wants it, it is going to be hard for those guards to be off to the races in transition while the Tar Heels are standing still. This is one of the only ways that we can see the Bobcats even remotely hanging in this one, and if UNC neutralizes it by keeping the ball moving when it is on offense, Ohio won’t be able to keep up.

Sweet 16 Odds at Wager Web Sportsbook
Ohio Bobcats +10.5
North Carolina Tar Heels -10.5
Over/Under 143
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Key #2: The Bobcats can’t get killed on the boards
Ohio doesn’t have a player on its team that averages more than 5.0 rebounds per game, and Cooper, which it bears repeating is just 5’11”, is one of the team’s top guys on the glass. John Henson, Harrison Barnes, and Tyler Zeller just love matchups like this one, and when they run into teams that are brutally undersized, it’s almost as if they are all competing with each other to be the first to log a double-double. The Bobcats have to clear the defensive boards, and they can’t let Carolina get all that many second chance points. There is no way, save for some luck, that Ohio outrebounds the Tar Heels, but it can’t just be embarrassed on the boards, or it is going to be far too hard to keep up with the North Carolina offense. Trying to stop this squad once is hard. Twice or more times on the same possession is virtually impossible.

Key #3: Ohio can’t have too many empty possessions
Going against the length of the North Carolina defense is always hard for any team, but particularly one that isn’t all that athletic, big, or quick. That being said, the Bobcats do have some veteran ball handlers that make sure they don’t turn the ball over. It is going to be hard to get anything in terms of offensive rebounds in this one, and that’s part of the reason that we are so insistent that Ohio gets off as many shots as it can on possessions. Having the ball and turning it over is the recipe for a disaster, and the team just cannot get anywhere near its 12.9 turnovers per game, or it is going to take just a phenomenal shooting performance to have a chance of sticking inside of double digits in the Sweet 16.

Click Here to get the best March Madness picks that you’ll find on the internet, including our NCAA Tournament picks and the Sweet 16 picks for the rest of the NCAA Tournament game odds.

The MAC Championship Game will be contested on Friday night at Ford Field, and we are set to make our Ohio Bobcats vs. Northern Illinois Huskies picks for one of the biggest games on the schedule! Check out the MAC Championship keys to the game!

MAC Championship Game: Ohio Bobcats vs. Northern Illinois Huskies
MAC Championship Game Location: Ford Field, Detroit, MI
MAC Championship Game Date/Time: Friday, December 2nd, 7:00 p.m. (ET)
MAC Championship Game Television Schedule: ESPN2, ESPN3.com

Key #1: The Bobcats have to put a harness on Harnish
QB Chandler Harnish is one of the most athletic players in the entire country, and he is going to be the one player on the field that the Bobcats truly have to contain. If Harnish gets going with his legs and his arm, this NIU offense is absolutely impossible to stop. Harnish accounted for 2,692 passing yards and 1,351 rushing yards this year, and he has a total of 34 TDs to his credit. He hardly ever turns the ball over either, as he only has five picks on the campaign. The Bobcats have the speed in their front seven on defense to be able to at least keep Harnish under wraps, but the problem is that he can beat you with his arm as well in a big time way, and he isn’t afraid to spread the ball around to a slew of receivers. Ohio only ranked No. 62 in the nation against the pass at 226.7 yards per game.

Key #3: NIU special teams have to at least be remotely special
Though the Huskies do score a slew of points, they have a big time problem on special teams. Kick and punt returning isn’t a problem, but when it comes to the kicking game, there are some issues. P Ryan Neir is only averaging 35.3 yards per punt this year, and his long boot is only 54 yards. Meanwhile, K Mathew Sims has had problems kicking the ball from any sort of distance. He is only 3-of-6 in kicks that are longer than 38 yards on the season, and he hasn’t hit one from further than 44 yards. We tend to think that Ohio’s defense will at least make this sophomore kicking in his first big time game work for his points, and if that turns out to be the case, the Huskies could be in some real trouble.

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Down in the Bayou, representatives from the MAC and the Sun Belt are going to square off, as the Ohio Bobcats match up with the Troy Trojans in the New Orleans Bowl. These two teams have both had very up and down seasons, but they come together having just barely squeaked into the second season. Which one of these teams will be able to beat the slender college football odds on this day? Find out as we offer the keys to beating the New Orleans Bowl lines for Saturday night.

Key #1: Boo Jackson has to put up better numbers against an iffy defense… if he plays
If the Trojans had a major problem this year, it was that their defense was incredibly inconsistent. The unit ranked No. 101 against the pass this year at 247.6 yards per game, and they were just a pitiful No. 94 overall at 419.2 yards per game. There weren’t many bowl teams on this schedule this year, as there were only four teams that are going to the second season. The game against the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders should probably be thrown out, as it was the first time that QB Dwight Dasher suited up this season. However, in the other three games against bowl teams, Troy allowed 41 points to the Oklahoma State Cowboys, 52 to the Florida International Golden Panthers, and 69 to the South Carolina Gamecocks. Now a senior, QB Boo Jackson is playing in his final game with the Bobcats. He really did nothing but digress for the majority of his career after a stunning sophomore campaign, and his last few games of the regular season were probably his worst. Jackson was intercepted in ten of his 12 games this year, and the fact that he threw for just 133 yards and two picks against the Kent State Golden Flashes in the last game of the season was what kept the Bobcats out of the MAC Championship Game. Jackson had four games this year where he didn’t even get to double digits in completions, and for a man that doesn’t have a stellar running game, nor a solid set of legs himself, only throwing for 1,688 yards just didn’t cut it. He hasn’t thrown for more than 240 yards in a game all season long and will probably need more than that to survive against Troy. The problem that Jackson has right now is that he is fighting bowl eligibility issues. He has undisclosed academic problems right now, and at least as far as this point, he hasn’t made the trek to the Crescent City with the rest of the team. If that’s the case, the man that started the season, QB Phillip Bates, the team’s second leading rusher, is going to be calling the shots.

New Orleans Bowl Odds at Diamond Sportsbook 
Ohio Bobcats +2
Troy Trojans -2
Over/Under 58
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Key #2: Corey Robinson has to be a strong leader, even as just a freshman
QB Corey Robinson has plenty of college football left in his arm, and he has had a great first year at the helm in Troy. He has thrown for 3,339 yards and 24 TDs already, and he has had eight games with at least two TD passes on the year. Robinson really became the only quarterback option for the team over the course of the last month or so of the season, as the rest of the signal callers sort of became obsolete all of a sudden. In that last month of the year, Robinson threw for 300+ yards in three of his five games, giving him a total of five 300+ yard games on the campaign. The key is going to be his completion percentage. In games in which the frosh completed at least 60% of his passes, he is 6-1. In games in which he was under that 60% barrier, the team went just 1-4, and several of those losses were brutal. This is a relatively young Troy team that is direly still looking for a leader. This is the game where Robinson can step up and take charge, setting the tone for the next three years, and if he does, the Trojans will be tough to stop.

Key #3: Ohio needs to keep tabs on Jerrel Jernigan
In his career, WR Jerrel Jernigan has done just about everything that a man can do on a football field. He is just one catch away from setting a career high in receptions this year, and though he probably isn’t having his best season, he is also clearly not playing on a team that is as talented as it was when QB Levi Brown was calling the shots. Jernigan has already accounted for 5,916 yards in his career between rushing, receiving, returning, and passing, and he has been good for 774 receiving yards, 301 punt return yards, 600 kick return yards, 306 rushing yards, and 41 passing yards this year to go with nine TDs. The 2,022 yards is a career high, and left Jernigan with an average of 168.5 yards per game that he accounts for by himself. The Bobcats have a defense which is surrendering just 316.6 yards per game, and this unit really needs to make sure that it keeps tabs on Jernigan at all times to be successful in this one.

Two rounds of the NCAA Tournament are now in the books, and here at Bankroll Sports, we’re giving all sorts of heck to the teams and players that were totally missing in action to cost their teams a shot at the National Championship.

Rap Sheet Picture of the Week

Kansas Jayhawks C Markieff Morris in disbelief after the #1 team in the land was bounced by an inferior Missouri Valley Conference foe.

Where else can we start than right at the top? The Kansas Jayhawks are going to be looked at as the biggest disappointment of this entire season. They were the #1 team in the land and the #1 overall seed in this tournament, and they knew that they were going to have to face a pair of mid-majors in this tournament before heading to the Sweet 16. It took a strong second half run for the Jayhawks to finally take out #16 Lehigh on Thursday, and it became increasingly clear that this was a squad that was disinterested with playing these small time inferior squads.

Enter the #9 Northern Iowa Panthers. If you want proof that this was an underachieving team, just look at how well the Jayhawks played when desperation finally set in. C Cole Aldrich looked like a man on a mission, and the defense was stifling down the stretch. But the great equalizer in this tournament, the three point shot, finally gave the Panthers a four point lead that they would never relent. Now, HC Bill Self has to answer a lot of questions about why team looked like garbage, and G Sherron Collins has to deal with criticism for shooting 0/6 from downtown in the team’s final game of the season. This was really, really inexcusable Kansas, and you know it.

However, the Jayhawks were the only disappointing group in the Midwest Region. The Georgetown Hoyas had to be considered a trendy selection to come out of this bracket, as they marched all the way to the Big East final before getting knocked off in the dying seconds by West Virginia. It didn’t take long to be bounced from the tournament that really mattered, though. Sure, we’ll listen to the fatigue factor thing, but let’s be realistic here. This first round debacle against the Ohio Bobcats was against a #14 seed who was a #9 in their own mid-major conference. No excuses. None whatsoever.

In fact, let’s just give a little bit of grief to the rest of the Big East. Remember when this league was supposed to have nine, ten, maybe even 11 teams in this tournament? Five of the eight teams were gone in the first three days of this tournament, and one of those teams that made it to the second round, the #2 Villanova Wildcats, nearly became the fifth #2 seed in the history of this tournament to lose to a #15 seed in the first round of the dance.

Here’s ranting on the Mountain West and the Atlantic 10 as well. Three days into the dance, and all four teams out of the MWC were already eliminated. Save watching Xavier in the A-10, watching this conference play ball in March Madness has been incredibly painful. Both the Temple Owls and the Richmond Spiders were crushed in their first round games by higher seeds.

Someone’s going to have to forgive Big East Commissioner John Marinatto if this is what he looks like after yesterday’s NCAA Tournament games from his conference.

It’s bad enough that that’s Buzz Williams, the head coach of the Marquette Golden Eagles, who crashed out of the dance in their most predictable fashion: losing by two points practically at the buzzer. It was par for the course for a team that only suffered one loss by double digits all year long and lost six games in conference by less than a touchdown.

An 11 seed (as the Washington Huskies were) from a power conference (even though there’s a debate about just how “powerful” the Pac-10 was this year) isn’t the end of the world. Upsets happen all the time like that this time of year, and the Big East knew that it wasn’t going to have an 8-0 first round of this tournament in all likelihood.

Even losing the Notre Dame Fighting Irish wasn’t all that big of a deal to the Big East. After all, the Irish were probably the weakest of tournament teams out of this conference, and they were still adapting to a new system and life where their best player (Luke Harangody) was coming off of the bench and not starting.

Notre Dame was probably an overrated #6 seed playing against an Old Dominion squad that was probably an underrated #11. So it was par for the course for the luck of the Irish to run out late in the game against the Monarchs, and again, it wasn’t that big of a deal or that black of an eye to take.

Now… Villanova…. You’re a significantly, significantly different story.

Once upon a time a threat to take over the #1 spot in the AP Poll, the Villanova Wildcats entered this tournament looking to make amends for a bad showing in the Big East Tournament, which wrapped up after just one game following a loss to the aforementioned Golden Eagles. Surely, there was no way that there was even a remote struggle coming for a team that was going to be on the #1 line of the tourney if not for that late season swoon, right?

Wrong.

Nova was acting like a defeated team before it even stepped anywhere near the court in Providence on Thursday. HC Jay Wright benched both G Corey Fisher and G Scottie Reynolds at the outset of the game for a violation of team rules. His Cats fell behind Robert Morris, the Northeast Conference champions early. No big deal, right?

It is a big deal when you’re still behind by nine points late in the game! However, thanks to officiating that allowed the Wildcats back into the game and some great free throw shooting from Reynolds (who had better have had a great day from the charity stripe after going 2/15 from the floor and 1/8 from downtown), somehow, the Cats clawed their way into overtime. From there, they asserted themselves, and finally downed the scrappy Colonials.

It was all over the news during the 2:30 games as well as in that break between the morning and afternoon sessions. Everyone was talking about how Villanova is done and how St. Mary’s is going to pick it off on Saturday and that that was that for the Big East giants.

That statement might’ve been almost right… But maybe that was that for the Big East period.

Hey Georgetown Hoyas, all you had to do was go out and take care of an Ohio Bobcats team that was probably overrated as a #14, as it was the #9 seed in its own lousy conference during the year and really beat no one of any real note outside of the MAC this year. You could’ve restored order in your own conference.

Instead, you fell behind by double digits in the first half, played a miserable defensive game, and ultimately crashed out of the tourney in the most embarrassing way possible.

It’s not even like the Hoyas can say that they were just a victim of the proverbial “March Madness.” This wasn’t a situation where Vanderbilt was in, where it just got unlucky with a crazy shot at the end of the game. There were no crazy shots. There was just sheer domination.

So now, the Big East enters its second day of basketball, and Syracuse, West Virginia, Louisville, and Pittsburgh will hope to make a better impression on the college basketball world than what their conference brethren did yesterday.

The lesson learned, though, is that the big, bad Big East might not be quite as big and bad as we once thought.