*3 Star Play Over* The Boston Red Sox start Nate Eovaldi here. While he has been a good pitcher for Boston, I'm not confident Eovaldi will be good in this game. Eovaldi threw 24 pitches in relief in game four and is off his normal schedule. Also, the Houston Astros lineup has torched Eovaldi in his career. This Astros lineup has a tremendous .389 weighted on base average against Eovaldi in 104 at bats.

Luis Garcia was hit hard earlier in this series by the Red Sox. The Boston offense has been absolutely on fire in the postseason. This team is hitting for power in a way that almost no team before them has in the postseason. 

Alan Porter is a hitter-friendly umpire and he'll be behind the plate here. These are arguably the two best offenses in baseball. Every game in this series has reached at least 9 runs. I think this one will as well.

Take the over. 

*3 Star Play Under* The Purdue Boilermakers are coming off a 24-7 win at Iowa. Purdue has made a habit out of having very low scoring games this year. In fact their last four games have finished with a total of: 40 points, 22 points, 33 points, and 31 points. 

Wisconsin has already played three games this year that finished with a total of 34 points or less. The Badgers defense is elite. They rank 1st in the nation in success rate allowed. They are 3rd in the nation in yards per play allowed on defense. The Badgers have given up some points in games where their defense was excellent (Notre Dame for example) because of turnovers and special teams touchdowns. The Boilermakers aren't going to be able to run the ball. Purdue is averaging 2.75 ypc on the year. Wisconsin has good corners and I expect Jim Leonard to have a good plan for defending David Bell.

The Purdue defense is underrated. They rank 7th in the nation in success rate allowed. Wisconsin's offense isn't good at all. Graham Mertz has been bad, and the running game isn't up to par either. The Badgers are 101st in the nation in yards per play on offense. 

Look for a hard fought battle here. 

Take the under. 

*3 Star Play Under* The Oklahoma State Cowboys are unbeaten, but they are a flawed team. The Cowboys offense isn't good at all. Spencer Sanders is a poor passer. Sanders ranks 83rd at PFF in quarterback grade this year. He isn't connecting on any deep plays this year in the passing game. The Oklahoma State offense will have to be able to run here. Can they? Iowa State is 7th in the nation in yards per carry allowed this season. The Cyclones should make it hard on the Cowboys to get going here.

Iowa State prefers to play at a slow pace. The Cyclones rank 110th in the nation out of 130 teams in terms of tempo. Iowa State's running game hasn't been as good as expected this year. Oklahoma State has what I believe is the best defense in the Big 12 (2nd is probably Iowa State). The Cowboys are tremendous against the run. Oklahoma State should slow down Breece Hall here. 

Iowa State is favored here and if they are playing from the lead that likely would lead to more conservative play and a slow tempo.

Take the under. 

*4 Star Play Over* The Kent State Golden Flashes struggled offensively in the non-conference portion of their schedule, but that was largely because they faced great defenses. Kent State had to go up against Texas A&M and Iowa and even a pretty good Maryland defense. Kent State is now in the MAC where their uptempo offense should be able to pile up points against most of the defenses.

Kent State has scored 27, 48, and 31 points in their last three games. The only defense that ranks slightly worse than Ohio that Kent State has played so far this year (of FBS opponents) is Buffalo. That is the game Kent scored 48 points.

Ohio has a good running attack. They really aren't good at anything else. Ohio ran for nearly 400 yards on Akron. They ran for 271 yards against Buffalo last week. Kent State has an awful run defense. They are allowing 5.42 yards per carry. The Bobcats should get a big day from their running backs and quarterback Armani Rogers on the ground here. 

Kent State plays at an ultra fast tempo. The Golden Flashes rank 2nd in the country in tempo. They have played much faster in MAC action than in non-conference action. They are averaging less than 19 seconds between plays. 

When these two teams last met in 2019 the final was 45-38. Expect another high scoring game.

Take the over.