College Football Bowls Second Round Betting Mismatches

Posted by Michael Hunt on Friday,December 23, 2016 9:56, EDT in

Last season, the biggest blowout in a bowl game was Boise State’s 55-7 rout of Northern Illinois in the Poinsettia Bowl. Boise jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the game’s first minute and never looked back. The Broncos built a 31-7 halftime lead while their defense stifled the Huskies for four quarters, forcing a trio of turnovers and recording five sacks. Boise’s only real slip-up was allowing a kickoff return for a touchdown. So what appear to be the three biggest mismatches this year? Here are those with the biggest spreads among games remaining after Dec. 27 — not counting Alabama’s huge spread over Washington in the Peach Bowl national semifinal. Here’s a look at some of the college football betting mismatches for this week.

College Football Bowls Second Round Betting Mismatches

Arizona Bowl: South Alabama vs. Air Force

The Falcons are -14 for this game on Dec. 30. The Jaguars (6-6) look to bookend their season with monster wins after opening the 2016 campaign with a 21-20 upset win over SEC foe Mississippi State in Starkville. Add in a win over MWC champion San Diego State and the Jags are proven big game winners. Four of South Alabama’s six losses came by a touchdown or less. Led by quarterback Dallas Davis, South Alabama will take to an air attack that racked up nearly 2,500 yards receiving. South Alabama has played in only one other bowl game in school history, losing 33-28 to Bowling Green in the 2014 Camellia Bowl. All three of Air Force’s losses came in a three-game stretch in the middle of the season to divisional opponents — Wyoming, New Mexico and Hawaii — in the Mountain West. AFA runs the option and rarely passes. The Falcons rushed for more than 3,800 yards. Tim McVey found the end zone 10 times in averaging 8.3 yards per carry on 80 attempts. By comparison, the Air Force defense stuffs their opponents running attack giving up only 1,416 yards rushing.

Military Bowl: No. 24 Temple vs. Wake Forest

The Owls are -12 for the Dec. 27 game in Fort Worth. Temple (10-3) is coming off a 34-10 victory over then-No. 20 Navy in the American Athletic Conference championship game, earning its first conference title since 1967. This will be the third time in five years that the Military Bowl features a team that is nationally ranked. Temple has just two bowl wins in its history, and it will hope for a better showing than last year’s 32-17 loss to Toledo in the Boca Raton Bowl. Wake Forest (6-6) finished tied for fourth in the ACC Coastal Division, earning its first bowl bid since 2011. This was a watershed year for Wake Forest, which went from back-to- back three-win seasons to a bowl berth. The Demon Deacons got off to a strong start and stayed competitive down the stretch against a tough schedule that included three ranked opponents. Temple and Wake Forest have met just once; a 36-0 Temple victory in Philadelphia on Nov. 1, 1930.

Birmingham Bowl: South Florida vs. South Carolina

The Bulls are -11 for the Dec. 29 game in Birmingham. This will be the second meeting between the two schools, following a 2004 meeting where South Carolina won in Columbia. This will be USF’s second appearance in the Birmingham Bowl. The Bulls defeated East Carolina 24-7 in the inaugural Birmingham Bowl in 2006. The Bulls are under an interim coach after Willie Taggert took the Oregon job. They have one of the best offensive teams in the country and South Carolina one of the worst. South Florida quarterback Quinton Flowers can do damage through the air or on the ground, with more than 2,500 passing yards and 1,000 rushing yards this season. USC comes off being destroyed in the regular-season finale by rival Clemson. It jumped out to a 21-0 lead in the first quarter and wound up hammering the Gamecocks 56-7. Coach Will Muschamp’s team trailed 42-0 in the fourth quarter before finally getting on the scoreboard. The Gamecocks were outgained 622 yards to 218. Most didn’t believe that this year’s Gamecocks squad would even sniff the postseason. Carolina has had only one losing season since 2004. This could be the second and second in a row if the Gamecocks do not win.