College Football Picks

When you hear the words “Rose Bowl”, old guys from all over the country can’t help but reminisce about Keith Jackson’s stoic voice saying “Ah the Rose Bowl, the Grandaddy of them All!” This year’s contest should be a real doozy between two teams that were on the fringe for playing in the National Championship game. In all candidness, there are some games better watched and enjoyed than bet. This is one of them.

There’s a difference of opinion in the Predictem office on this one. Jay thinks the Georgia Bulldogs have enough tools in the shed to get it done. Others question Georgia’s motivtion to play their best in the Sugar Bowl after their National Championship hopes were crushed. At time of print, it’s not yet clear if D’Andre Swift will sit. My bet is he will.

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish come into the Camping World Bowl as slight -3.5 favorites vs. the Iowa State Cyclones. If you’re a fan of trends, you’ll likely be wagering on ND as Iowa State defense that ranks nationally 66th against the pass, 52nd and six of the Cyclones seven wins came against FCS Northern Iowa, 5-7 UL Monroe and the bottom four teams in the Big 12. ISU is just 5-25 in their last 30 games against ranked teams. It’s hard to fade numbers like those!

It’s weird to see someone (Memphis) other than Central Florida represent the American Athletic Conferences’s best in the Cotton Bowl. The Tigers will get a Penn State Nittany Lions team that didn’t finish out the season very strong. Bookmakers are suspicious that Memphis has a shot to win this game straight up as they’re only a +7 underdog.

Two teams that don’t really deserve to be in a bowl game meet up in a baseball stadium trying to be a football stadium on December 27th as the Michigan State Spartans (6-6 SU, 3-9 ATS) meet up with the Wake Forest Demon Deacons (8-4 SU, 5-6-1 ATS) in the Pinstripe Bowl. Keep a garbage can nearby to barf in while watching this one!

Weekday-daytime college football takes place (Yeah Baby!) on December 27th as the North Carolina Tar Heels (6-6 SU, 7-5 ATS) battle the Temple Owls (8-4 SU, 8-4 ATS) in the Military Bowl. Instead of talking about the game in this space, The Predictem family would like to give a HUGE Thank You and salute both active and retired military for the sacrifices you’ve made to make the United States the great country that it is.

The Cheez-It Bowl features a kind of weird matchup between the ground attack of Air Force vs. the aerial attack of the Washington State Cougars. When college football games feature a low point spread where it’s tough to pick a winner, it’s often times best to look at the total, which is what Wilson is doing here.

The ACC isn’t exactly a superpower in college football, but when matched up with a team from the MAC, there’s a huge indifference. The Pitt Panthers are simply better at every position than the Eastern Michigan Eagles. We make this point spread at -14.5 so will happily lay the eleven points, despite the game being played at Ford Field, only 36 miles away from the EMU campus.

BYU is usually a very focused team, so I don’t see the typical enamourment with all the good things that come with going to Hawaii being much of a distraction. The problem for BYU is that the Aloha Bowl is a home game for the Rainbow Warriors and they’re actually a pretty good team. I’m not much of a conspiracy theorist, but having watched numerous games on the island, weird things happen and opposing teams almost always seem to be on the wrong end of the stick with regards to penalties. Watch and you shall see!

Make no doubt about it, UCF is the superior college football team here. The question is will they be motivated enough to get up for this game vs. a lesser opponent in a lesser bowl game? Our answer is no. The Thundering Herd played well this season and are happy to be in this game. We’re happy getting +17 here, which is a key number in college football betting!

The 2019 Holiday Bowl should be a pretty good game. Both the USC Trojans and Iowa Hawkeyes come into the game with three straight wins. Sometimes the best handicapping angle for college bowl games is figuring out which team will be more motivated. Iowa is notorious for giving maximum effort regardless of what the situation entails. USC has had some instances in which they’ve lacked motivation. Check out Loot’s Holiday Bowl game prediction before placing your bets!

The Sun Bowl should be called the “Who Cares Bowl” as the Florida State Semioles and Arizona State Sun Devils meet up to do battle. These teams went 13-11 combined and neither had winning records against the spread. The difference maker here will likely be Jayden Daniels for ASU, who had 17 touchdowns vs. only 2 interceptions.

Undefeated conference champions meet up in the Fiesta Bowl where the Ohio State Buckeyes face the Clemson Tigers for the right to move on to NCAA football’s National Championship game on January 7th in Santa Clara, California. This is somewhat of a revenge game for OSU after they were blanked 31-0 in this spot back in 2016. Be sure to read Ted’s take for placing your bets on this game!

The Alamo Bowl should be a great game between a Utes team that played very poorly vs. Oregon and the Longhorns who will have a semi home game with the contest being played in Texas. Don’t write off this Utah team! The Utes are a well discplined team that will be motivated off an ugly loss where they were expected to compete much better than they did.

The Outback Bowl pits the surprising Minnesota Golden Gophers vs. the Auburn Tigers. Casual bettors everywhere will see that the Tigers beat Bama and automatically write off Minnesota’s chances of winning this contest. Truth be told, these teams match up very well and PJ Fleck’s club has a pretty good shot to win this game straight up behind QB Tanner Morgan who has an almost 5-1 touchdown to interception ratio.

This should be deemed “The Sooners Shoudn’t Be Here Bowl” sponsored by the Utah Utes and Georgia Bulldogs. Losses by both teams opened the door for the Sooners to participate in the college football playoffs semifinal game vs. the top ranked LSU Tigers. We’re predicting the Peach Bowl will be a smash spot for Ed Orgeron’s crew. The Tigers are 10-3-2 ATS in the last 15 contests and have covered 5 straight against their last 5 Big 12 opponents.