68 Ventures Bowl: South Alabama Jaguars (6-6) vs Eastern Michigan Eagles (6-6)
What you need to know: South Alabama is a very odd team. When things work, they are scary. The Jaguars beat Oklahoma State 33-7, UL Monroe 55-7 and Southern Miss 55-3, yet the Jaguars also lost to Central Michigan and Louisiana at home, and overall lost 6 games. Their star receiver Caullin Lacy caught 91 passes this year but he transferred and won’t play in this game. Eastern Michigan struggled a lot on offense this year, yet the Eagles still managed to grind their way to this bowl appearance. Chris Creighton has done an incredible job with this program, he’s the most underappreciated coach in the country. This is Eastern Michigan’s 8th bowl appearance and Creighton has taken them to 6 of those. This bowl bonanza day really loves the state of Alabama, this is the third bowl in Alabama on the 23rd.
Previous Meetings: First time matchup!! South Alabama and Eastern Michigan have never played. South Alabama did play Central Michigan earlier this year so now they only need a game against Western Michigan to play the entire directional Michigan trifecta.
Best Bet: This might be a great live bet game. Within the first couple drives you can tell whether South Alabama will run away with this or if Eastern Michigan is going to force them to grind it out.
SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl: Utah Utes (8-4) vs Northwestern Wildcats (7-5)
What you need to know: Utah grinded through a challenging season as the Utes battled a tough schedule and a lot of injuries. In the end Utah picked up some impressive wins but lost to the best teams they played. The injuries were tough, Utah went through a lot of QBs and their star Cam Rising never got to play after tearing ligaments in last year’s Rose Bowl. Bryson Barnes (the pig farmer) and Nate Johnson are both transferring but Barnes is expected to play in the bowl game. Utah’s start Defensive lineman Jonah Elliss is a highly regarded draft prospect so keep an eye on him, there’s a good chance he opts out. Northwestern was the biggest dumpster fire in the sport entering this year, but the turnaround and improvement throughout the year that David Braun led was very impressive. Braun rightfully earned the full time job afterwards. Northwestern even finished 2nd in the Big 10 West!
Previous Meetings: Utah and Northwestern have faced off 3 times with Northwestern holding a 2-1 edge. Their most recent meeting in the 2018 Holiday Bowl was a source of frustration for Utah fans. Utah entered that game with a 5 bowl game win streak, and overall 14-1 in their last 15 bowls, but Northwestern upset them. That game started a 4 bowl game losing streak, perhaps to end the streak and start a new one Utah needs to beat the team that started it?
Motivation Edge: Utah will be disappointed to be here, throughout the year they were expecting a better season and it didn’t happen. Northwestern meanwhile is very excited to be here since this didn’t even seem possible entering the season. That being said Utah fans do travel well and Vegas is a convenient drive for Utah fans so they will show up and Utah will be motivated to end the losing streak. Northwestern with a slight edge.
Best Bet: Over 42 – The first thought with both of these teams is that they’re both fantastic up under teams, low scoring grind it out, but that’s not quite the case. Utah’s first 5 games went under, but since then 5 of their last 7 games hit the over. Northwestern also found a rhythm offensively, their regular season ended with a wild 45-43 win over Illinois. I didn’t even know shootouts like that were legal in the Big 10 West!
Easypost Hawaii Bowl: San Jose State Spartans (7-5) vs Coastal Carolina Chanticleers (7-5)
What you need to know: Coastal Carolina rode a rollercoaster this year, starting 2-3, winning their next 5, then losing their last 2 games. The highlight of this team was of course Grayson McCall, but unfortunately he battled injuries throughout the year and transferred out. San Jose State is quietly one of the hottest teams in the country, they started the season 1-5 but won their last 6! They are led by 6th year senior Chevan Cordeiro who had an amazing year running this offense, this is familiar territory for Cordeiro as he’s a Hawaii native and played in this stadium for 4 of his 6 years, a fitting end to a long college career.
Previous Meetings: First time matchup!! As you can imagine since these programs are on complete opposite coasts, they have never played each other. No better place for their first meeting than on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
Motivation Edge: This game is in Hawaii, both teams are going to be very excited for this game. I don’t see an edge either way though.
Best Bet: I was leaning San Jose State until I saw they were 10 point favorites, Vegas is good at this, let’s not forget that. Maybe just sit back and enjoy this one.
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