Bowl Games You Should Bet on Now!

Barkevious Mingo and the LSU defense will be a tough chore for Clemson.

I’ve found over the years that college football bowl games can often be one of the more difficult post-season contests to wager on for several reasons. First, many teams will often have to deal with coaching changes as coaches move up the food chain. Most athletic directors are reticent to allow these same coaches to lead their soon-to-be ex-teams into the bowl games and who could blame them? Secondly, if you are looking at games around the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, then you have to consider player eligibility. Often times, key players will be facing suspensions for failed classes or even failure to comply with team rules. These guys therefore have no impact on the bowl games.

There are certainly other factors as well like location of the bowl game, injured guys returning and late season injuries knocking guys out of bowls. These are all things to keep in mind as you look for some action in college football’s second season. Here are some games I really like this year.

MEINKE CAR CARE TEXAS BOWL, Minnesota (+13) vs Texas Tech – This one has coaching issues on both sides. Tommy Tuberville bolted from Tech for Cincinnati while Jerry Kill in Minnesota faced allegations of treating players harshly. The Gophers should be credited with getting to a bowl but I don’t see this going well for them. Strange as it sounds, the Red Raiders may actually benefit from Tuberville being gone. He seems to rub people the wrong way and it was clear in this case. Minnesota struggles to score points and this is basically a home game for Tech. I love the Raiders to cover big behind a big day from Seth Doege.

CHICK FIL A BOWL, Clemson (+3.5) vs LSU – In a battle of Tigers, both times could make the comment they thought they’d  both be playing for larger stakes. At 10-2, they were darn close but they’ll have to settle for each other. Prior to LSU’s loss to Alabama in last year’s BCS Title game, the Bayou Bengals had won five straight bowl games. Les Miles is normally very good in preparation and that’s why last year’s loss was so surprising. Clemson has lost five of their last six bowl games and Dabo Swinney is 0-2. As explosive as Clemson can be offensively, they haven’t seen anything like the LSU defense. I love the purple and gold in this one.

Murray and the Bulldogs will look to expose the Nebraska defense.

CAPITAL ONE BOWL , Nebraska (+10) vs Georgia – The Cornhuskers struggled against a pretty bad Iowa team to get into the Big Ten Championship game and then got absolutely blown out by Wisconsin. Georgia meanwhile, had a double-digit lead on #2 Alabama before succombing to the Crimson Tide. The Huskers will watch plenty of tape on what Alabama did to the Bulldogs’ rushing defense, but it isn’t going to matter. The athletes Georgia has will make life miserable for Taylor Martinez who is prone to turnovers. Factor in a really good Georgia offense and I see a big win for a Bulldogs’ team eager to prove it belongs with the big boys.

 FIESTA BOWL, Kansas State (+9) vs Oregon – Run, do not walk to make this wager. I like Collin Klein a lot but I don’t think his abilities will be enough for the Wildcats to ultimately hang with the Ducks. Do not mistake this for a blowout because K-State is going to score points, but when I look at what Baylor was able to do to the Wildcats’ defense with good athletes, what will Oregon and Chip Kelly be able to do to them with great athletes? I like a shootout in this one and the Fiesta Bowl usually gives us one, but I like the Ducks to put up more than enough to cover against Kansas State.