Heart of Dallas Bowl: Bulldogs vs Fighting Illini Predictions
College football betting action sees the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs taking on the Illinois Fighting Illini on Friday December 26 in the Zaxby’s Heart of Dallas Bowl at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas Texas. Cappers Picks provides free NCAAF handicapping tips all season long.
College Football Odds
Heart of Dallas Bowl
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (9-3) vs. Illinois Fighting Illini
Friday December 26
1:00PM
Cotton Bowl – Dallas, TX
ESPN
NCAAF Betting Lines: Louisiana Tech -6
NCAAF Betting Total: 58
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This is one of the less interesting bowl matchups in the early period. Sorry, it just is as Illinois probably doesn’t deserve the trip.
Louisiana Tech
Other than a loss to Northwestern State it was a season that pretty much went according to expectations for Louisiana Tech.
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This is an offense first team that can really be quite deadly when they get things rolling scoring 40 or more points in about half of their games.
Ironically enough the Bulldogs faced off with Illinois in a bowl game a couple of years back and dominated winning 52-24.
The spread between these two teams is probably not as big this time around but they are the decided favourite.
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The Bulldogs have a pretty balanced offense thanks to the throwing of Cody Sokol and the running of Kenneth Dixon.
Dixon might not be a household name but he rushed for more than 1200 yards on the season and has a nose for the end zone with 21 rushing TD (26 in total).
The challenge will be how well their defense holds up but since Illinois is far from an elite offensive team they should probably be fine.
Illinois
Progress has been slow in Champaign but making a bowl game is a positive step.
It is still going to be a long road until the Illini are competing in the B10 but this program closed strong to get the wins they needed to become bowl eligible over quality opponents Penn State and Northwestern and had a solid win over Minnesota along the way as well.
Its the loss to Purdue that still has them scratching their heads.
This year’s team is not particularly strong in any one area.
For Illinois they are looking for a big game from Wes Lunt.
The transfer sophomore missed part of the season but showed some signs that he could deliver on the promise he showed coming into Oklahoma State.
He was not good in their win over Penn State and was relieved in that game but you have to think they will have used the time to build him back up as senior Reilly O’Toole is on his way out.
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Whoever takes the snaps will have to be sharp.
NCAAF Handicapping Trends:
- Under is 4-0 in Fighting Illini last 4 games after accumulating more than 200 yards rushing in their previous game.
- Under is 4-0 in Fighting Illini last 4 games after scoring more than 40 points in their previous game.
- Fighting Illini are 5-0 ATS in their last 5 neutral site games.
- Under is 4-0 in Bulldogs last 4 neutral site games.
- Over is 4-0 in Bulldogs last 4 games following a S.U. loss.
- Over is 4-0 in Bulldogs last 4 games after accumulating less than 275 total yards in their previous game.
NCAAF Prediction: Louisiana Tech -6
I find it pretty easy to fade Illini hear.
NCAAF Score prediction: Louisiana Tech 35 – lllinois 24
LT should get a fairly easy win thanks to their superior offensive firepower. The over is a nice bet too.
Check out our Updated NCAA Football Bowl Game Odds.
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