The Russell Athletic Bowl is one of the games on the college football bowl schedule this year, and today, I’m set to make my NCAA football pointspread picks for the ‘total’ in this clash. The Rutgers Scarlet Knights and the Virginia Tech Hokies are going to do battle at the Florida Citrus Bowl in Orlando, FL. Join me for my Russell Athletic Bowl tips for this 5:30 p.m. ET kickoff that can be seen on ESPN.
The Russell Athletic Bowl isn’t a game that is going to be for the faint of heart, as there aren’t two teams that I hate more in this bowl season than these two playing against each other. Virginia Tech is a team that had Top 10 talent this year but underachieved and had to win its final two games of the season just to make it to a bowl game, while Rutgers overachieved but ultimately screwed the pooch with its multiple opportunities to lock up the Big East crown. This is the punishment for both of these clubs.
2012 Russell Athletic Bowl
Rutgers Scarlet Knights (9-3, 7-5 ATS) +2
Virginia Tech Hokies (6-6, 3-9 ATS) -2
Over/Under 41
Both of these offenses flat out stink. QB Logan Thomas and QB Gary Nova both only succeeded this year in figuring out how to screw up the big time moments, though both did at least come up with a total of over 20 touchdowns on the campaign between their arm and their legs. Rutgers ranked 102nd in the country in total offense at 341.1 yards per game, while the team also came in at just 96th in scoring at 22.4 points per game. Virginia Tech wasn’t all that much better at 391.8 YPG (71st) and 26.1 PPG (81st). The two teams combined for exactly zero games with more than 37 points scored in it against FBS opponents out of 22 combined games.
It’s not all that often that you see me liking an ‘under’ in a bowl game like this one where the weather will be good and the ‘total’ is so low, but this is an exception to the rule. I’m just not 100% certain that either Virginia Tech or Rutgers is going to be all that thrilled to be here in the Sunshine State for the Russell Athletic Bowl, and as a result, I expect to see a sloppy game with more turnovers than touchdowns and plenty of gaffes along the way.
Rutgers vs. Virginia Tech Picks & Tips: Under 41
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