Twas the week before Christmas, and on my TV were numerous college bowl games including one in Hawaii. We’ll see a full week’s worth of college bowl action, as we’ll see at least one bowl game every day this week. Let’s take a look at some games this week where we think you could make a little money betting against the College Football Bowl Odds.
College Bowls for This Week: Must Bet, Possible Upsets, Surprises
Myrtle Beach Bowl – Old Dominion vs Tulsa
Everyone loves a bowl that pits two .500 teams against each other.
Old Dominion started the season out 1-6 after they didn’t play in 2020. After the 1-6 start they could’ve packed it up for the season, but they went the other direction and won their final five games to become bowl eligible.
Tulsa also finished off the season strong, winning its last three to also finish at 6-6. While Tulsa is favored by 9.5 points, more than likely because they played a much better schedule than Old Dominion, the betting statistics tell us that the best bet may be to place your money on Old Dominion.
As a favorite this season, Tulsa was 3-5 against the spread. If you placed every bet this season on Old Dominion, you made some money, as they were one of the best against the spread with a 9-3 record. Old Dominion has covered the spread in its last five games. We like to follow the numbers, so we think that ODU will make it six in a row. Take the upset pick and go with the Monarchs in this one.
Frisco Bowl – UTSA vs San Diego State
Both of these programs spent numerous weeks in the AP Top 25 Poll. UTSA came out of nowhere and finished the season ranked 24th in the country. While they are a 2.5-point favorite in this one, many feel that San Diego State’s schedule warrants them to be the favorites.
These two teams are two of the top teams from the Group of Five conferences. They have a combined record of 22-3. While UTSA won the Conference USA Title, Brady Hoke’s Aztecs were the runner-up in the Mountain West.
While the Aztecs finished the season off well, they struggled late. They only averaged 21 points over their last eight contests. While their defense continued to play well, they had a bad game in their loss to Utah State in the Conference USA title game. They gave up 46 points to the Aggies, so Hoke will need to get his defense fixed up prior to this one.
San Diego State does have one of the best run defenses in the country, and UTSA relies heavily on their running game. We’ll see if the Aztecs can recover from the Utah State debacle and get back to where they were.
The Road Runners were able to run past some of the country’s top defenses this season, and we think that they can do it again. Many will consider this an upset even though UTSA is favored. We like the Road Runners to win this one by a touchdown.