Christmas Eve is always one of the slowest sports days in North America but we do have one college football bowl game and it features South Florida of the AAC taking on San Jose State of the Mountain West in the Hawaii Bowl.

The Spartans are solid favorites on the NCAAF odds despite missing All-American WR Nick Nash.

How to Bet South Florida vs. San Jose State Odds & TV Info

Moneylines: Bulls +129 vs Spartans -158
When: Tuesday, 8 PM ET
Where: Clarence TC Ching Athletics Complex, Honolulu
TV: ESPN
Stream: ESPN+

South Florida Bulls Analysis

After a surprising seven-win campaign in 2023, USF entered 2024 as a sleeper pick for the AAC title but struggled out of the gates, starting 2-4. Coach Alex Golesh’s Bulls rallied, however, winning four of their last six to clinch bowl eligibility. After averaging just 23.5 points per game in the first half of the season, they improved to 39.3 per game over the back half.

The Streak

USF had a two-game winning streak snapped in the regular-season finale, a 35-28 loss to Rice. Wide receiver Sean Atkins caught seven passes for 110 yards, his fifth career 100-yard game, and moved into second all-time on the USF career receiving yardage chart (passing Rodney Adams) as he became just the second USF player to reach 2,000 career receiving yards. He ended the day with 189 career catches for 2,063 yards, just 73 shy of Andre Davis’ USF record of 2,136.

Bryce Archie

Quarterback Archie passed for 227 yards and a touchdown in his seventh straight start, before leaving the game late in the fourth quarter. day, his fewest since Week 7 versus Memphis. He also threw an interception in his fourth straight game. He had a subpar season filling in for the injured Byrum Brown (foot) as he completed 58 percent of his passes for 1,679 yards, nine touchdowns and nine interceptions, adding 137 yards and two touchdowns on the ground.

Byrum Brown

If Brown remains out for the Bulls’ bowl game, Archie will likely start once again. But Brown, a holder of 12 USF passing records who was named to five national-award preseason watch lists (Walter Camp, Maxwell, Davey O’Brien, Johnny Unitas, Manning) has been a full-go at practice and could see action. He suffered a lower-leg injury Sept. 28 at Tulane and missed the final seven games of the regular season.

The Stats

South Florida was one of only six FBS teams this season not to have a game decided by fewer than 10 points this season. It trailed Rice by 21 with 4:44 remaining in the game and went on to lose by a touchdown, the first one-score game this season. When RB Kelley Joiner plays well, USF usually wins. Joiner averaged 9.4 yards per carry with 11 touchdowns in the Bulls’ six wins and 2.9 yards per carry with no scores in their losses. The Bulls have 31 rushing touchdowns in 12 games this season, good for the second most for a single season in program history.

The Record

The Bulls have now made 12 bowl games since 2005, tied with Memphis for the second most from any current AAC team since 2005, only trailing Navy (13). Other than Charlie Strong, Alex Golesh is the only other USF coach to lead the Bulls to two bowl games in their first two FBS seasons as head coach.

Alex Golesh

Golesh said he wants the Bulls to finish on an upward trajectory. Last year’s 45-0 win against Syracuse at the Boca Raton Bowl filled USF’s offseason with goodwill and confidence. He said beating the Spartans could achieve the same objective.

“It’s about making the important things (into the priority),” Golesh said. “I’ve been to bowl games were one team is just happy to be there and that’s not where you want to be or who you want to be. I tell our guys that we’re on national TV, eight o’clock Eastern time, seven o’clock Central on ESPN. What more motivation do you need other than the entire country is going to be watching and seeing what product you’re putting out there? I feel like we’ll be motivated.”

USF seeks its eight 8th bowl win in its 12th appearance and has scored at least 20 points in 10 straight bowl appearances. It also marks USF’s first-ever game in Hawaii and, at nearly 4,700 miles from Tampa, the farthest destination the Bulls have ever played away from home. San Jose State will mark the first Mountain West Conference opponent for the Bulls in a bowl game. USF is 2-2 all-time vs. the conference.

San Jose State Spartans Analysis

San Jose State (7-5) closed the regular season by snapping a two-game skid with a 34-31 win over Stanford on Nov. 29. All-American WR Nick Nash had two touchdown catches to set a new SJSU all-time record for touchdown receptions in a season to lead the Spartans in their first win against Stanford since 2006 and their first win against an ACC school. This is the first time that SJSU has seven or more wins in three straight seasons since 1980-82 and the first time they’ve had seven or more wins in four of five years since 1978-82. The Spartans haven’t had eight wins in a season since 2012.

Nick Nash

Nash’s second touchdown catch of the game set an SJSU all-time record for touchdown receptions in a single season with 16, passing Chandler Jones, who previously held the record with 15. Nash currently leads the nation once again in touchdown receptions (16), yards (1,382) and receptions (104) but will skip the bowl game to focus on the NFL Draft.

Nash is the first San Jose State player ever to be named a consensus All-American and was one of only eight FBS players and the only wide receiver this season to be a unanimous selection. Nash became the fourth player to earn the FBS college football receiving triple crown in the regular season by ending the year tops in the country in receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns. Nash was named SJSU’s first-ever Biletnikoff Award finalist and the first for the Mountain West since 2017. He was only the ninth Group of Five player to be a finalist for the Biletnikoff this century. Colorado‘s Travis Hunter won the award (and the Heisman).

Led by Nash and QB Walter Eget, the Spartans have the best passing offense in the Mountain West and are fifth in the country with 3,903 yards, which is 325.3 yards per game. The SJSU single-season record is 4,325 yards, set in 2012. Only three games this season the Spartans haven’t hit 320 or more yards passing. They are sixth in the country, averaging 41.6 passing attempts per game, and nobody in the top six has allowed fewer sacks than the Spartans. They have allowed 12 sacks, which is good for third in the MW and 10th in the country.

The Stats

SJSU has forced 27 turnovers this season, which is good for third in the nation and first in the MW. The Spartans’ 20 interceptions are good for first in the nation, and the Spartans have a takeaway in every game this season. The SJSU single-season record is 32 in 2012.

Bowl’s History

This marks the 14th bowl in school history and San Jose State is 7-6. This is the second time the Spartans have played in the same bowl game in back-to-back seasons, and only the third time overall they are going to a bowl game they’ve been to before. They lost 24-14 to Coastal Carolina in the 2023 Hawaii Bowl.

South Florida vs. San Jose State Series History

USF won at San Jose State 42-22 in the first game of the 2017 season in the first and only meeting between the programs.

Big stage. Christmas Eve. All eyes on the Spartans in paradise. 🏝️💥@HabbasLaw | @CEFCU #ThisIsSparta #AllSpartans #HawaiiBowl pic.twitter.com/uz6cxhDN85

— San José State Football (@SanJoseStateFB) December 20, 2024

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