Br@ssknux
Pretty much a regular
Every year I try to get the bowls handicapped early, and every year things go nutso around here both with work and family and I can't get things finished until right before these things start to kick off. I'll be posting these as I can get them done...hopefully you'll all have some feedback for these.
Scoreboard:
Utah State -10
San Diego St -3
Rice -2
NC State +2.5
Virginia Tech +3
Duke +7.5
Boston College -2.5
USC -7
West Virginia -1.5
Clemson +4.5
Texas +7 (-120)
LSU -8
Ole Miss +3.5
Mississippi St -6.5
Michigan St +3
Minnesota +4.5
Florida St +8
Ohio St +9
Iowa +3.5
UCLA -1.5
East Carolina +7
Ohio State +6
Most of the games on 12/20 are tossups in my opinion. WMU has been a major positive for me this year, but Air Force is such an unpredictable opponent that I want to stay away from that one. Nevada/ La La is also a tossup. I tried to come up with an opinion on that Camelia Bowl, but the more I dove into capping USA and BG, the more my head started pounding so I stopped.
I originally really wanted to play CSU at +4.5, but now that the line is down to 2.5, I'm laying off. I liked CSU because I thought they would be able to throw at will on Utah, but that is provided they can actually get a pass off. If they di, they'll be ok, but they took a lot of sacks against defenses not close to as aggressive on the line at the Utes, so there's a great chance that Grayson might spend a significant amount of time running for his life. Utah also has great special teams and Whittingham has a great SU and ATS record in bowls. Throw in the dynamic of the McIlwaine leaving and that Utah will probably be jacked for a bowl after a 2 year hiatus, and I'm staying away from this one.
Here's one that I am playing:
1. Utah State -10 v UTEP: Utah State is a significantly better team than UTEP, who is among the worst teams to qualify for a bowl this year. The Aggies have persevered this year despite ending up the season with their 4th string QB (Reggie Cleveland All Star Kent Myers, who actually looked very good in spurts). Utah State played a much tougher schedule than UTEP and fared better than UTEP anyway, outgaining their opponents while UTEP was outgained. Defensively, Utah State will easily be the best defense the Miners have played, and that's not a promising proposition for them because they managed only 360 yards per game against a schedule littered with 4 of the bottom 20 defenses in the country. They themselves weren't much better, ranking 103rd in yards per play against. I think Utah State will completely shut down UTEP's pop gun attack and should have more than enough success against their weak defense to cover 10. Utah State just finished their 3rd consecutive 9 win campaign. They are used to success while UTEP isn't and I think that will be obvious in this one too.
Scoreboard:
Utah State -10
San Diego St -3
Rice -2
NC State +2.5
Virginia Tech +3
Duke +7.5
Boston College -2.5
USC -7
West Virginia -1.5
Clemson +4.5
Texas +7 (-120)
LSU -8
Ole Miss +3.5
Mississippi St -6.5
Michigan St +3
Minnesota +4.5
Florida St +8
Ohio St +9
Iowa +3.5
UCLA -1.5
East Carolina +7
Ohio State +6
Most of the games on 12/20 are tossups in my opinion. WMU has been a major positive for me this year, but Air Force is such an unpredictable opponent that I want to stay away from that one. Nevada/ La La is also a tossup. I tried to come up with an opinion on that Camelia Bowl, but the more I dove into capping USA and BG, the more my head started pounding so I stopped.
I originally really wanted to play CSU at +4.5, but now that the line is down to 2.5, I'm laying off. I liked CSU because I thought they would be able to throw at will on Utah, but that is provided they can actually get a pass off. If they di, they'll be ok, but they took a lot of sacks against defenses not close to as aggressive on the line at the Utes, so there's a great chance that Grayson might spend a significant amount of time running for his life. Utah also has great special teams and Whittingham has a great SU and ATS record in bowls. Throw in the dynamic of the McIlwaine leaving and that Utah will probably be jacked for a bowl after a 2 year hiatus, and I'm staying away from this one.
Here's one that I am playing:
1. Utah State -10 v UTEP: Utah State is a significantly better team than UTEP, who is among the worst teams to qualify for a bowl this year. The Aggies have persevered this year despite ending up the season with their 4th string QB (Reggie Cleveland All Star Kent Myers, who actually looked very good in spurts). Utah State played a much tougher schedule than UTEP and fared better than UTEP anyway, outgaining their opponents while UTEP was outgained. Defensively, Utah State will easily be the best defense the Miners have played, and that's not a promising proposition for them because they managed only 360 yards per game against a schedule littered with 4 of the bottom 20 defenses in the country. They themselves weren't much better, ranking 103rd in yards per play against. I think Utah State will completely shut down UTEP's pop gun attack and should have more than enough success against their weak defense to cover 10. Utah State just finished their 3rd consecutive 9 win campaign. They are used to success while UTEP isn't and I think that will be obvious in this one too.
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