2. Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl: Houston vs Louisiana
Saturday, December 23, 3:00, ESPN
ATS Line Houston -7
Pick Houston
I’m about to go on a journey here. It’s not going to be for everyone, but if you’ve got the grit, there might be something amazing on the other side.
You want to talk about the flakiest of the flaky – present company politely excluded – I give you the Houston Cougars both in bowl games and in the regular season.
Houston has been next-level weird in bowls over the last five years – I think Army just scored again in the 70-14 squeaker in the 2018 Armed Forces. It lost four straight, and then, from out of nowhere, it came up with a brilliant late drive to take down Auburn in last year’s Birmingham.
On this journey, I’m hitching my wagon to Cougar head coach Dana Holgorsen, who went 1-5 in bowls at West Virginia after his phenomenal 2011 season with an Orange Bowl win. If it wasn’t for QB Clayton Tune bailing the team out against AU, Holgorsen would be on a 1-7 bowl streak.
And then there’s this season. The Cougars couldn’t seem to find a win they didn’t try really, really hard to give away.
Just when they got past the weirdness and played like they were supposed to in a late November 42-3 blasting of East Carolina, they lost at home to a mediocre Tulsa squad.
You’ve come this far and now you don’t have the stomach for it? I warned you.
So why am I all in with Houston? I don’t buy into Louisiana at all.
That cost me with my Boise State pick – that was as much about not liking North Texas after a coaching change.
The Ragin’ Cajuns were able to rip through a solid Georgia Southern team, and they held their own against Troy. But they played one Power Five team and were blasted by Florida State 49-17. Houston will be P5 next year in the Big 12, but it’s close enough.
And then there are the missing parts. Houston doesn’t have as many as it probably should considering the NFL talent on the roster. Louisiana’s missing pieces, though – especially DE Andre Jones and WR Michael Jefferson – really hurt, even though there aren’t many of them.
Oh, you think we’re done after all this meandering gibberish?
NEXT: College Football Pick Against The Spread No. 1 MORE Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl