Caleb Wilfinger
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Following a wild college football regular season, we’ve arrived at 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’ve got a trio of games on tap on Wednesday 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 on Wednesday’s games, but without any further ado, here’s my 2-leg NCAAF parlay with a potential payout of +873 odds. Let’s take a look at each of the legs.
West Virginia -5.5 & Over 55.5 (+230)
Oklahoma State to win by 1-13 points (+195)
NCAAF parlay odds: +873
Odds available at FanDuel Sportsbook at the time of publishing
West Virginia Mountaineers -5.5 & Over 55.5 (+230)
This game points in the direction of both West Virginia and the over, so why not parlay them both for a bit of extra value? North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye has opted out of this bowl game, which shouldn’t exactly come as a surprise to anyone paying attention to next year’s NFL Draft boards. It goes without saying that Maye’s absence in this matchup is a great loss for a North Carolina offense that is a shell of itself without him. Even outside of Maye’s absence, there are more issues for UNC to deal with. In addition to starting a backup under center, the Tar Heels have opt outs from 5 other NFL-bound players and could also be missing starting tight end, 2 wide receivers and starters at the cornerback and safety positions in this game. This roster is absolutely decimated and it’s hard to imagine they show up with their best effort on Wednesday.
The Mountaineers didn’t suffer many losses in the transfer portal, plus they should have a major motivational edge in this one. Neal Brown’s team wants to run the ball and they should see plenty of success against a North Carolina defense that ranks outside the top 100 in EPA per rush and outside the top 90 in EPA per play (CFB-Graphs). Conversely, I still can see North Carolina getting to 21 points in this game, meaning there’s a good chance we see something to the effect of a 37-21 final, or even 34-23. That has me leaning toward the over as well. The Mountaineers were picked last in the preseason Big 12 media poll and have played with a chip on their shoulder all season long. I can’t see that stopping in this one.
Read our full West Virginia vs North Carolina predictions
Oklahoma State Cowboys to win by 1-13 points over Texas A&M Aggies (+195)
Like most teams in this day and age, Texas A&M has been hit hard by the transfer portal bug. In fact, as of writing, 12 Aggie starters are in the portal and won’t be suiting up for the Texas Bowl. Meanwhile, Oklahoma State only has 3 players gone to the portal, none of which were starters. The biggest key on offense for the Pokes is Doak Walker-winning RB Ollie Gordon II, who recently announced he will be returning for the 2024 season. Texas A&M had a solid run defense this season, but they haven’t faced anyone nearly as talented and shifty as Gordon is out of the backfield. Not to forget, the majority of A&M’s defenders in this game will be 2nd-stringers.
Gordon’s presence in this game is a massive boost for a Cowboys offense that should hold major edges in this game against an Aggies defense that will be led by interim head coach Elijah Robinson, who has already committed to be the defensive coordinator at Syracuse next season. Gordon already ranks 2nd in the country with 124.2 rush yards per game and I expect him to run rampant against this depleted and dejected Aggie defensive unit. Outside of Gordon, Cowboys quarterback Alan Bowman has managed to put together a respectable season after some early-season controversy. His main area of concern is turning the ball over, but this matchup serves him well as Texas A&M ranks 120th in the nation with only 11 turnovers forced on the year. I don’t expect this one to be a blowout, so let’s back Mike Gundy’s squad to win by 1-13 points for some added value..
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