Oklahoma State was unbeaten and a top ten team this season until the Cowboys suffered a 28-24 loss to Texas. What followed was a 36-point loss to Texas Tech and a 20-point defeat to Oklahoma, and teams like that wind up in places like San Diego for the Holiday Bowl.
BetUS NCAA Football Betting Odds: OKLAHOMA STATE -2.5, Total 76.5
Here are some of the NCAA college football betting trends as they relate to this matchup:
Neither of these teams come from a power conference; after all, Rice is part of Conference USA, while Western Michigan is a member of the Mid-American Conference. Neither team has stepped up in a very big way against upper-echelon competition, though it should be mentioned that Western Michigan beat Temple and Buffalo on the road and beat Illinois at Detroit, a neutral site, while Rice won its big regular season game in a 56-42 shootout over cross-town rival Houston.
Maryland was a Jekyll-and-Hyde act for much of the season. At home they beat California, North Carolina State and North Carolina, and shut out Wake Forest (26-0). Away from home it was largely a different story.
BetUS NCAA Football Betting Odds: NEVADA -1.5, Total 58
Here are some of the NCAAF betting trends as they relate to this matchup:
* NEV has won four of its last six games SU
Northwestern’s defense did a heck of a job this year. Only two teams exceeded 30 points against them (Michigan State and Ohio State) and the Wildcats limited capable offensive clubs like Minnesota, Illinois and Iowa to 17, 10 and 17 points respectively. All told, they allowed just 19.2 points per game.
BetUS NCAA Football Betting Odds: MISSOURI -12.5, Total 66
These are two hot teams as far as the point spread is concerned. Rutgers comes into the PapaJohns.com Bowl having covered its last eight games, while N.C. State has covered seven straight. During its surge, Rutgers ran up scores on some teams, beating Pittsburgh by 20 points, South Florida by 33, Army by 27 and Louisville by 49, for example.
Kudos to Jerry Kill, the first-year Northern Illinois coach who took a team that was 2-10 last year and turned it around somewhat, guiding the Huskies to a 6-6 record in the same year one of its alums, Michael Turner, became one of the most valuable players in the National Football League.
This year’s Meineke Car Care Bowl features an interesting sports betting match-up between two teams expected to challenge for their conference championships this year in the North Carolina Tar Heels (8-4 SU, 6-5 ATS) and the West Virginia Mountaineers (8-4 SU, 4-7 ATS). North Carolina saw its chances for a conference championship dim quickly after losing starting QB T.J. Yates in the third game of the season in a 20-17 NCAA wagering loss to Virginia Tech.
There is a lot of talk about the job Randy Shannon has done recruiting for the Miami program. Indeed, there are plenty of future pro players on both sides of the ball. Freshmen have been nice contributors on the defensive side, and Aldarius Johnson was the team’s leading receiver (30 catches).
This is the third straight trip to the Motor City Bowl for Central Michigan, which has been one of the MAC’s more consistent performers for years. It may or not be the last collegiate game for junior quarterback Dan LeFevour, who is a definite pro prospect. LeFevour, who can run (536 yards rushing) or pass, completed 66% of his passes this season with 19 touchdowns, and took care of the ball very well, with just five interceptions.
Champs Sports Bowl: Wisconsin Badgers vs. Florida State Seminoles 4:30 ET
Sports betting for the 2008-09 bowl season continues on Saturday afternoon, and BetUS customers will have their chance to sink their teeth into another great match-up when the Wisconsin Badgers (7-5, 5-6 ATS) do battle with the Florida State Seminoles (8-4, 5-4-1 ATS). This will be the first ever meeting between these two storied franchises in college football.
The Hawaii Warriors (7-6 SU, 6-5-1 ATS) will have the opportunity to host a bowl game, which is not a common occurrence, as they take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (6-6 SU & ATS) in the Hawai’i Bowl, part of NCAA college football online betting action that is slated to kick off at 8 PM ET at Aloha Stadium (artificial turf) in Honolulu.
Boise St. Broncos vs. TCU Horned Frogs 8:00 PM ET
A sports betting battle between two of the top non-BCS conferences in the country will take place Tuesday night when the undefeated Boise State Broncos (12-0 SU, 7-2-2 ATS) put perfection on the line against the TCU Horned Frogs (10-2 SU, 8-3 ATS) in the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl. Boise State eschewed a bowl game on their home turf against a mediocre Maryland to prove their worth against TCU. Meanwhile, the Horned Frogs are looking to show NCAA bettors just how good they are this season despite losses to highly ranked Oklahoma and Utah.
The Trojans of Troy University (8-4 SU, 7-4 ATS), champions of the Sun Belt Conference, get the automatic bid to the New Orleans Bowl where they will be opposed by the Southern Miss Golden Eagles (6-6 SU, 7-5 ATS), who put on a furious finish to qualify for their bowl bid in NCAA college football sports betting action that is set to get underway Sunday at 8:15 PM ET at the Louisiana Superdome (artificial turf) in New Orleans, LA.
The Las Vegas Bowl will showcase an entertaining sports betting affair for the denizens of The Strip when the Arizona Wildcats (7-5 SU, 7-5 ATS) take on the BYU Cougars (10-2 SU, 3-8 ATS). Although a loss to Utah kept the Cougars from claiming a share of the MWC title, BYU still had one of their most successful seasons in school history despite putting up poor numbers against the NCAA odds.
The BYU Cougars are making their fourth straight appearance in the Las Vegas Bowl, and on Saturday they’ll be playing a team that is making its first post-season excursion in ten years when they line up against the Arizona Wildcats (7-5 SU & ATS) in NCAA college football sports betting action that is set to kick off at 8 PM ET at Sam Boyd Stadium (artificial turf).
The college football bowl season kicks off on Saturday for sports betting gurus, and as a part of a slate of four bowl battles, Conference USA’s Memphis Tigers (6-6, 5-5-1 ATS) will do battle with the Big East’s South Florida Bulls (7-5, 4-7 ATS) in the inaugural St. Petersburg Bowl from Tropicana Field.
