Day 2 of MACtion is upon us.
Wednesday night's college football slate features two games in the MAC: the Akron Zips vs. Kent State Golden Flashes and Bowling Green Falcons vs. Ball State Cardinals.
Our college football writers broke down both games in their in-depth betting previews below, and each one contains a pick.
So, let's dive into Wednesday night's MACtion.
Wednesday College Football Betting Previews
The team logos in the table below represent each of the matchups from Wednesday's slate of games. Click on the team logos for any of the matchups below to navigate to a specific bet discussed in this article.
| Game | Time (ET) | Pick |
|---|---|---|
  | 7 p.m. | |
  | 7:30 p.m. | |
Specific betting recommendations come from the sportsbook offering preferred odds as of writing. Always shop for the best price using our NCAAF Odds page, which automatically surfaces the best lines for every game. | ||
Ball State vs. Bowling Green
MACtion is woven into the very fabric of college football. It's given us midweek offensive superstars like Byron Leftwich, Ben Roethlisberger, Michael "The Burner" Turner, Dan LeFevour, Jordan Lynch, Freddie Barnes, Dri Archer and scores of others.
But those offensive luminaries have faded from recent memory, and all that's left is the broken-down offenses of 2023.
Nine of the 12 MAC teams are utilizing backup quarterbacks in a full-time role or timeshare. And when it comes to Ball State and Bowling Green on Wednesday night, these offenses are patchwork at best.
Ball State is buried in the 100s in nearly every meaningful offensive metric: Success Rate, explosiveness, Havoc Allowed and Points per Possession.
Bowling Green is capable of popping big plays — it ranks 34th in explosives — but when it comes to stringing together plays, it leaves a lot to be desired.
The combination of Connor Bazelak and Camden Orth has been a snore in MAC play. The two Falcon passers are averaging 85 passing yards per game in conference play with three passing touchdowns against five interceptions.
But before you close the app or browser window, allow me to reassure you that this game has a clear side that's worth your attention.
Let's dive into the Ball State vs. Bowling Green odds and make a prediction for Wednesday night's MACtion college football showdown.
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Ball State Cardinals
Mike Neu had one breakthrough season in Muncie. His 2020 campaign, a 7-1 triumph, was the outlier.
What Neu and the program have been for the other seven seasons is, in a word, mediocre. Actually, that's being kind. Removing that 2020 COVID-19 season, Neu and Ball State are 28-53 overall and 20-34 in MAC play.
But this is the MAC, where underdogs pull upsets with regularity. A big part of that is due to the utter lack of atmosphere at these midweek games. There's no home-field advantage to speak of in this game, and despite Ball State's offense being in dire straits, there are reasons to take the Cardinals seriously.
For starters, the game within the game here favors Ball State. Bowling Green can't throw the football nor does it want to. But Ball State can stop the run. The Cardinals rank 44th in limiting explosive runs on the ground and are even better at corraling opposing passing games from hitting the big play.
That's how they ground out a win two weeks ago against Central Michigan, 24-17. If they can turn this into a rock fight, their running game has the potential to swing this game in their favor.
Marquez Cooper remains one of the premier weapons in the MAC, and if game flow allows them to stick to the ground attack, he could be the difference here. He's eclipsed 100 total yards in three of Ball State's four conference games this year and is coming off of a breakout performance against CMU in which he ran for 162 yards and a touchdown.
It helps tremendously that Bowling Green's run defense is horrific from a Success Rate perspective (111th).
Bowling Green Falcons
If you've figured out Bowling Green, you're smarter than I.
The Falcons have a good loss (by 10 at Liberty), a wild upset (38-27 at GT) and a pair of humbling defeats (38-7 vs. Ohio and 27-0 vs. Miami (OH)) on their resume.
They're good enough to throw scares into bowl teams, sometimes beating them outright. And they're also inconsistent enough to get boat-raced by quality opponents.
A non-existent passing attack has created that kind of instability, and that won't be changing Wednesday night.
What the Falcons will look to do is swing this game with big plays early. And to its credit, BGSU is great at generating big plays with a rank of 34th in that aread. If it jumps out to an early lead and forces Ball State to move away from Cooper and the running game, it's in great shape.
If this becomes a rock fight, where the BGSU defense needs to consistently win at the line of scrimmage, well, then things get dicey.
There's also the elephant in the room: Scot Loeffler. The embattled Bowling Green head coach has been dreadful at the window since arriving at the school. No program is worse against the closing number in the MAC since 2019 than BGSU. His 12-21 ATS record (36.4%) in conference play ranks 123rd in the country.
At the very least, we know that both Loeffler and his team will be giving this game their all because a win here could be the swing game between bowling and sitting at home during the holidays.
If he were to miss the postseason for the fourth time in five years, he'd likely be looking for a new job this spring.
Ball State vs Bowling Green
Betting Pick & Prediction
This spread is tricky because it's likely we either see a Ball State outright win or a Bowling Green runaway. That's how things have gone for the Falcons this season — boom or bust.
I'm playing a boom here and opting for the alternate line, playing Bowling Green all the way up to the edge of the key number of 10.
Pick: Bowling Green -9.5 (Alternate Line · +150)
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Kent State vs. Akron
By John Feltman
Ah, yes. Weekday MACtion is finally here, and I have the absolute pleasure of breaking down this doozy of a matchup.
It's the moment we've all been waiting for. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the 2023 Toilet Bowl presented by Kent State and Akron.
No offense (pun intended) to these two teams, but I couldn't have hand-picked a more disgusting matchup out of all of the FBS teams. This is what true college football fans live for, as we love every team no matter how awful they are.
Let's break down both of these teams and see if we can dig through the dumpster and uncover some betting value on Wednesday night.
Kent State Golden Flashes
The days of watching quarterback Dustin Crum light up the scoreboard are certainly over for the Golden Flashes, as this offense is one of the worst in the entire country.
The defense is slightly better, but that's not saying much.
Kent State lost to Buffalo last week, 24-6, as the team managed to put up 164 yards of total offense. This offense is better off taking three straight knees every possession in hopes that its defense can manufacture points on the scoreboard.
This offensive unit ranks bottom-10 in almost every single metric, notably, Havoc Allowed and Finishing Drives. Simply put, the Flashes have yet to show any sign of life of establishing any sort of offensive rhythm.
I realize the Zips aren't the most ferocious defense, but I have a hard time believing quarterbacks Tommy Ulatowski and Michael Alaimo are going to be able to shred them. The Flashes come in at 133rd in Rushing Success Rate, so I don't see any path to putting serious points on the scoreboard.
Defensively, the Flashes surprisingly can be stingy against the run.
This defensive trench has had some success at times this season, ranking 75th in Defensive Line Yards. Although the Zips rarely run the ball, this could take away any sort of ground threat throughout the entire game.
I do have a slight concern about this Flashes secondary. They're a bottom-five unit in Defensive Passing Success Rate, which isn't great news against a Zips team that likes to sling it.
However, Akron is one-dimensional on offense and ranks 123rd in Passing Success Rate, so the Zips may not even be able to take advantage of this awful Flashes secondary.
I'd imagine this is going to be a grinder of a game, especially since the Flashes lean heavily on their ground attack.
Akron Zips
I'd love to say that the Zips are better on both sides of the ball than Kent State, but unfortunately, I can't. Head coach Joe Moorhead took over this program and improved it initially, but it appears the Zips have returned to rock bottom.
The only bright spot for this Akron team is that its latest 41-14 loss to Bowling Green was a box score fraud. It didn't deserve to win the game by any means, but it was outgained by only 18 total yards.
Offensively, this is yet another bottom-10 unit in the majority of offensive categories, including 127th in Line Yards and 106th in Havoc Allowed.
Quarterback Jeff Undercuffler has had moments of throwing the ball efficiently, but the issue is he doesn't have much help up front. I'd expect a lot of long third-down situations for the Zips, which may force Undercuffler to turn the ball over a few times.
It's painful digging through all of these metrics for Akron, but defensively, I like a few things this unit has done. Akron ranks 33rd in Defensive Passing Success Rate, which will eliminate any semblance of a passing attack from this awful Kent State aerial attack.
Notably, this unit is also top-70 in Rushing Success Rate and Line Yards. If the Zips protect the football, I have a hard time envisioning this defense allowing multiple scoring drives.
It's not surprising to see the Zips as a short 3.5-point favorite at home, but considering how awful their offense is, I can't stomach laying points with either of these teams.
Kent State vs Akron
Betting Pick & Prediction
This total has trickled down ever since open, but I still love the under in this game. It's a contrarian pick, but I wouldn't dare take an over in this game between two teams that rank outside the top 130 in Action Network's Betting Power Ratings.
I wanted to sell myself on taking Kent State in this spot, but I see way too many advantages for the Zips on the defensive side of the ball. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Flashes get blanked on the scoreboard in this spot.
Both teams are pretty methodical on offense, and the Flashes rely heavily on their rushing attack.
The key for both sides will be to avoid multiple turnovers, as they could lead to terrific field position for these pathetic offenses.
It's MACtion, so anything is certainly possible in this game. But there are too many paths for an ugly, low-scoring affair between these two dumpster fires.
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