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December 30th, 2011 By Andrew Ryan

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A team that struggles in bowl games historically will take on a team that usually excels in these situations, and we are set to make our Sun Bowl picks for the encounter between the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and the Utah Utes on New Year’s Eve.

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Sun Bowl Matchup: Utah Utes vs. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
Sun Bowl Date/Time: Saturday, December 31st, 2:00 ET
Sun Bowl Location: Sun Bowl Stadium, El Paso, TX
Sun Bowl Odds: Georgia Tech -2.5
Sun Bowl Total: 50.5
Sun Bowl TV Coverage: CBS

We foreshadowed this right at the top, and now we are going to discuss in depth why we much prefer the Utes in this game over the Yellow Jackets. Utah’s bowl history is rock solid. Sure, the team was rocked in last year’s Las Vegas Bowl, but it was hard to not see that one coming, considering the fact that the Boise State Broncos were one of the best teams in America. However, aside from that, the Utes have won nine straight bowl games dating back to 1999, and that includes some big time wins in the BCS as well. Georgia Tech… not so much. It was beaten 14-7 in last year’s Independence Bowl by the Air Force Falcons, marking the third straight year in which the team has failed to score more than 14 in its bowl game. It also marked the team’s sixth straight defeat in a bowl.

Part of the problem that the Ramblin’ Wreck have is that they just don’t come up with enough wrinkles on offense with this triple option to really fool the opposition. In each of these last three years, the offense was good enough to put up 40 on any team in America, but in all three games, it just wasn’t nearly good enough to put enough points on the board to win. This has been the case for Head Coach Paul Johnson since his days with the Naval Academy, as it was rare that he was able to win bowl games there either, especially when those bowl games were played later in the season like this one will be.

Of course, it doesn’t help matters for G-Tech at all that Utah has a stout front line on both offense and defense. Offensively, the squad opened up all sorts of holes for RB John White IV all season long, and on the other side of the pigskin, the front seven held teams down to under 100 rushing yards per game, tops in the Pac-12 and in the Top 10 in the country. Of course, we expect to see QB Tevin Washington and the gang put up at least 200 rushing yards in this one, but if the team doesn’t get into the 300s, it isn’t going to win. There were five rushers on this team that had at least 422 yards on the ground this year, but that won’t make a difference if the offensive line doesn’t find a way to hold up against this great defense.

Utah is definitely void of some of its skill players right now, and it has to be kicking itself for how badly that it played against the lowly Colorado Buffaloes in the last game of the regular season, a game that cost it a shot to play for the Pac-12 Championship. However, when you look at the ACC in general, you really can’t help to be all that impressed, especially if you watched the way that the North Carolina Tar Heels were destroyed by a very comparable Missouri Tigers squad. In the end, there is just too much going against Georgia Tech to have any desire to back it outright, let alone laying points with it, so we are going to take the Utes in their first bowl game as a Pac-12 school to come up with the outright upset to capture the 2011 Sun Bowl in El Paso.

Free Sun Bowl Pick: Utah +2.5

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December 30th, 2011 By Andrew Ryan

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If you’re a fan of playing big time dogs with some motivation against favored teams that probably aren’t going to have a heck of a lot to give to the game, you’ve reached the right NCAA football bowl betting bash. The Northwestern Wildcats will take on the Texas A&M Aggies in the Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas, and we are set to make our bowl picks and predictions for the first game on December 31st

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Meineke Car Care Bowl Matchup: Texas A&M Aggies vs. Northwestern Wildcats
Meineke Car Care Bowl Date/Time: Saturday, December 31st, 12:00 ET
Meineke Car Care Bowl Location: Reliant Stadium, Houston, TX
Meineke Car Care Bowl Odds: Texas A&M -10
Meineke Car Care Bowl Total: 67
Meineke Car Care Bowl TV Coverage: ESPN, ESPN3.com

Without looking at these two teams all that closely, it is apparently why Texas A&M is the favored side in this game. Being a team in the middle of the pack in the Big XII is generally a heck of a lot better than being in the middle of the pack in a mediocre Big Ten, and that definitely plays into the Aggies’ hands. They are going to have home field advantage, and at least on paper, they have the more balanced team on both sides of the ball. However, the Wildcats were already able to pull off one upset this year when they beat the Nebraska Cornhuskers in Lincoln, and they have a tremendous chance to do some big time damage in this game as well.

QB Dan Persa really does a nice job taking care of the football for the Cats, as he almost always completes at least 70 percent of his passes every time out there. This year, QB Kain Kolter is also used quite a bit, and he is used in a number of ways. He is lined up at receiver and is third on the team in most receiving categories, he is the leading rusher, the leading touchdown scorer, and can throw the rock as well out of either the Wildcat or traditional sets. Sound familiar? It almost sounds like what the Aggies were doing with QB Ryan Tannehill before he took over as the starting quarterback halfway through last season…

Now that Tannehill had a full year under his belt, defenses started to figure him out. Sure, A&M still scores almost 40 points on the average game, but the best ‘D’s were able to at least contain him, especially from the point that RB Christine Michael got hurt. The ground game is now left to just RB Cyrus Gray, who is a great athlete, but he isn’t really that between the tackles type of back that would really make this team complete.

In the end, we really prefer Northwestern in this one. The Aggies really took advantage of the weak parts of their schedule, but they were never able to finish off the good teams. Northwestern won four in a row to become bowl eligible before losing in the finale to the Michigan State Spartans, but that won’t put a damper on anything that it is doing. The Wildcats were happy to go on the road this year to Chestnut Hill, where they took down the Boston College Eagles to start the year, just as they were pumped to beat the Huskers in Lincoln. They are going to come into this de facto road game with the same sort of mentality for sure, and it is a mentality that we think is going to end up leading to an upset to close out 2011.

Free Meineke Car Care Bowl Pick: Northwestern +10

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December 30th, 2011 By Andrew Ryan

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The Iowa Hawkeyes and the Oklahoma Sooners are going to close out a great day of NCAA football betting action on December 30th, as they will play each other in the Insight Bowl in Tempe. Check out our free Insight Bowl picks.

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Insight Bowl Matchup: Iowa Hawkeyes vs. Oklahoma Sooners
Insight Bowl Date/Time: Friday, December 30th, 10:00 ET
Insight Bowl Location: Sun Devil Stadium, Tempe, AZ
Insight Bowl Odds: Oklahoma -13.5
Insight Bowl Total: 58
Insight Bowl TV Coverage: ESPN, ESPN3.com

On paper, if you just take a blanket look at these two teams, it is clear that the Sooners should be running the Hawkeyes off of the field. That being said, Oklahoma probably should’ve crushed the Boise State Broncos in the Fiesta Bowl in 2006, and it probably should have demolished the West Virginia Mountaineers in the Fiesta Bowl in 2007, so it’s not like we haven’t seen this team put together a bit of a dud in a bowl game.

This year though, there are some real issues for the Sooners to overcome. They have dropped two of their last three games, including getting absolutely blown to bits by the Oklahoma State Cowboys in Bedlam, a game that took them out of the BCS. The team has been without WR Ryan Broyles for over a month, and RB Dominique Whaley has been out for a week longer than that. Both are out for the season, and the offense just hasn’t been the same without these two. To make matters worse, RB Roy Finch still might be suspended in this one for some off the field issues. And, WR Jaz Reynolds has kidney issues that will probably keep him sidelined for this game as well. That leaves WR Kenny Stills as the only awesome receiving option for QB Landry Jones, and there really aren’t any running backs that have any sort of experience. The next leading rusher is RB Brennan Clay, who only has 230 yards on 66 carries.

RB Marcus Coker and WR Marvin McNutt accounted for almost two thirds of the Iowa offense this year. Coker ran for 1,384 yards and had a total of 15 TDs this year, while McNutt had 78 receptions for 1,269 yards and a dozen scores, but he has been suspended for this game. Don’t forget about WR Keenan Davis as well. He averaged over 14 yards per reception this year, and he had 637 yards and four scores. QB James Vandenberg is playing in his first bowl game placing QB Ricky Stanzi, who graduated last year, and he threw for 2,806 yards and 23 TDs against just six picks.

Call us crazy, but we tend to think that the Hawkeyes are going to win this game. We know that Head Coach Kirk Ferentz is going to get his guys ready to go in this one, and you can bet that Iowa is going to be pulling everything out of its pocket to win this game. We just aren’t all that sure that Oklahoma is going to be all that motivated. Remember that these Hawkeyes were good enough to knock off the Michigan Wolverines at home, and they are off to the BCS this season. If they are good enough to beat Big Blue, they are good enough to play an Oklahoma team that just hasn’t been the same over the course of the last month or so.

Free Insight Bowl Pick: Iowa +13.5

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December 30th, 2011 By Andrew Ryan

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There are only two bowl games this year outside of the BCS that pitted two 10+ win teams against one another. Few probably would have guessed that the GoDaddy.com Bowl odds would be battled between two teams that already have double digits worth of wins. We expect this one between the Arkansas State Red Wolves and the Northern Illinois Huskies to be a special game on the eve of the BCS National Championship.

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GoDaddy.com Bowl Matchup: Arkansas State Red Wolves vs. Northern Illinois Huskies
GoDaddy.com Bowl Date/Time: Sunday, January 8th, 9:00 ET
GoDaddy.com Bowl Location: Ladd Peebles Stadium, Mobile, AL
GoDaddy.com Bowl Odds: Arkansas State -1.5
GoDaddy.com Bowl Total: 63
GoDaddy.com Bowl TV Coverage: ESPN, ESPN3.com

If you haven’t seen these two quarterbacks take to the field this year, you really need to make sure that you don’t just turn off the television after the two NFL playoff games on Sunday. QB Ryan Aplin and QB Chandler Harnish are both all over the field and can do just about anything out there. Aplin is setting the stage for what should be a fantastic senior season next year under Gus Malzahn. He threw for 3,235 yards and 18 TDs, and he rushed for 605 yards and nine more scores. Harnish, a four year starter in DeKalb, finished up his senior season with 2,942 passing yards, a 26/5 TD/INT ratio, and 1,382 rushing yards and 11 scores. Needless to say, these are some big time yardage totals both through the air and on the ground, and we don’t think that there will be any different results this time around either.

These aren’t nearly the only key players in this game. The Red Wolves have a fantastic receiver in WR Dwayne Frampton, who caught 90 balls for 1,125 yards and six TDs. He and WRs Josh Jarboe and Taylor Stockemer are the subject of a tremendous quantity of passes, and they could all be in for big time games against the NIU secondary. Though the receivers aren’t quite as proficient for the Huskies, the boys on the ground definitely are. RBs Jasmin Hopkins and Akeem Daniels, along with QB Jordan Lynch combined for almost 1,500 yards this year on the ground, and they all averaged well over five yards per carry. It’s not just the quarterbacks that are putting up the well over 70 points and 900 yards per game that these two teams are averaging.

It’s not like these were that weak of schedules that these teams played this year. The Red Wolves played against a Sun Belt conference that clearly had its best season in league history. They ran the table in conference, going 8-0, and they also stuck with the Virginia Tech Hokies at Lane Stadium pretty much from start to finish and challenged the Illinois Fighting Illini as well in Champaign. The loss at the Kansas Jayhawks turned out to be a pretty bad one for NIU, and in fact, the 2-3 start to the team’s season was nothing to write home about. After that though, the squad went on a tear. This year, the Huskies scored at least 40 points nine times, and they finished up winning eight straight, including coming back from down 20-0 in the MAC Championship Game against the Ohio Bobcats to win the conference and move on to the final bowl game of the year before the BCS National Championship Game.

We just don’t see any way that these two offenses aren’t going to put on a show. These are two teams that we both circled as clubs that could have beaten some of the big boys from the big time conferences, but instead, they got pitted against either other. We see five TDs for both Aplin and Chandler in some form or another over the course of the 60s minutes, and maybe even beyond. Again we warn you, don’t miss this game. It might not be quite as good as the Alamo Bowl was between the Baylor Bears and Washington Huskies, but the potential is definitely there for some tremendous fireworks.

Free GoDaddy.com Bowl Pick: Northern Illinois/Arkansas State Over 63

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December 30th, 2011 By Andrew Ryan

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The Arkansas Razorbacks ended up being ineligible for the BCS this year, while the Kansas State Wildcats were almost certainly snubbed. That being said, the two should make for a great Cotton Bowl betting battle in Big D in a great standalone contest right in the middle of all of the BCS madness.

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Cotton Bowl Matchup: Arkansas Razorbacks vs. Kansas State Wildcats
Cotton Bowl Date/Time: Friday, January 6th, 8:00 ET
Cotton Bowl Location: Dallas Cowboys Stadium, Arlington, TX
Cotton Bowl Odds: Arkansas -7.5
Cotton Bowl Total: 62.5
Cotton Bowl TV Coverage: FOX

There is no doubt in our mind that these are two of the best ten teams in America, though the loser of this game is going to have a tough gripe to finish out the year ranked in the Top 10. Arkansas’ only two losses this year were to the LSU Tigers and the Alabama Crimson Tide, the two teams that are playing against each other in the BCS National Championship Game, and both games came on the road to boot. Kansas State was absolutely toasted by the Oklahoma Sooners before they fell apart, but in its other loss, it gave the Oklahoma State Cowboys a run for their money in Stillwater in a loss that we felt was almost as good as a win from the standpoint of the BCS once the Pokes crushed the Sooners in Bedlam.

There aren’t many out there that would argue about Arkansas being the favored team in this game. The Hogs have a tremendous offense with QB Tyler Wilson calling the shots. Sure, he struggled against the Bayou Bengals the last time that we saw him play, but who doesn’t? Against an atrocious schedule this year, Wilson still threw for 3,422 yards and 22 TDs against just six INTs. The talent at receiver on this team is immense. WR Greg Childs was injured for a good chunk of the year, and that’s why he only has 16 receptions, but WR Jarius Wright had 63 catches for 1,029 yards and 11 TDs, WR Cobi Hamilton averaged 16.6 yards per reception, and WR Joe Adams had 49 receptions for 630 yards. It’s amazing that this team had anything going on the ground this year, though. RB Broderick Green missed the majority of the season injured, and RB Knile Davis hasn’t taken a single snap all season long. RBs Dennis Johnson and Ronnie Wingo picked up the slack, but the hope that Davis might be able to get back in the lineup for this game because of the lateness of the bowl date is encouraging for the Razorbacks.

You absolutely cannot rest on this Kansas State side, though. Sure, the stats aren’t all that pretty. The team only ranked No. 97 in the nation in total offense at 343.4 yards per game, and it allowed 55 more yards per game than it managed. Sure, the pass defense ranked No. 105 in the land and has to go up against this ridiculous Arkansas unit this game. And sure, teams averaged 27.8 points per game against this defense against the 33.1 points scored. The schedule was soft. We know. The Wildcats caught the Baylor Bears and Missouri Tigers at home before they really got hot, got the Texas A&M Aggies and Texas Longhorns after they got cold, and got incredibly lucky at times along the way. Teams like that shouldn’t be in bowl games like this one, but in this case, we think that there is a reason to believe that an upset could occur.

The biggest heart on the field is going to belong to QB Collin Klein. He’s a big boy at 6’5″, 226 lbs, but he just doesn’t have great receivers to work with. He’s a marginal passer, completing just 57.8 percent of his passes, and he only threw 12 scores on the campaign. That being said, he has some grit. He has rushed the football a whopping 293 times, an average of 24.4 times per game, and though he only picked up 3.8 yards per carry, he did score 26 times. There were only seven offensive touchdowns all year that didn’t either come from his legs or his arm. There’s a reason that this team won so many games. We love the heart and we love the intensity, and in the end, that will be enough to at least keep the Wildcats within a touchdown in the Cotton Bowl.

Free Cotton Bowl Pick: Kansas State +7.5

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December 30th, 2011 By Andrew Ryan

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There are many that were majorly opposed to either the Michigan Wolverines or the Virginia Tech Hokies making it to a BCS bowl game, but this is the game that the Sugar Bowl really wanted, and it will be a great one to try to make NCAA football bowl picks with on January 3rd.

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Sugar Bowl Matchup: Virginia Tech Hokies vs. Michigan Wolverines
Sugar Bowl Date/Time: Tuesday, January 3rd, 8:30 ET
Sugar Bowl Location: Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, LA
Sugar Bowl Odds: Michigan -2.5
Sugar Bowl Total: 51
Sugar Bowl TV Coverage: ESPN, ESPN3.com

The big allure of Big Blue is bringing in QB Denard Robinson to this game. Head Coach Brady Hoke tempered Robinson just a bit this year, and the offense isn’t quite as fun as it was when Rich Rodriguez was basically letting the youngster do whatever it was that he wanted to in terms of running the ball, but his stats are still there. Robinson threw for 2,056 yards and 18 TDs and rushed for 1,163 yards and 16 TDs on the campaign. He is going to have a tough time going against a Virginia Tech defense that routinely is able to shut down quarterbacks like him, but it should still be an interesting battle to say the least. The junior quarterback does have an underrated back behind him in RB Fitzgerald Toussaint. He rushed for 1,011 yards and nine scores on the year as well, and he’ll be a huge part of this offensive scheme.

Virginia Tech only lost two games this year, but the one team that it couldn’t stick with was the Clemson Tigers. Not only did the Tigers beat the Hokies in the ACC Championship Game, but they did so at Lane Stadium earlier in the year as well, a place where hardly anyone wins games. That being said, a victory and the Hokies will once again finish the year ranked in the Top 10 in the country, another accomplishment that Head Coach Frank Beamer would have to be incredibly proud of.

The Hokies had one of the nation’s top backs this year in RB David Wilson. Wilson had 1,631 yards on the ground and averaged 6.1 yards per carry in a most smash mouth offense. That’s a tremendous accomplishment to say the least. The man that really needs to be contained though, is WR Danny Coale. Coale is going to do just about everything in this game for the Hokies. He has already rushed the ball three times this year, is the team’s leading receiver with 787 yards and three scores, has the best punting average on the team at 44.1 yards per boot, returns some kicks, returns some punts, and might have to do place kicking duties with K Cody Journell suspended for this game.

In the end, we can’t help but forget how badly the Big Ten generally performs in games like this one. The Hokies aren’t the greatest of the BCS teams, and we surely would have rather seen the Kansas State Wildcats or the Boise State Broncos here instead of them, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t win the game. The speed on this defense is just too much to overcome, and though QB Tajh Boyd was able to do it twice to the Hokies this year, Robinson won’t be able to with a month to prepare for the game. Remember that Michigan didn’t have the strongest schedule in the world that it took on, and though some of the team’s close games ended up coming against teams that were really good, few, if any, are as good as V-Tech is. Hoke did a lot of good things with the Wolverines this year, but winning the Sugar Bowl won’t be added to the list.

Free Sugar Bowl Pick: Virginia Tech +2.5

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December 30th, 2011 By Andrew Ryan

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The first annual New Era Pinstripe Bowl was one of the best bowl games of the season last year, and it has to hope that it can get just as good of a game again this time around. We’re set to make our Pinstripe Bowl picks in the clash between the Rutgers Scarlet Knights and the Iowa State Cyclones.

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Pinstripe Bowl Matchup: Rutgers Scarlet Knights vs. Iowa State Cyclones
Pinstripe Bowl Date/Time: Friday, December 30th, 3:20 ET
Pinstripe Bowl Location: New Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY
Pinstripe Bowl Odds: Rutgers -1.5
Pinstripe Bowl Total: 44.5
Pinstripe Bowl TV Coverage: ESPN, ESPN3.com

Rutgers is going to be the de facto home team in this game, as the trip to the Bronx is a heck of a lot shorter from Piscataway than from Ames. On top of that, the Scarlet Knights were never really a program that enjoyed all that much success, and though the team did finish a game out of the Big East title race and had a disappointing end of the season, the fans will clearly flock in bunches across town from the Garden State for this one.

Iowa State is probably one of the most improbable bowl teams this year, as the team was a 5-4 squad going into its last three games of the season at home against the Oklahoma State Cowboys, Kansas State Wildcats, and the Oklahoma Sooners. That being said, the Cyclones came up with the big game against Okie State to ruin its National Championship dreams, and the team really did play well with covers in each of its final two games as well. The defense was really the difference, and the team is playing a heck of a lot better right now than ranking No. 99 in the nation at 432.0 yards per game and No. 82 in scoring at 29.6 points per game.

Of course, Rutgers’ defense was the reason that this team won eight games this year. It sure wasn’t the offense, that’s for sure. The team ranked No. 100 offensively at 336.5 yards per game, and a lot of the problems came on the ground when there just weren’t any rushers that were able to get the job done on a consistent basis. The passing game wasn’t fantastic with QBs Chas Dodd and Gary Nova, but the play of WR Mohamed Sanu covered up a lot of problems. Sanu caught over 100 passes this year and had 1,144 receiving yards. We know that he has the talent to be able to throw, run, catch, and return, but he was really only used as a receiver this year. That doesn’t mean that he won’t in this game though, and we would expect Head Coach Greg Schiano to deploy him accordingly.

Neither one of these teams are fantastic offensively, but this is a tremendous opportunity for both offenses to push a game past the ‘total’. We pretty much will blindly take any ‘over’ in the bowl season that is in the low 40s, especially if we really knew that weather wasn’t going to be a huge factor. It’s not going to take a heck of a lot for that to happen, and we have to imagine that both teams are going to pull enough tricks out of their hat to be able to push this one into at least the high-40s and probably at least the 50s. Remember just how crazy last year’s Pinstripe Bowl was… and those two teams were really expected to put on the same type of defensive spectacle as these two.

Free Pinstripe Bowl Pick: Rutgers/Iowa State Over 44.5

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December 30th, 2011 By Andrew Ryan

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The ACC and the SEC meet up in a slew of bowl games over the course of the year, and the Music City Bowl is no exception. The Wake Forest Demon Deacons will take on the Mississippi State Bulldogs in Nashville, and we are set to make our Music City Bowl picks for the game on the 30th.

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Music City Bowl Matchup: Wake Forest Demon Deacons vs. Mississippi State Bulldogs
Music City Bowl Date/Time: Friday, December 30th, 6:40 ET
Music City Bowl Location: LP Field, Nashville, TN
Music City Bowl Odds: Mississippi State -6.5
Music City Bowl Total: 48
Music City Bowl TV Coverage: ESPN, ESPN3.com

The Demon Deacons have to be shaking their head about this matchup. They probably ended up playing a terrible game at the end of the year at home against the Vanderbilt Commodores, a 41-7 defeat. The Bulldogs did go just 6-6 this year, but take a look at the six losses… @ Auburn, vs. LSU, @ Georgia, vs. South Carolina, vs. Alabama, @ Arkansas. Yikes! That’s a murderer’s row of games, and aside from that, MSU was an undefeated team that played tremendous football.

What we are probably going to see in this one is a heck of a lot of defense and some sloppy offense. Mississippi State, thanks to the fact that it played such a terrible schedule, ranked No. 87 in the country at 355.1 yards per game, and No. 73 in scoring at 25.5 points per game. Wake Forest averaged just 374.5 yards per game, No. 76 in the land, and 26.8 points per game, No. 61 against a significantly easier schedule.

Running backs are going to be used quite a bit in this one. For Mississippi State, the ball will be put in the hands of RB Vick Ballard and RB LaDarius Perkins. These two rumbled 260 times over the course of the year, and they combined for over 1,400 yards and 10 TDs. The offense isn’t quite as much predicated on the run as it was last year, though neither QB Chris Relf nor QB Tyler Russell were really all that efficient. Neither one threw for even 1,100 yards on the season, though both took a ton of snaps in doing so. Though Wake Forest ranked No. 96 in the country on the ground, RB Brandon Pendergrass will certainly be a factor in the offense. He had 750 yards on the ground this year, and he could really have a big time impact on this game by the time it is said and done with.

If there is a shot for Wake Forest to do some damage in this game, it is going to be WR Chris Givens that has to do the work. He averaged over 17 yards per reception this year, and he always has the ability to break free and put together a big time play. Though Mississippi State was prone to the big play this year, it has a defense that really was able to shut down the majority of plays. QB Tanner Price is going to have to put together a great game, and after seeing Vandy run right through the Deacs in Nashville, we just don’t see how the Demon Deacons are going to be able to compete in this one. Quite honestly, we would have rather seen the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers in this game. MSU was able to beat the snot out of the Michigan Wolverines last year in the Gator Bowl, and this is a significantly easier game than that.

Free Music City Bowl Pick: Mississippi State -6.5

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December 28th, 2011 By Andrew Ryan

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The Ohio State Buckeyes and Florida Gators are only a few years removed from playing each other in the BCS National Championship Game. The stakes aren’t quite as high when the teams reunite for the first time since that point, but we are still ready to take aim at our 2012 Gator Bowl free picks.

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Gator Bowl Matchup: Florida Gators vs. Ohio State Buckeyes
Gator Bowl Date/Time: Monday, January 2nd, 1:00 ET
Gator Bowl Location: Ever Bank Field, Jacksonville, FL
Gator Bowl Odds: Florida -2
Gator Bowl Total: 44
Gator Bowl TV Coverage: ESPN2, ESPN3.com

To say that there is some bad blood in this series is a bit of an understatement. The Gators are going to surely be upset that OSU’s coach as soon as this game is over with will be Urban Meyer, the man that led them to two national titles. Meyer left Florida after last season rather unceremoniously, citing wanting to spend more time with his family and health concerns. He supposedly remained committed to the university, only to take a job with ESPN as an analyst for about three months and then leave for Ohio State less than a year after resigning from his post in Gainesville. Ohio State is going to look for a measure of revenge for its loss in the 2007 BCS National Championship Game, especially knowing that it is going to be missing out on the bowl season next year due to probation recently handed down by the NCAA.

Both of these teams finished at 6-6 this year, but they were certainly two very different 6-6 squads. Florida bulked up its schedule this year by beating a number of teams that really weren’t worth a darn thing at the outset of the year. The Gators went on to finish out the season with just a 3-5 mark in conference play, and they went 2-6 SU and 0-8 ATS in their final eight games. Their only win over a bowl eligible team this year came against the Vanderbilt Commodores. The Buckeyes at least played a schedule against some teams of note, including a surprisingly notable out of conference win against the Toledo Rockets and wins against the Wisconsin Badgers and Illinois Fighting Illini. They also came close against the Michigan State Spartans, Nebraska Cornhuskers, and Michigan Wolverines.

There is some massive raw talent that is going to be on the field in this one. RBs Jeff Demps and Chris Rainey really never totally got going for the Gators this year, but both are going to have one final chance to showcase their skills for the NFL in this one. They did have their best years rushing in terms of total yardage, but they both averaged well over nine yards per time that they touched the football in years past, and neither even reached seven yards per touch this year. On the other side of the field, there is a tremendous amount of speed on the Ohio State defense, but the real question is going to be how WR DeVier Posey can have an impact on a passing game that was completely anemic all season long. This is going to be just the third game that Posey has played this year after serving lengthy NCAA suspensions.

Normally speaking, we would back the SEC team over the Big Ten team in a heartbeat, as the teams from the south generally dominate the ones from the north. That being said, this time around we prefer OSU. QB Braxton Miller is going to be the best signal caller on the field, which is really saying something considering the fact that the Gators are going to use as many as four, and maybe even five different guys to take snaps in this game. Missing OC Charlie Weis will also hurt the Gators. In the end, we think that Florida was nowhere near good enough by SEC standards to be in the bowl season this year, while the Buckeyes were improving from start to finish on the campaign in spite of their three game skid to wrap up the campaign. We think that the last game with Luke Fickell in charge of Ohio State is going to turn out to be a good one, as the boys from Columbus put a happy end to an otherwise dismal season.

Free Gator Bowl Pick: Ohio State +2

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December 18th, 2011 By Andrew Ryan

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The BYU Cougars are going to be playing their first bowl game as an independent, and they have a fantastic showdown on the NCAA football betting lines against the Tulsa Golden Hurricane at the Armed Forces Bowl.

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Armed Forces Bowl Matchup: Tulsa Golden Hurricane vs. BYU Cougars
Armed Forces Bowl Date/Time: Friday, December 30th, 12:00 ET
Armed Forces Bowl Location: Gerald J. Ford Stadium, Dallas, TX
Armed Forces Bowl Odds: BYU -2.5
Armed Forces Bowl Total: 55.5
Armed Forces Bowl TV Coverage: ESPN, ESPN3.com

Tulsa and BYU both are tremendously different teams, but both do have the potential to play fantastic games against some of the best teams in the country. Tulsa only lost four games this year, and all four came against teams that were potential BCS teams going into the very last week of the season. Those losses came against the Houston Cougars, Boise State Broncos, Oklahoma Sooners, and Oklahoma State Cowboys. However, BYU was only tripped up of late against the TCU Horned Frogs ever since getting embarrassed by the Utah Utes in Salt Lake City in the middle of September.

Head Coach Bronco Mendenhall knew that his team truly needed a spark after some mediocre results under QB Jake Heaps, and the end result was putting the more mobile QB Riley Nelson back in the saddle. Nelson came on strong at the end of the year and helped BYU put 41 or 42 points on the board in its final three games of the season. Nelson, the more experienced of the two Cougars quarterbacks, threw for 1,467 yards and 16 TDs against five picks on the campaign. He should have a field day against a team that ranks poorly against the pass and has for each of the last two years.

That being said, BYU’s defense is going to be up against it as well. Sure, the unit ranks in the Top 25 in the country in a ton of major categories, but the Tulsa offense is as good as could be. QB GJ Kinne has thrown for 2,876 yards and 25 TDs this year, and he has done so with a bit of a makeshift receiving corps that no longer includes WR Damaris Johnson, who was kicked off the team before the season started due to some off the field problems. He can run the ball as well, and when Tulsa’s offense is at its best is when the team is running all over the place.

We just don’t know whether we really trust the Golden Hurricane in this one or not. BYU is 6-2 ATS in its last eight games played in the month of December, and it is clearly has been a hot team down the stretch. Tulsa has been a great team all season long, but most of these wins have come against teams that either aren’t bowl or are just barely bowling. The only victories came against the SMU Mustangs and Marshall Thundering Herd, and both games were at home. We really don’t know a heck of a lot about this Tulsa team against an opponent like this one, but we tend to think that the Cougars are closer to being a team like Boise State than a team like the UAB Blazers or North Texas Mean Green.

Free Armed Forces Bowl Pick: BYU -2.5

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December 17th, 2011 By Andrew Ryan

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Over the course of the first week of bowl games, there aren’t a heck of a lot of teams that are the big time collegiate programs that are going to send thousands and thousands of fans to the game. That all changes when we make our Holiday Bowl picks though, as the Texas Longhorns take on the Cal Golden Bears in San Diego.

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Holiday Bowl Matchup: California Golden Bears vs. Texas Longhorns
Holiday Bowl Date/Time: Wednesday, December 28th, 4:30 ET
Holiday Bowl Location: Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego, CA
Holiday Bowl Odds: Texas -3
Holiday Bowl Total: 47.5
Holiday Bowl TV Coverage: ESPN, ESPN3.com

Depending on which team turns out to dominate the flow of this game, there could either be a whole heck of a lot of offense or a whole heck of a lot of defense in this game. Texas is hoping for defense. Cal is probably a little more flexible, but generally, it is hoping for offense. Both teams have proven that they can win either type of game though, and that should make for an awesome Holiday Bowl, making it one of the best bowl games early in the season.

Texas has its problems offensively, though. The team really never did settle on a quarterback this year, though we tend to think that QB Case McCoy, brother of Longhorns’ legend QB Colt McCoy who will take the majority of the snaps in this game. The running situation is murky as well, as there could be a heck of a lot of different players carrying the pigskin. There really hasn’t been much continuity due to injury, but the unit is still averaging over 200 yards per game on the ground. If this isn’t going to be the case at the Holiday Bowl though, the Horns are clearly in a heck of a lot of trouble. The good news though, is that their defense is tremendous. It had some games this year in which it just didn’t stack up, like the regular season finale against Heisman Trophy winner, QB Robert Griffin and the Baylor Bears, but for the most part, they really performed well against the middle of the road teams in the conference who are comparable to what they will be taking on with the Golden Bears.

Cal uses the run and pass effectively, and Head Coach Jeff Tedford has really done a nice job making the best out of a bad situation at quarterback. QB Zach Maynard is a transfer from the University of Buffalo, and he survived an offseason challenge to take over the starting quarterback job, and he never looked back. WRs Keenan Allen and Marvin Jones can both go deep, and when secondaries are loosened up, it really makes more room for RBs Isi Sofele and CJ Anderson, both of which have the big time running capabilities as well. This offense has it all, but the reason why this team didn’t make the most of its situation this year is because it took awhile for it all to gel and there are still some tremendous inconsistencies.

We just don’t love this Texas team, but we aren’t really all that wild over Cal either. That being said, we think that this game is a bit of a toss-up. Nothing would surprise us, but we’d rather take the points and have them on our side than lay points. The Golden Bears weren’t in a bowl game last year, but they are going to be thrilled to be in a de facto home game in this one. We’re still not all that sure, two years removed from playing in the BCS National Championship Game, how excited the Longhorns are about playing in the Holiday Bowl as well.

Free Holiday Bowl Pick: California +3

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December 17th, 2011 By Andrew Ryan

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Points should be aplenty in the Military Bowl, and we are set to make our college football bowl picks in the clash between the Toledo Rockets and the Air Force Falcons in Washington DC.

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Military Bowl Matchup: Toledo Rockets vs. Air Force Falcons
Military Bowl Date/Time: Wednesday, December 28th, 4:30 ET
Military Bowl Location: FedEx Field, Landover, MD
Military Bowl Odds: Toledo -3
Military Bowl Total: 69.5
Military Bowl TV Coverage: ESPN, ESPN3.com

Though there are games that might have more points in them this bowl season than the Military Bowl, you aren’t going to find all that many with a dynamic like this one. Toledo and Air Force both use a whole host of players to move the football, though the Rockets run a ridiculous spread attack, while the Falcons are running the triple option virtually all the time.

The good news for the Rockets is that they do have a rush defense that is pretty darn solid. They were able to hold down the Temple Owls, the only other team on their schedule that really predominantly runs the ball (after all, the MAC is a pass happy conference), and that does bode well for this game, though it’s clearly not the same type of attack that they need to ready themselves for this time around.

The bad news is that Air Force, unlike most of the rest of the triple option teams out there, has a quarterback that can run a traditional offensive scheme. QB Tim Jefferson, Jr. has gotten more and more liberties to throw the football as his career has gone on, and now that he is wrapping up his senior season of a fine career, he is sure to be allowed to do a lot offensively under Head Coach Troy Calhoun in this game. Jefferson had one of his worst years as a rusher, but in fairness, RB Asher Clark was also a 1,000-yard back this year, and Jefferson did throw for 1,478 yards and a dozen TDs.

The bad news for Air Force is that its defense has been shoddy against the run all year long. Though the Rockets deploy two quarterbacks in QBs Terrance Owens and Austin Dantin, they do run the ball quite a bit with a plethora of options as well, including both quarterbacks. WR Eric Page, who had over 1,100 receiving yards this year, could be a big time factor as well, though the Falcons do play very disciplined ball in the secondary.

In the end, these two teams combined for 76.6 points per game this year, and the bowl games are usually some of the highest scoring games of the year. After watching the Rockets play games in back to back weeks into the 120s, we know that absolutely anything is possible. Don’t let last year’s 14-7 Independence Bowl involving Air Force scare you. These two teams can, and will score points in bunches, and this one should at least get into the 80s.

Free Military Bowl Pick: Toledo/Air Force Over 69.5

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