NCAAF Odds: No Dasher for MTSU vs. Minnesota

Now, those dreams of a double digit win season might have been "dashed" with this week's devastating news. Still, the Blue Raiders are going to have to prepare for college football betting warfare with the Minnesota Golden Gophers in a rare game in which a BCS conference school pays a visit to a Sun Belt campus.

Dasher Dashed for Blue Raiders 

No one is saying that QB Dwight Dasher really had the potential to be a Heisman Trophy candidate this season, but he certainly could have been the best player in the Sun Belt and a real threat to every opponent that he ran up against in the regular season.

Though Dasher's season probably isn't over, he has been suspended indefinitely for accepting a $1,500 loan, a direct violation of NCAA rules.

This is obviously as big of a loss as the Blue Raiders could have ever incurred. Dasher was not only the team's best passer, but its best runner as well. Finding a man to throw for 2,789 yards, 23 scores, and 14 picks is hard enough. So is finding one that rushes for 1,154 yards and 13 TDs. To find both in the form of the same player is virtually impossible.

So what will the Blue Raiders do at quarterback on Thursday night? JUCO transfer Logan Kilgore is going to take the reins over for this team. The good news is that he performed well in the squad's spring game this year, going 21-of-34 for 322 yards. Kilgore also allied 2,512 yards and 22 scores as a true freshman at the JUCO level.

Raiders Could Be Off and Running Against Gophers

Of course, without Dasher, they might not have a choice. Incumbent starting RB DD Kyles is coming off of a year in which he averaged 6.2 yards per carry. However, he didn't start the '09 season; Phillip Tanner did. However, Tanner suffered a season ending injury in his second game of last season and was granted a fifth year of eligibility by the NCAA. He is considered one of the premier running backs in the Sun Belt and could be set to run all over a Minnesota defense which averaged allowing 151.7 yards per game on the ground in 2009.

Even if you took Dasher's threat out of the equation, the men in blue and silver were still excellent at rushing the pigskin. The team averaged 186.0 yards per game on the ground last year and could be set to top the 200 yard mark against the Gophers if the game goes according to plan.

Golden Gophers Not So Golden

The strength of Minnesota last year was its defense, which isn't saying much for a team that allowed a very mediocre 23.8 points and 369.2 yards per game. The bad news is that nine of last season's starters have left, and a tenth, safety Kyle Theret has been suspended for the season opener. Parlay that with the fact that the 'D' has to run up against a team full of talented Blue Raiders that there isn't a lot of tape on, and the recipe could be there for a lot of points to hit the scoreboard for the hosts.

The other bad news for Minnesota is that the offense just isn't that great. There's a reason that incumbent QB Adam Weber is still watching his back for his starting job after he threw for 2,590 yards a year ago. Weber led an offense that only averaged 306.5 yards and 20.9 points per game. Scoring 21 points won't win this game like it will against some of the lousiest schools in the Big Ten.

Blue Raider Uprising

The Blue Raiders are welcoming their first ever Big Ten team to Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium, so expect this atmosphere to be intense in this nationally televised game. MTSU comes into this one having won seven straight games both SU and against the college football betting odds.

Though this was supposed to be a game in which Dasher shined, his teammates can still pick up for his shortcomings. Don't be shocked to see the Sun Belt pick up a huge win here in spite of the fact that the Blue Raiders are three point underdogs on the NCAA football betting lines.