Florida International Golden Panthers @ Toledo Rockets Little Caesars Bowl Pick

Florida International Golden Panthers @ Toledo Rockets Little Caesars Bowl Pick: Both teams won 4 of their last 5 games to get to where they are coming in. The Golden Panthers finished the season 6-6 after starting their campaign 0-4. They had quite the turnaround in some sense, but a very tough early-season schedule made the tough start seem more reasonable. Still, they never really beat anybody good. They did most of their damage against poor teams, and I don’t think Toledo classifies as that.

The Rockets aren’t a dominant football team, but they can really run it, and back-up quarterback, Terrance Owens, has been pretty solid since getting the starting gig. He has thrown 12 touchdowns to just 2 interceptions, and gets more out of his throws, taking bigger chances than starter Austin Dantin. Owens is 3-1 as the starter this season, and he really gives the Rockets a dimension they didn’t really have earlier this year.

The Rockets have scored at least 30 points in each of their last 6 games, and are averaging just under 28 per game. The Panthers scored a lot at the end of the season as well, and put up just over 28 per game. At 8-4, Toledo is actually -.5 per game in average point differential – but their 2-41 loss to Arizona and 14-57 loss to Boise State might team up to have something to do with that terrible number.

Toledo has beaten every team in Florida International’s “league” except Wyoming (a 3-9 team that beat the Rockets in the first month of the season. Besides that little hiccup, the Rockets have only lost to Arizona, Boise State, and Northern Illinois – all good football teams. I like them to beat the Panthers.

Florida International Golden Panthers @ Toledo Rockets (-1)