Bulls Can Trample Spartan Team Missing Key Players

South Florida vs. San Jose State, 8:00 ET

It is a bit quiet today for the sporting world with just one college football game and the NHL and NBA off for Christmas Eve. That isn't a complaint, athletes deserve time off with their families as well. I'm sure the millionaires are opening their gifts this morning and enjoying hanging out with their families before they need to hit the road to get to wherever they are playing tomorrow. For us, we get the gift of watching them regularly. We can hope this game provides a good memory for us as we place a wager on the matchup between the South Florida Bulls and the San Jose State Spartans. 

South Florida comes into the game with a 6-6 record, so not exactly indicative of a dominant season. The schedule certainly wasn't easy for them as they had to face two top-10 teams this year with an early season game against Alabama - one they lost by 26 points. The other game was against Miami who trounced the Bulls by 35. The team started the year just 2-4, meaning they flipped their season halfway through and went 4-2 the rest of the way. The teams they've beaten are somewhat comparable to the Spartans, so they should have a shot to win this one. It is possible that their opening day quarterback, Byrum Brown will be under center. He hasn't played since their fifth game of the year due to a lower body injury. I do think that their replacement quarterback, Bryce Archie, has done an admirable job for the squad since taking over. There are a few concerns in terms of transfer portal entrants but nothing too major in terms of injury concerns for the Bulls. The transfer portal looks like it hurts the defense a bit more than the offense with their starting safety and defensive tackle missing this one. 

Nov 29, 2024; San Jose, California, USA; San Jose State Spartans quarterback Walker Eget (5) celebrates with head coach Ken Niumatalolo after their win over the Stanford Cardinal at CEFCU Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Eakin Howard-Imagn Images

San Jose State didn't put together a much better season, but they did win one more game than today's opponent to finish with a 7-5 mark. Similarly to the Bulls, the Spartans played against two ranked opponents. The first was Boise State who they lost to by 21 points, and that game was a little more than a month ago. The second was against UNLV, another loss, but a decent showing, losing by just 11. Also similar to the Bulls, the Spartans didn't end the year with the same starting quarterback under center. In the first five games, they had Emmett Brown, he is going to be unavailable for this due to being in the transfer portal, but his replacement, Walker Eget played fairly well after taking over for Brown. He racked up yards, but made some poor decisions as well, tossing nine interceptions to go with his 11 touchdowns. He certainly needs to find a way to protect the ball better. Outside of Brown, it looks like the Spartans will also miss two of their starting cornerbacks, and their best receiver, Nick Nash, who has declared for the NFL Draft. 

Sometimes losing players provides an opportunity for new ones to take over. I think this is a good situation for some of these younger guys to step up on both teams. I probably would prefer the Spartans at full strength, but that's not what we are getting here. Instead, we get a San Jose State team missing key players on both sides of the ball. Can they pull off a win? Maybe, but I think the right play here is to take the points with South Florida and sprinkle them to win outright. 

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