New Year's Day Bowl Games
New Year's Day will get started with the Outback Bowl, as Northwestern takes on Auburn. The Tigers are favored by eight points and the total is 55. Auburn is clearly the better team and deserves to be favored, but it's always tough to lay more than a touchdown in bowl games.
Northwestern figures to struggle on the ground against the Auburn defense, while the Wildcats threw for just 14 touchdowns on the season.
A lot of handicappers I respect are on Northwestern, but I just don't see it. Instead of bucking them, I'll take a shot with the under 55.
The next two games, Penn St. vs. LSU and Florida State vs. West Virginia both start at the same time, so there will be some channel-flipping taking place. Penn State is favored by 1 and the total is 43.5, while West Virginia is favored by 2.5 or 3 with a total of 60.
Florida State was just 6-6 on the season and hasn't been the same with the loss of quarterback Christian Ponder. The Seminoles are playing in their home state and you can expect a motivated effort in Bobby Bowden's final game, but West Virginia is likely the better team. Tough game to call, and as much as I like Bowden and what he has done for college football, will have to give the nod to West Virginia.
Penn State just missed out on a BCS game and will face a dangerous LSU squad. This is another tough game to call. The public is backing Penn State, while most of the perceived sharp bettors are on the Tigers. I have a gut feeling Penn State may be the correct side, but am going to take under 43.5 as both teams have solid defensive units.
The Rose Bowl will feature Oregon and Ohio State and this game scares me more than any of the bowl games this year. We've had a lot of success going with or against Oregon the past two years (9-2 ATS) and my first thought was that the Ducks should win easily, as they have the team speed that Ohio State appears to lack. But just can't pull the trigger on the Ducks here and will give Ohio State the slightest of nods.
The final game of the day features Florida and Cincinnati and the Gators are favored by 13 and climbing, while the total is 57. The whole world appears to be on Florida, but our double-digit underdogs have gone 3-0 for this year, with two outright wins. While the Bearcats aren't likely to pull the upset here, have to grab the points, which could very well be 14 by kick-off.
