Chick-fil-A Bowl Gambling Online
This year’s Chick-fil-A Bowl combatants finished in a similar spot this season, though they undoubtedly came from opposite poles in 2010. Virginia is only just approaching respectability under new head coach Mike London. The Tigers, meanwhile, were the 2010 National Champions.
Virginia Cavaliers (8-4) vs. Auburn Tigers (7-5)
Saturday, Dec. 31, 7:30 pm EST
Georgia Dome, Atlanta GA
Betting Lines from Sportsbook.com
MoneyLine: Virginia +115, Auburn -135
Spread: Virginia +2, Auburn -2
Over/Under: 48.5
The addition of London and the departure of last year’s Heisman winning QB Cam Newton certainly make all the difference in the world. The Georgia Dome will be a familiar venue for many Auburn players, as they will remember last year’s SEC Championship game. The Cavs will be entirely foreign, as those in Charlottesville are all too familiar with ACC doormat status. An eight-win season has been a remarkable achievement for Virginia. London’s kids had good wins in 2011 against competitors like Florida State, Miami and Georgia Tech. They’ve accomplished it with a balanced offense and a stingy defense; the solid RB duo of junior Perry Jones (883 yards, five TDs) and freshman Kevin Parks (661 yards, eight scores) do the heavy lifting in the scoring department.
For Auburn’s part, there was no wiggle room for a team to take a step back in the overwhelming SEC West division. LSU, Alabama and Arkansas were all outstanding teams in 2011; the Auburn Tigers were looking up to all three of them. Like their bowl opponent, the Tigers had a strong running game courtesy Michael Dyer and Onterio McCalebb, but the offense was anemic other than that and the offensive line had some serious attrition to graduation and the NFL last season. To boil it down to its essence yet further, Auburn didn’t have Newton in 2011. He truly was a do-everything superstar just one year ago.
Furthermore, the Auburn defense was not up to its usual caliber, finishing only 81st in the nation in points against. The dominant Auburn teams of years past have relied on an athletic defense to intimidate and stifle opponents and that just wasn’t happening this year. This is a “D” that gave up 38 points to Utah State and Clemson, 42 points to Alabama and a 45-spot to LSU and Georgia. A team won’t be a contender in the SEC (or any conference, for that matter) with efforts like that. To be fair, everyone expected Auburn to take a considerable step back after the loss of Newton and all the other important upperclassmen, but head coach Gene Chizik still must go back to the drawing board in 2012. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
However, this does not change the fact that fundamentally, Auburn is a more talented football team than Virginia. The Tigers’ offense should have some success against the Cavs, provided it can lean heavily on McCalebb – Dyer will be out after being suspended for “a violation of team rules” (which of course we’ve never heard before, following NCAA football this season). Tre Mason will help fill in for Dyer, but Dyer is the linch-pin of the Auburn attack, so it will be interesting to see how the running game responds.
Mike London’s kids have a belief they can win this game, and with good reason. Auburn is in a down year, missing its prize RB and featuring uninspired play from the defense and the quarterback position. The speed and depth at Auburn is always there, but it hasn’t translated – albeit in a supremely difficult conference. Auburn can silence the doubters by playing up to par and putting down an inferior ACC opponent, or Virginia could enter the Georgia Dome on a mission and put a capper on an excellent 2011 campaign.
This game should be close, but I am going to predict the latter of the two scenarios.
Game Prediction: Virginia 24, Auburn 16
Over/Under Prediction: 40
