BetQL Editors' College Football Bowl Picks For Saturday, Dec. 17
Find out which college football bets we're targeting in Saturday's bowl games
College Football Bowl Picks
College football bowl season continues Saturday with six more games, and that means plenty of tough decisions for bettors. To help you make the best bets, the BetQL editors have picked a few of their favorite NCAAF bets below using key trends and the BetQL model's data.
One trend to note is that the BetQL college football model finished the regular season strong, going 63-35 (65%) on all picks rated ⭐⭐⭐⭐ and higher in the last 30 days for a total return of $1,625 on $100 bets! BetQL subscribers can see more betting trends and all of our best bets with star ratings for every game.
Take advantage of BetQL's 3-day free trial and see all of this week's best college football bets, plus what the model is projecting for all of this week's NFL, NBA, NHL and college basketball games! Start your free trial today!
Kate Constable: Rice vs. Southern Mississippi Over 45.5
Southern Mississippi won its final game of the season to become bowl-eligible, while Rice earned a bowl bid with just a 5-7 record. This matters to me because when you have two teams that made a bowl despite not having a ton of success, it often means they’re going to be excited to play and more motivated. Rice has a trio of wide receivers in Bradley Rozner, Luke McCaffrey and Isaiah Esdal that combined for 15 touchdowns this year and will be targets for explosive plays. Meanwhile, I like running back Frank Gore Jr. to have a big game against a bad Rice defense that’s allowing 168 rushing yards per game. The Owls also lead the country in turnovers, which could lead to a quick defensive score for the Golden Eagles. No matter how I look at this game in terms of the side, I see lots of points being scored, so I’ll take the over.
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Dan Karpuc: SMU-BYU Over 64.5
Boasting one of the nation’s top passing attacks, SMU will heavily rely on quarterback Tanner Mordecai in this one. This will be Mordecai’s final collegiate game as he already declared for the 2023 NFL Draft and Southern Methodist averaged 37.8 points per game this year under his leadership. BYU has allowed 30.4 points per game, put up 30.1 points per contest and gets to go up against an SMU defense that’s allowed a whopping 36.4 points per game (10th-most in FBS). I think this game shoots out as both teams have a proven ability to put up points while a proven inability to prevent their opponents from doing so.
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Brad Pinkerton: BetMGM CFB OGP Insurance Play of the Day
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Here is my play for Saturday, using the strategy of going over the lowest game total and under the highest game total (can only lose a maximum of one leg there), and taking the most points on both teams, which in this case is the Boise State moneyline (can only lose one leg here too); you can apply this strategy to any football game, including NFL:
Boise State vs. N. Texas Over 48.5
Boise State vs. N. Texas Under 68.5
Boise State moneyline
North Texas +20.5
OGP Odds: +240
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Lucy Burdge: Louisville -1.5 vs. Cincinnati
Cincinnati is just 3-8-1 ATS this season, including 1-6 ATS in the last seven games and 1-4-1 away from home. Plus, the Bearcats are 10-11 in previous bowl games and just 2-5 SU and ATS in their last seven postseason appearances. So I have a lot of faith in Louisville to cover the spread in the Wasabi Fenway Bowl between these Keg of Nails rivals. There is also the coach narrative involved in this game, as Cincinnati’s coach Luke Fickell just dipped from the team to become the coach of Wisconsin and Louisville's coach, Scott Satterfield, replaced Fickell at Cincinnati. I see this working in Louisville’s favor here to get revenge and I like them to cover this spread.
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BOWL BETTING GUIDES: DEC. 16-17 | DEC. 19-24 | DEC. 26-28 | DEC. 29-31 | CFP GAMES | JAN. 2
Take advantage of BetQL's 3-day free trial and see all of this week's best college football bets, plus what the model is projecting for all of this week's NFL, NBA, NHL and college basketball games! Start your free trial today!