College football bowl season begins in just six short days on the 17th. Leading us off are the Blue Raiders of Middle Tennessee St. and the Rockets from Toledo with action starting at 11:00am CST in the Bahamas. Subscribe to get the full College Football Bowl Game Schedule including the point spreads.
Currently, the odds sit in the Rockets favor as 10 point favorites, while the total is listed at 52 points. These two teams are just the tip of the iceberg with all that encompasses each and every bowl season bonanza! This season (post season) for college football is compiled of 42 bowl games for the pickings – betting pickings that is. We will spoiled with more college football from December 17th through January 4th (not including the CFP National Championship Game).
A “tip” that you may hear quite often when referring to betting bowl games is having awareness of certain teams’ motivation levels, or lack thereof. However, I have a strong belief that this lack of motivation only stems from Power 5 schools. Point being, smaller, mid-major programs will typically always fight tooth-and-nail during these bowl game match-ups. For the most part, they have no business, nor shot, at competing for an FBS college football national championship. Hence, these are the moments and games that they live to play for with their emotional and motivational levels at very high levels compared to some Power 5 programs that view these match-ups as just that – just another game.
Getting down to “how” and “why: behind making our plays, lets take a peak at a few tips that we’ll need to keep in mind while “bowl-betting” this winter. Thus far, I have already mentioned the motivation factor; now we need to be weary of each team’s player “opt-outs.” Opt-outs are become more and more prevalent in the college football bowl season realm. Athletes now understand how much is potential at stake for their future. Many argue if this is the right or wrong OPTion to consider as a student-athlete; however, maybe that discussion can be had a different time for a different post. As a side note: the first name that comes to mind when I think about the most impactful college football bowl “opt-outs” is Christian McCaffrey during his time at Stanford as he decided to not participate in the Sun Bowl in 2016. This created a storm of controversy regarding whether or not McCaffrey was in the right or wrong by abandoning his team to secure himself for a high draft pick and inevitably make millions for the single stroke of a pen. Pause and think to yourself for just a second: What would you do in his situation? Would you abandon your team and Seniors during their last moments of battle or would you guarantee that your future was safe by not participating in just another bowl game? Thankfully I have no skin in the game, so I don’t have any strong opinions siding either which way.
While we are on the subject of bowl season, we obviously have to discuss the CFP a bit (College Football Playoff). For the first time in its infancy, a mid-major school has been awarded to participate in the CFP. It’s a progressive world that we live in so I guess that this too fits the bill. On December 31st, Alabama (1) will take on Cincinnati (4) in the Cotton Bowl where the Tide is currently 13.5 point favorites. Immediately following, Michigan (2) squares up against Georgia (3) as 7.5 point underdogs in the Orange Bowl.
These odds seem very difficult to side with, at least in my “professional” opinion. However, I do know that both Michigan and Georgia have exceptional defenses that would pose for a low scoring game. Hence, I would more often than not side with the given points in low scoring affairs as the total is currently only set at 43.5… Michigan +7.5, give it to me! That is my best bet for these two CFP match-ups. Best of luck come this bowl-betting season and may the most motivated come out victorious (at least from a point-spread perspective).
Upcoming Football Picks:
Military Bowl: Boston College vs. E. Carolina (+3.5) – PICK: E. CAROLINA
RAVENS @ BROWNS (-2.5) – PICK: BROWNS
FALCONS @ PANTHERS (-3) – PICK: PANTHERS
SEAHAWKS @ TEXANS (+7.5) – PICK: TEXANS
STEELERS @ VIKINGS (-3) – PICK: VIKINGS
49ERS @ BENGALS (-1) – PICK: BENGALS
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