College Football 2013-14 Bowl Picks Against The Spread
By Ty Duffy
We ranked the bowl games for watchability. We set up a bowl confidence pool. We told you why eight of these teams should be in a playoff next year. Here are our picks for every bowl game against the spread. Use at your own peril.
New Mexico Bowl: Leach has Washington State moving in the right direction. They aren’t quite there yet, especially on both lines. This feels like a sucker bet. Pick: Colorado State (+4)
Las Vegas Bowl: Fresno State went 6-0 in one-score games against a soft schedule. USC settled its coaching situation, and has a considerable talent advantage. Pick: USC (-6.5)
Potato Bowl: San Diego State is a bigger brand. Buffalo blew teams out over the course of the season. Pick: Buffalo (+1)
New Orleans Bowl: We’ll go with the home team. Pick: Tulane (Even)
Beef O Brady’s Bowl: East Carolina has a one-dimensional passing offense, facing the 83rd yards/play pass defense. Raise the Jolly Roger. Pick: East Carolina (-14)
Hawaii Bowl: Boise State has a soft pass defense. Doubtful the coaching turnover helps. Pick: Oregon State (-2.5)
Pizza Bowl: Pitt was erratic and often unimpressive, but, this seems like too many points against Bowling Green. Pick: Pittsburgh (+5)
Poinsettia Bowl: Utah State’s defense handles a deflated Northern Illinois team. Pick: Utah State (+1.5)
Texas Bowl: Syracuse should be able to run on Minnesota and do a decent job stopping the run. Orange Upset. Pick: Syracuse (+4)
Fight Hunger Bowl: BYU has a stable coaching situation, has a top 20 defense and is significantly better than anyone Washington beat. Pick: BYU (+3)
Pinstripe Bowl: Not much to like about Rutgers. But we don’t trust Notre Dame’s secondary. This seems like a lot of points in a potential weather game. Pick: Rutgers +15.5
Belk Bowl: Marqise Williams gets a full bowl practice season with starter’s reps. UNC wins a de facto home game over Tubbs. Pick: North Carolina (-3)
Russell Athletic Bowl: Potential shootout. Teddy Bridgewater > Stephen Morris. Pick: Louisville (-3)
Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl: Michigan depends on Devin Gardner. He is still on crutches. Pick: Kansas State (-3.5)
Armed Forces Bowl: Navy should get solid run production. That doesn’t end well for Middle Tennessee. Pick: Navy (-6)
Music City Bowl: A young Ole Miss team gets the chance to regroup and get healthy. Pick: Ole Miss (-3)
Alamo Bowl: Texas rallies for Mack Browns’ final game. Not sure Oregon is too excited to be there. Pick: Texas (+13.5)
AdvocareV100 Bowl: BC and Arizona had similar seasons. Arizona played in a much tougher conference. Pick: Arizona (-7.5)
Sun Bowl: Virginia Tech has a top five yards/play defense. They should be able to hold UCLA within range. Pick: Virginia Tech (+7)
Liberty Bowl: Dan Mullen when much is expected. Too many points. Pick: Rice (+7)
Chick-Fil-A Bowl: Johnny Manziel should have a great game. But you can’t trust a double digit spread with Texas A&M’s defense. Pick: Duke (+11.5)
Gator Bowl: Hutson Mason looks competent. Todd Gurley against Nebraska’s run defense. Pick: Georgia (-9)
Heart of Dallas Bowl: Projections favor North Texas by more than the spread. We’ll go with that. Pick: North Texas (-6.5)
Capital One Bowl: Wisconsin’s rushing attack should be a favorable matchup against South Carolina’s soft run defense. Pick: Wisconsin (+1)
Outback Bowl: LSU is starting a freshman quarterback. Iowa has a top ten yards/play defense and can stop the run. Pick: Iowa (+7)
Rose Bowl: The Cardinal can match MSU’s physicality on both sides. They have more ways to score. B1G has lost nine of its last 10 in this game. Pick: Stanford (-4.5)
Fiesta Bowl: Baylor should be better than UCF, but the Knights will fight and that’s a lot of points. Pick: UCF (+16.5)
Sugar Bowl: Alabama is quite familiar with Oklahoma’s defense. Bob Stoops gets a comeuppance for his SEC trolling. Pick: Alabama (-15)
Cotton Bowl: This feels like a tossup. Oklahoma State is better than anyone Missouri has beaten. We’ll counter the “SEC, SEC” public brigade. Pick: Oklahoma State (+1)
Orange Bowl: Dabo Swinney against competent opposition? We’ll spot you the points. Pick: Ohio State (-2.5)
BBVA Compass Bowl: All of Houston’s losses came by one score against good teams. Perception removed, they should probably be favored over Vanderbilt. Pick: Houston (+3)
GoDaddy Bowl: Arkansas State lost its coach, again. Hard to trust them here. Pick: Ball State (-9)
BCS Championship Game: TBD
[Photo via USA Today Sports]