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By Dan Behringer, LVSportsBiz.com Sports Betting Writer
Ready to do some serious bowling?
The first flight of college football bowls, the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, the Rutabaga Bowl and the Gasparilla Bowl, plus others with sponsorship ties to lenders or mortgage companies or roofing repair companies, are in the books. (If you spotted the impostor lurking in the first three, you’re already way ahead of the game.)
But now, the bigger, better-known bowls are approaching. Oh sure, the Cheez-It Bowl was played Thursday and Duke’s Mayo Bowl will go early Friday. But the Gator Bowl and the Orange Bowl are also being played Friday.
The Sugar Bowl goes early Saturday. It’s followed by two bowls that serve as the semifinals of the CFP Playoff, the Fiesta Bowl and the Peach Bowl. Cotton, Citrus and Rose Bowls, the latter of which carries the moniker “The Granddaddy of Them All,” are all Monday.
Here are current odds of some of the major bowl games, courtesy of Covers.com:
— South Carolina is +4.5 vs. Notre Dame in Friday’s Gator Bowl. The total is 50.5
— Tennessee is +4.5 vs. Clemson in Friday’s Orange Bowl. The total is 61.5.
— Kansas State is +6.5 vs. Alabama in Saturday’s Sugar Bowl. The total is 55.5.
— TCU is +7.5 vs. Michigan in Saturday’s Fiesta Bowl. The total is 57.5.
— Ohio State is +6.5 vs. Georgia in Saturday’s Peach Bowl. The total is 62.5.
— Tulane is +1.5 vs. USC in Monday’s Cotton Bowl. The total is 63.5.
— Purdue is +14.5 vs. LSU in Monday’s Citrus Bowl. The total is 55.5.
— Penn State is +2.5 vs. Utah in Monday’s Rose Bowl. The total is 52.5.
Alabama coach Nick Saban to 247Sports on playing in a non-CFP bowl game: “It sort of becomes the standard … . Everybody in the program to actually have an opportunity to play in the Playoff and how do you sort of change that mindset to create value for yourself and your team and your teammates by getting motivated to play against what’s always been a really good team when you play in the Sugar Bowl … .”
Elsewhere:
— New look for Raiders: The Las Vegas Raiders are going with backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham on Sunday vs. the San Francisco 49ers. That has caused the line to jump from Raiders +5.5 to 10 for the New Year’s Day game at Allegiant Stadium.
The red-hot 49ers have won eight in a row and are 11-4. The ice-cold Raiders are 6-9. The total is been bet down to 41.5.
The 49ers are 7-3 ATS in their last ten games. However, the Raiders are 4-2 ATS at home.
“This is more about an opportunity to see a guy that we haven’t seen play in a situation like this against a couple of good teams, really good teams,” Raiders coach Josh McDaniels said of Stidham who has 11 games of NFL experience but no starts. “There’s a lot of evaluating that’s going to take place here once the season’s over. … There’s no finality to today.”
While we don’t have a betting opinion on the game, we do recall Stidham as the Raiders preseason quarterback while Derek Carr looked on from the sidelines.
And while it was only preseason, the Raiders won all four games. But of course, preseason wins don’t get you into the playoffs either.
Kickoff is at 1:05 p.m.
— What are you doing New Year’s Eve? If you’re the Vegas Golden Knights, you’re playing ice hockey vs. the Nashville Predators at T-Mobile Arena on the Strip. Mercifully, the game is at noon, well before 400,000 crazed New Year’s Eve celebrators crowd Las Vegas Boulevard. The VKG could use a win to close out 2022 after losing their last two road contests to the L.A. Kings and the Anaheim Ducks.
An early line has the VGK at -175 for the game.
— Runnin’ Rebels on tap: The UNLV Runnin’ Rebels will also be in action on New Year’s Eve. After dropping their MWC opener to San Jose State, 75-72, they face San Diego State on Saturday.
“We will find out a lot about ourselves in the coming days. We went through a stretch tonight where we gave them a cushion and it proved too much to come back from. We will watch the film together tomorrow and then we will move on to get ready for San Diego State,” Coach Kevin Kruger said after UNLV’s 10-game winning streak against the Spartans was snapped.
Tipoff at the Thomas & Mack at 1 p.m.
— Play of the Week (9-6): We gained a reprieve from our three-game losing streak when the Dallas Cowboys rallied to beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 40-34, and cover -4. That improved our record to 9-6 on the season. If you’re scoring at home, that’s 60 percent.
This weekend, we’re on a very public game and going against the sharps — we are on Georgia -6.5 vs. Ohio State.