NCAAF Best Bets for Opening Bowl Games

The Bowl Games are upon us folks! We are excited and ready to get started. There is a decent-sized slate of games for this weekend with two Friday and six on Saturday. I have a play on a side, a total, and an underdog that we are going to give out.

Western Kentucky vs. Appalachian State

Western Kentucky and their high-powered offense travels to Florida to take on Appalachian State. This season was spectacular through the air for the Hilltoppers. Quarterback Bailey Zappe threw for 56 touchdowns on the season. The problem for them is Appalachian State has a strong defense and is likely able to combat a bit of that offense. I expect the Mountaineers to utilize the running game quite a bit in this one and try to rack up the yardage on their path to victory. I think this game has the potential to be very entertaining and will take Appalachian State to win with the -3 spread.

Utah State vs. Oregon State

This match has the potential to be very close. Looking just at statistics, both teams score about the same and allow about the same amount of points. That can be very misleading because of the different caliber of opponents each faces throughout the season. I do like Utah State to get an upset in this one. They currently average 305 yards passing per game and Oregon State can be beaten through the air. Utah State just beat #19 San Diego State with quarterback Logan Bonner throwing four touchdown passes. Oregon State looked a lot better in their matchup with Oregon than the final score would suggest, but they still lost. I will take Utah State on the moneyline to get the upset as I think they can win this one outright. Utah State +235.

Northern Illinois at Coastal Carolina

This game should get some points put up. It is very possible for the teams to step up on defense and make this a sweat, but I think we are reaching a point where the line has been adjusted too much. Northern Illinois allows 32 points a game and has gone over the posted total in three of their last five games. Coastal Carolina is only allowing 20 points a game, but they are scoring 40. In their last five games, they’ve had two games go over the posted total. Northern Illinois will rely on the running game to get most of their work done on offense. Coastal is good at stopping it, but I expect the Huskies to be better. Unfortunately, if that backfires, the Huskies don’t have a strong passing game to rely on. I expect Coastal Carolina to be able to get most of what they want with very little resistance from Northern Illinois. I’m playing over 62.5 points at -110.