Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl: Penn State Nittany Lions (10-2) vs Mississippi Rebels (10-2)
What you need to know: Both programs find themselves in the same spot. Wanting to break through and beat the teams in the upper echelon but can’t even get close to doing so. Yet it’s opposite sides of the ball holding each one back. Penn State’s offense looked solid this year but when it came to the big games they couldn’t move the ball well enough, they’ve already made a change at offensive coordinator as a result. Ole Miss meanwhile can’t get enough stops in the big games, particularly against Georgia where the Bulldogs scored on every drive it felt like. Both teams have a lot of talent though. Penn State’s offense is led by Drew Allar who clearly has a better ceiling than previous Nittany Lion QBs, and they have a talented duo of RBs in Kaytron Allen and Nick Singleton. Neither rushed for 1000 yards this year which feels like an underachievement. Ole Miss has a talented back of their own in Quinshon Judkins and their QB Jaxson Dart took a step in the right direction this year. Penn State is led by a talented defense though it doesn’t sound like defensive end Chop Robinson or corner Kalen King will play. Chick-fil-A just recently stopped selling the Pimento cheese chicken sandwich which is very disappointing.
Previous Meetings: First time matchup!! You’ll be hard pressed to find many Big 10 and SEC teams that haven’t played each other due to all their bowl tie-ins but here we go.
Motivation Edge: There isn’t an edge either way here, both programs are very motivated to grab a big win to end the year.
Best Bet: Penn State -4 – James Franklin has a decent record in bowl games. Lane Kiffin still has yet to win a game this big so I remain skeptical.
Transperfect Music City Bowl: Auburn Tigers (6-6) vs Maryland Terrapins (7-5)
What you need to know: Auburn improved a little bit in Hugh Freeze’s first year. They were led by their defense while their offense struggled a lot all season. It will be interesting to see how Auburn is entering this bowl game, they ended the year in insulting fashion, being crushed at home by New Mexico State and being in position to upset Alabama but failing to defend 4th and goal from the 31 in an epic failure. Maryland started out strong but once again fell apart once October came around, September Maryland is truly a thing. The Terrapins have a star QB in Taulia Tagovailoa who is expected to play in this game. Mike Locksley has actually done a good job winning bowl games once he gets there, he’s 2-0 with the Terps. Transperfect is a language translations website, primarily for business to business sales. Update: Taulia Tagovailoa is no longer expected to play.
Previous Meetings: These programs have met only 3 times with Auburn holding a 2-1 edge. This is the first time the two programs face off outside of the state of Alabama.
Motivation Edge: Maryland would love to take down Auburn and finish with a solid record. It’s difficult to tell what Auburn’s mindset is following how their season ended. Leaning toward Maryland here.
Best Bet: Auburn -2 – despite a few things leaning Maryland’s way, in the end I’m all in on fading all of the Big 10 outside of the big 3. Update: this line has moved to -6, I still like Auburn with Taulia Tagovailoa out.
Capital One Orange Bowl: Florida State Seminoles (13-0) vs Georgia Bulldogs (12-1)
What you need to know: The playoff committee absolutely screwed Florida State. It’s still unbelievable that they can go undefeated which such great wins and still get left out. They do have an opportunity to prove a point here. Jordan Travis’ injury was unfortunate, but backup Tate Rodemaker will be back for this game and he actually looked decent when he’s stepped in before. Florida State has a stud RB in Trey Benson though they haven’t been quite as good running the ball as they expected this year. The Noles have a stud duo of receivers in Keon Coleman and Johnny Wilson, sadly Wilson has already opted out of this game. The defense was truly the star of the show for the Noles. Led by Jared Verse this defense didn’t give opposing QBs much time to throw at all this year. Georgia faced an easy schedule most of the year so it was tough to figure out exactly what they had. QB Carson Beck settled into his role as the year went on and got better each week. Georgia of course had the most talented TE in the nation in Brock Bowers to help matters, though he missed part of the year. Georgia’s defense was good, but not quite as dominant as the last 2 years. Opt outs will be big ones to monitor as the game gets closer for both teams, there’s a lot of draft prospects on both sides but Johnny Wilson is the only key opt out at this point. Update: Bowers and a couple others are out for Georgia, but just about every star and backup QB Tate Rodemaker all opted out for Florida State…yikes
Previous Meetings: Despite being in neighboring states these programs have only met 11 times with Georgia holding a 6-4-1 edge. They played each other consistently from 1954-1965 only missing only 3 years in that period but never scheduled each other again. Last 2 meetings were in bowl games. They need to play more often. Not to worry, it will FINALLY happen in 2027 and 2028 as they have a home and home scheduled.
Motivation Edge: It’s tough to find two programs more motivated to prove a point than these two. They both feel like they’ve been robbed of a playoff spot and are determined to show it in this game. Of course if Florida State wins they could rightfully claim a national championship.
Best Bet: Florida State +14 – this could change based on opt outs, but I don’t see the Noles just laying down and taking a beating. Update: With all the opt outs, whatever the spread is for Georgia it isn’t enough. Either stay away or bet Georgia.
Barstool Sports Arizona Bowl: Toledo Rockets (11-2) vs Wyoming Cowboys (8-4)
What you need to know: Toledo has an awesome season led by Jason Candle and QB Dequan Finn. The Rockets lost their opener against Illinois thanks to a pick 6 and a miracle Illinois catch on 4th down, Toledo should have won that game. The MAC championship was the first time Toledo was beaten by the other team and not themselves. Unfortunately for the Rockets Finn is in the portal and won’t play. Toledo is solid on the defensive side too. Wyoming meanwhile got off to a strong start pulling upsets over Texas Tech and Appalachian State in Laramie. The Cowboys did struggle away from home, all their losses happened on the road. Craig Bohl has announced his retirement so this game is his last ride. Wyoming has a dominating defense that has led the team all year but part of what helped them improve was their offense made a step in the right direction to at least be capable. This game is the only bowl game on The CW who has surprisingly good broadcasts, but I can’t make sense of why this game is going against the Orange bowl when there’s no night games. Update: Finn and Boone are transferring for Toledo…this is a rough day for opt outs.
Previous Meetings: Wyoming and Toledo faced each other in a home and home series in 2010 and 2012, oddly enough despite how strong home field advantage is for both the road teams each won in that series.
Motivation Edge: Toledo will be motivated to get the bad taste out of their mouths following the loss in the MAC championship, but with this game being Bohl’s last ride I have to give the edge to Wyoming here.
Best Bet: Toledo +3 – underdogs have won all year on The CW so watch out!
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