The picks have been updated and put here. I probably won’t be projecting too far out this year, just because whether a given game will happen or not is, well, not a given.
As usual, times Eastern and all predictions wrong.
Saturday, December 26
3:30:
- Texas-San Antonio vs. Louisiana (First Responder Bowl @ Dallas, TX; ABC): The main reason this isn’t a I on the watchability tier is because, well, UTSA is kinda good this year and you almost certainly haven’t seen them. But that said, the Cajuns (who are, we’re being told, are ragin’) have earned the right to be just Louisiana, and I suspect that will continue after this game.
SP+ line: Louisiana by 15.6
Vegas line: Louisiana -13
Watchability tier: II
Previous meetings: This is the first meeting between these teams.
Last bowl game:Â This is UTSA’s second ever bowl game, after the 2016 New Mexico Bowl, which they lost 20-16 to the hometown Lobos. This is Cajuns’ third straight bowl game. They lost 41-24 to Tulane in the 2018 Cure Bowl, and beat Miami (the one in Ohio) 27-17 in last season’s Mobile Bowl.
Announcers:Â Anish Shroff, Tom Luginbill, Quint Kessenich - Western Kentucky vs. Georgia State (LendingTree Bowl @ Mobile, AL; ESPN): This is game that may be close by virtue of neither team being especially good, but hey, at least we’ll have a brief moment of being able to flip between two games this bowl season. I’ve got the Hilltoppers coming out on top here.
SP+ line: WKU by 0.9
Vegas line: GSU -4.5
Watchability tier: I
Previous meetings:Â Two. The first was a 44-28 WKU win in 2013, and in 2017 Georgia State won 27-17 in the Cure Bowl.
Last bowl game:Â Western Kentucky beat Western Michigan 23-20 in last year’s First Responder Bowl. The Panthers, meanwhile, lost last year’s Arizona Bowl 38-17 to Wyoming.
Announcers: Mike Couzens, Jay Walker, Dawn Davenport
7:30: Liberty vs. Coastal Carolina (Cure Bowl @ Orlando, FL; ESPN):Â Yesterday I got so old
I felt like I could die
Yesterday I got so old
It made me want to cry
Go on go on
Just walk away
Your choice is made
Go on go on
And disappear
Go on go on
Away from here
And I know I was wrong
When I said it was true
That it couldn’t be me and be her
In between without you
Without you
Yesterday I got so scared
I shivered like a child
Yesterday away from you
It froze me deep inside
Come back come back
Don’t walk away
Come back come back
Come back today
Come back come back
Why can’t you see
Come back come back
Come back to me
And I know I was wrong
When I said it was true
That it couldn’t be me and be her
In between without you
Without you
Like most of the college football Internet, I’m hoping this one is an absolute rout by Coastal Carolina.
SP+ line: CCU by 6
Vegas line: CCU -6
Watchability tier: III
Previous meetings:Â They’ve met several times when one, the other, or both were in FCS, but this is their first meeting as FBS teams.
Last bowl game:Â Liberty ventures to their second consecutive Cure Bowl, after last year’s 23-16 win over Georgia Southern. Meanwhile, this is the first bowl game ever for the Chanticleers.
Announcers:Â Roy Philapott, Kelly Stouffer, Alex Chappell