Saturday, December 26th sees six games scheduled and a full day of action beginning with an early start time of 11:00am ET. That game features Connecticut vs. Marshall in the St. Petersburg Bowl, and it’s expected to be the lowest-scoring game of the day. The online sportsbooks list 9-3 Marshall as a four-point favorite against the 6-6 Huskies, with a 44-point total.
All five of the other games have totals of 55.5 or more points. Both teams are allowing less than 20 ppg defensively, and UConn has gone Under the total in all seven games when listed as an underdog. While there are no ranked teams in action on the full Saturday slate, there are eight teams from Power 5 Conferences in action.
The featured (and latest) game is the Foster’s Farm Bowl, which has the Big Ten’s Nebraska against the Pac 12’s UCLA. The Cornhuskers have not had a good year and were a bowl exemption after a 5-7 record in the regular season – however they do have a signature win against Michigan State on their resume. UCLA is a 6.5-point favorite and will have a sizeable home field edge. This is because according to Price Per Player they will be playing this game in their home state of California.
There are no CFB Bowl games on Sunday with the NFL taking center stage, but Bowl Season resumes on Monday, December 28th with a pair of afternoon matchups. Pittsburgh will face #21 Navy in Annapolis, MD in the Military Bowl – a short layoff for the Midshipmen who beat Army 21-17 last weekend. Navy’s only two losses this season came against good offenses in Notre Dame and Houston, and laying the small 3.5-point number looks attractive. Minnesota is a 5.5-point favorite against the MAC’s Central Michigan in the second game, kicking off at 5:00 ET. Golden Gophers are another 5-7 team that received a Bowl exemption, and come in riding a current 4-1 ATS winning streak. According to pay per head bookies, there are four games on Tuesday, December 29th. furthermore, it includes the first matchup of ranked teams. #17 Baylor is listed as a three-point favorite against #10 North Carolina in the Citrus Bowl.
The online sportsbooks have yet to post an over/under, but it is expected to be very high with the Bears scoring 48 points per game and UNC putting up 41 ppg. Both teams enter this matchup off a straight up loss, with UNC falling against #1 Clemson in the ACC Championship Game and Baylor getting upset by Texas as a big 21-point home favorite. The other big matchup on Tuesday is the Texas Bowl, where Texas Tech will face #20 LSU.
The Tigers ended a three-game losing streak with a win against Texas A&M in the regular season finale, while Texas Tech finished the season with back-to-back wins against Kansas State and Texas. Red Raiders beat Arkansas on the road in their only matchup against the SEC this season, but LSU is listed as a seven-point favorite and should have a great day running against a Texas Tech defense that is giving up a full six yards per rush attempt defensively. We’ll return next week with Part Three of our CFB Bowl Betting Previews.
