Sam Avellone
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The 2024-2025 college football bowl season is winding down, as just 3 non-playoff games remain. Two of those games will be played on Friday. Kicking off at 4:00 pm ET from Dallas will be the ServPro First Responder Bowl between the North Texas Mean Green and the Texas State Bobcats. Friday’s nightcap will be the Duke’s Mayo Bowl between the Minnesota Golden Gophers and the Virginia Tech Hokies. There’s not much to choose from on this slate, but I did find one bet on each game that I felt is worth playing. Let’s get to our college football best bets for today, and make sure you continue to check Pickswise for all of our college football predictions on the remaining postseason games.
Texas State Bobcats -7.5 first half over North Texas Mean Green (-105)
Odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook at the time of publishing.
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Both Texas State and North Texas are heavily affected by the transfer portal and opt-outs, but it is North Texas that I feel will be more affected by those opt-outs – especially early in this game. The Mean Green will be without multiple key pieces on the offensive side of the ball, including their starting quarterback Chandler Morris and his top wide receiver DT Sheffield. For what it’s worth, Morris led the AAC in passing yards and touchdowns, while Sheffield was 4th in the AAC in receiving yards and 1st in touchdowns. The Mean Green offense will be further affected by opt-outs as it will be without its best-graded offensive lineman in Tyler Mercer and another one of its best pass-blockers in Leke Asenuga. As it stands, UNT’s offense will be directed by a freshman quarterback in the First Responder Bowl behind an offensive line missing multiple pieces. That is potentially disastrous for UNT, as the Mean Green don’t have a reliable defense to help alleviate a slow offensive start.
On the other side of the ball, Texas State will be without its starting right tackle and starting running back. However, the Bobcats figure to have most of their offense intact, at least early in this game. There are rumors that starting quarterback Jordan McCloud will not play the full game as he prepares for the next level, which is another reason why I prefer the first half over the full game. Expecting a slow start offensively from UNT and the exact opposite from Texas State, I recommend laying it with the Bobcats in the first half.
Minnesota Golden Gophers -5.5 first half over Virginia Tech Hokies (-114)
Odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook at the time of publishing.
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This is another game that will be heavily influenced by the transfer portal and opt-outs. The Hokies will be without their starting quarterback, starting running back, top 3 offensive linemen and top 2 wide receivers on the offensive side of the ball – at least 7 total starters. They could also be without another 7 starters on the defensive side, including 6 of their top 8 defenders by snap count.
Minnesota will have its own concerns as far as opt-outs go, as the Golden Gophers are likely to be without a few of their top defenders, multiple starters across the offensive line and their leading receiver. However, they are expected to have starting running back Darius Taylor, starting quarterback Max Brosmer and second-leading wide receiver Elijah Spencer – who pulled in 24 catches for 348 yards and 2 touchdowns on 32 targets from Week 9 on. The continuity at those positions should give Minnesota a decent advantage early in this game, enough to go into halftime with at least a touchdown lead over Virginia Tech.
Read our full Minnesota vs Virginia Tech prediction for the Duke’s Mayo Bowl
