Caleb Wilfinger
Show Bio
Following a long and grueling regular season, it’s time for the most wonderful time of the year. Bowl season is here and with it comes plenty of games for college football fans to wager on over the course of the next few weeks. We’ll start with games this weekend featuring both Power 5 and Group of 5 teams alike. These games might not be on everyone’s radar, but we can still win on them!
You can read all our college football predictions, but without any further ado, here’s my 3-leg NCAAF parlay with a potential payout of +811 odds. Let’s take a look at each of the legs.
Jacksonville State -2.5 (-110)
Boise State vs UCLA under 49 (-110)
Fresno State ML (+150)
NCAAF parlay odds: +811
Odds available at FanDuel Sportsbook at the time of publishing
Jacksonville State Gamecocks -2.5 over Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns (-110)
There aren’t many teams that are going to be more motivated in this spot than Jacksonville State, as the Gamecocks qualified for the postseason in their first full season at the FBS level. Needless to say, this is a massive game for this Gamecocks team, and I’m sure all of the players will be excited to play in a bowl game against a Ragin’ Cajuns side that has been pretty mediocre all season long. Jacksonville State is a run-first offense, as the Gamecocks rank inside the top 10 in rush-play percentage, which should serve as an issue for Louisiana considering the Ragin’ Cajun defense is 120th in the country in rush success rate allowed and 84th in total rush defense on the year. The Gamecocks are also top 20 in opponent yards per play on the season, so it will likely be a struggle for Louisiana to score all game long. Let’s back the team with the statistical and motivational edge on Saturday.
Check out our full Jacksonville State vs Louisiana predictions
Boise State Broncos vs UCLA Bruins Under 49 (-110)
Boise State comes into this game flying high after completely turning its season around in the final month of the campaign. Somehow, the Broncos ended up with a conference championship after Andy Avalos was fired, finishing the campaign with dominant victories over Utah State, Air Force and UNLV. However, don’t expect to see starting quarterback Taylen Green (transferred to Arkansas) and the Broncos’ top 2 catchers in Eric McAlister as well as Stefan Cobbs. Boise State will be forced start a third-string quarterback with little-to-no college experience in this one, which should ultimately lead us to more Ashton Jeanty use on the ground, bleeding clock against this very stout UCLA defense.
As my colleague Sam Avellone went into in his writeup, the Bruins have scored more than 10 points just once in the final 4 weeks of the regular season. Furthermore, this is a team that has earned just 1 outright victory following their bowl-qualifying win over Colorado on October 28. Not only are the Bruins stumbling into the playoffs, but they will also be without some key contributors on both sides of the ball, to go along with defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn, who has moved on to crosstown rival USC. However, this is still a defensive unit that’ll be able to put pressure on the opposing quarterback and it’s hard to expect much scoring from a Bruins offense that is starting Ethan Garbers at QB with some serious uncertainty at the key skill positions. Let’s roll with the under while it’s still above the key of 48.
Fresno State Bulldogs ML over New Mexico State Aggies (+150)
In just his second full season at New Mexico State, head coach Jerry Kill already has the Aggies bowling after wildly exceeding expectations en route to a 10-win season this fall. The Aggies delivered one of the shocks of the season as well, knocking off Auburn by a 31-10 score at Jordan-Hare Stadium. After falling to Liberty in the Conference USA title game, this will surely be a motivated team to win a bowl game in their home state. However, quarterback Diego Pavia could be a major question mark here, as he left the conference championship game with an upper-body injury.
On the other side, Fresno State head coach Jeff Tedford is stepping away from the program due to health concerns, which has inflated the line a bit in the direction of New Mexico State. However, starting quarterback Mikey Keene is back in the fold for the Bulldogs, and Fresno State’s defense has been much better against better competition this season. Given my questions with Pavia’s health and New Mexico State’s awful defense, I’ll take a shot with Fresno State on the money line.
Read our full New Mexico State vs Fresno State predictions
