Ready for some action in the Sun Bowl and the Cotton Bowl on Friday, December 29? We've got 2 college football best bets to line your pockets. Good luck!
Sun Bowl: Notre Dame Fighting Irish vs Oregon State Beavers
The Irish finished ranked 16th in the country with a 9-3 mark. They finished the season winning 4 of their last 5 with their lone loss coming at Clemson 31-23. When reviewing the players that are opting out or entering the transfer portal for ND, we found 10 offensive and 5 defensive players that all played significant snaps.
The main ones on offense being QB, Sam Hatman and RB, Auric Estime. Redshirt freshman, Steve Angeli will get his 1st start as Duke transfer, Riley Leonard is slated to start under center next season. It is not likely the offense will match what they did during the regular season of averaging 39.1ppg which was 10th in the country.
Oregon State was 8-4 and ranked 19th when the season came to an end. While the Irish had a ton of players opting out and entering the portal, the Beavers are not far behind in terms of players but also have lost their head coach and offensive coordinator. They will be led by former “passing game coordinator” Kefense Hynson.
Ben Gulfranson will start at QB as DJ Uiagalelei and Aidan Chiles entered the portal. RB, Damien Martinez got himself suspended for the game after being arrested for DUI. The entire defensive line is available for the Beavers but the linebackers and secondary will be missing bodies.
Best Bet: Notre Dame -6
The Beavers will literally have an entire coaching overhaul with their head coach and OC bolting for Michigan State and the DC not being with the team for the bowl game. While the Irish will be without a lot of their experienced players, the coaching staff will still be in tact and the rest of the fill ins are still worthy D-1 players.
We believe the coaching will be the difference in this matchup and the Irish will pick up the win by more than a touchdown. Let's lay the points!
Key Betting Trends for Oregon State vs Notre Dame
- ND is 10-3 ATS in their last 13 games when playing as the favorite.
- ND is 5-2 ATS in their last 7 games this season.
- Oregon St is 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games.
Cotton Bowl: Ohio State Buckeyes vs Missouri Tigers
The Buckeyes were 11-1 and ranked 7th in the country but fell short of their goals. They lost the regular season finale for the 3rd straight year to Michigan and found themselves on the outside looking in to the CFB Playoff.
Freshman starting QB, Kyle McCord has entered the transfer portal while Marvin Harrison Jr has decided to opt out of the bowl game. TreVeyon Henderson announced he will return but it is a question who will start under center with the choices being Devin Brown or 7th year senior transfer Tristan Gebbia.
The 9th ranked Missouri Tigers were 10-2 on the season and surprised many in the country. Their only losses came to then #23 LSU and #2 Georgia. Unlike most teams in these bowl games, Missouri is only going to be missing linebacker Dameon Wilson to the transfer portal.
The rest of the Tigers, according to head coach Eli Drinkwitz, will all be ready to play in the Cotton Bowl. That means quarterback Brady Cook, running back Cody Schrader, and leading wideouts Luther Burden III and Theo Wease Jr. will be looking for their 1st bowl win since 2014.
Best Bet: Missouri +3
The motivation to break their bowl losing streak combined with the lack of motivation by the Buckeyes who will be without most of their offensive starters leads us to take the Tigers here. Brady Cook threw 20 touchdowns to just 6 interceptions on the season while Schrader went for almost 1500 yards and 13 touchdowns on the ground.
They won’t have an easy time against the Buckeye defense that averaged just 11ppg to their opponents but should be able to do enough to sneak out the win here. We'll take the points with the Tigers in this one!
Key Betting Trends for Missouri vs Ohio State
- OSU is 2-7 SU in their last 9 games against an opponent in the Southeastern conference.
- Mizzou is 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games.
- Mizzou is 9-3 ATS in their last 12 games when playing as the underdog.
