5 Best College Football Bowl Predictions Against The Spread: December 20-24

5 best predictions against the spread for college football’s early bowl games – December 20th through the 24th. Which games appear to be the best bets against the spread?

5 best predictions for college football bowl games – Monday, December 20 through Friday, December 24. What games appear to be the best bets and the best picks?


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Bowl Game Predictions, Previews 
CFN Experts Picks: Bowls Dec 17-27
Bowl Schedule, Game Previews

Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak

Results So Far ATS: 85-67-2

One massive miscalculation later …

I blame missing EVERYTHING against the spread during an epically bad Saturday on the stress and strain of having to scramble to find ESPN after the YouTube TV/Disney kerfuffle, and …

I can’t blame this multi-billion conglomerates. It was all my fault for totally whiffing on my belief that Conference USA was going to get rim-rocked this bowl season – except, of course, for my pick of Marshall to cover against Louisiana. (It didn’t.)

Picking bowl games takes a different skill set from the regular season. Logic, reason, and normal rules don’t always apply – hello, Jackson State and BYU.

So I’m done with you, Conference USA. You win.

I’m staying away from the against the spread calls of Old Dominion vs Tulsa in the Myrtle Beach Bowl (I like Tulsa -9, of course), UTSA vs San Diego State in Tropical Smoothie Cafe Frisco Bowl (I like SDSU -2.5, of course), and Miami University vs North Texas in the Frisco Football Classic (I like MU, of course).

I always stick with my picks, I take my beating, and then I move on. But there were things that have gone the right was so far.

The point totals went just fine over the first several games, so I’m mostly going with those for these bowls during the week before Christmas.

Pray for me.

Click on each game for the preview 

5. Missouri vs Army: Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl

LINE Army -4
ATS PICK Missouri

Oh, I am well aware that you pick against Army at your own risk.

I’m an adult, I take responsibility for my own actions, and I will almost always take my chances with SEC team over a Group of Five-level team.

Especially if that SEC team is getting points.

Yeah, I’m still smarting from going hard on San Diego State and its amazing defense in the 2017 Armed Forces Bowl – and then Army won.

Yeah, I’m still smarting from going hard on Houston in what should’ve been an easy in in the 2018 Armed Forces Bowl – and then Army won 70-14.

Yeah, I’m still smarting from going hard on West Virginia against the spread in the 2020 Liberty Bowl – and Army lost, but only by three.

Army is 4-1 in its last five bowl games from 2010 on, but there’s a strange part to that. None of the four bowl wins were against Power Five programs, and Army didn’t actually beat West Virginia last year.

In fact, Army hasn’t beaten a Power Five program since the win over Duke in 2017. Before that you have to go back to a 2012 win over Boston College.

I’m fully aware – and love – what Army does, and I know bowls go against what we all believe in our core to be true, but you’re getting points here. You’re not even asking the Power Five team to win big.

4. Hawaii vs Memphis
3. Miami University vs North Texas
2. San Diego State vs UTSA
1. Kent State vs Wyoming
CFN Experts Picks: Bowls Dec 17-27

NEXT: College Football Pick Against The Spread No. 4 Hawaii vs Memphis

Celebration Bowl: South Carolina State vs. Jackson State live stream, TV channel, time, how to watch bowl games

The South Carolina State Bulldogs will face the Jackson State Tigers in the Celebration Bowl on Saturday afternoon.

The South Carolina State Bulldogs will face the Jackson State Tigers in the Celebration Bowl on Saturday afternoon.

South Carolina State comes into this one after finishing the season 6-5 and will be looking to make a statement against the 11-1 Tigers. Meanwhile, Jackson State cruised along this season with Dion Sanders coaching and they might be looking ahead to next year after securing the number one recruit in the nation.

Tune in to the Celebration Bowl today, here is everything you need to know to watch and stream the action.

SC State vs. Jackson State

  • When: Saturday, December 18
  • Time: 12:00 p.m. ET
  • TV Channel: ABC
  • Live Stream: fuboTV (watch for free)

How to watch College Football Bowl Season

fuboTV has complete NCAA college football coverage (CBS, FOX, ESPN) as well as ACC Network, Big 10 Network, ESPNU, Pac12, and more. fuboTV includes every network you need to watch every college football game in your market.
fuboTV is available on your phone, tablet, desktop, TV, connected TV Devices including Roku. Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV plus many more.
*Regional Restrictions Apply*

NCAA Football Odds and Betting Lines

NCAA odds courtesy of Tipico Sportsbook. Odds last updated Saturday at 11:00 a.m. ET.

SC State vs. Jackson State (-11)

O/U: 42.5

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5 Best College Football Bowl Predictions Against The Spread: December 17-18

5 best predictions against the spread for college football’s early bowl games – December 17th and 18th. Which games appear to be the best bets against the spread?

5 best predictions for college football bowl games – Friday, December 17 and Saturday, December 18. What games appear to be the best bets and the best picks?


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Bowl Game Predictions, Previews 
CFN Experts Picks: Bowls Dec 17-27
CFN Experts Picks: NFL 
Bowl Schedule, Game Previews
How Good Is Your Bowl? Ranking all 43

Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak

Results So Far ATS: 84-63-2

Even in the best of times trying to bet on bowl games is tricky – teams get out of their respective regular season grooves. In 2020 it was impossible, and in 2021 it’s forget-about-it tough.

But they’re bowl games. You’re going to bet on them.

Trying to navigate through the opt-outs, coaching changes, and relative interest among the various teams, here are five of the best-looking investment opportunities for the first batch on Friday, December 17th and Saturday, December 18th.

Good luck and godspeed.

Click on each game for the preview

5. Coastal Carolina vs Northern Illinois: Tailgreeter Cure Bowl

LINE Coastal Carolina -11
ATS PICK Northern Illinois

How much do you believe that the regular season could carry over into the bowls? If you think that’s possible, then Northern Illinois shouldn’t have a problem covering this.

Those are a whole lot of points to be giving away to the champion of the MAC. Some might be freaked out by the late-season blowout loss to Western Michigan – NIU already had a spot in the MAC Championship wrapped up.

Northern Illinois is a badly flawed team in a whole lot of ways, and there’s reason to be concerned against an ultra-efficient, high-powered Coastal Carolina squad.

The Huskies don’t do much to pressure the backfield, they give up a whole lot of yards, and they don’t come up with enough takeaways or third down stops.

However, they’re great at dominating the time of possession, and they should be able to counteract what Coastal Carolina does by grinding and grinding some more.

The Chanticleers are more fun, more explosive, and more splashy on both sides of the ball, but they also struggled against mediocre team after mediocre team over the back half of the season.

The best win of the year was against … Kansas? Troy? You have as many wins over 2021 bowl teams as Coastal Carolina does.

That doesn’t mean the Sun Belt star can’t and won’t win this, and there’s a historical reason to think there could be a problem for Northern Illinois. The Huskies haven’t just lost their last six bowl games going back to the 2011 GoDaddy.com against Arkansas State; they’ve been annihilated in most of them.

This Northern Illinois is good at making teams play at its pace.

Now, if Toledo has problems in the Bahamas Bowl early on Friday and if Northern Illinois gets bombed on in this, avoid the MAC fast. But until that happens …

11 is a big number to be giving away here.

CFN Experts Picks: Bowls Dec 17-27

NEXT: College Football Pick Against The Spread No. 4 Oregon State vs Utah State: Jimmy Kimmel Bowl presented by Stifel

Jackson State vs South Carolina State: Cricket Celebration Bowl Prediction, Game Preview

Jackson State vs South Carolina State: Cricket Celebration Bowl prediction, game preview, how to watch, lines, and why each team might or might not win.

Jackson State vs South Carolina State: Cricket Celebration Bowl prediction, game preview, how to watch: Saturday, December 18


Jackson State vs South Carolina State: Cricket Celebration Bowl How To Watch

Date: Saturday, December
Game Time: 12:00 ET
Venue: Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, GA
How To Watch: ABC, Live stream on ESPN+
Record: Jackson State (11-1), South Carolina State (6-5)

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Jackson State vs South Carolina State Cricket Celebration Bowl Preview

– Deion Sanders took a good Jackson State football program and made it great. The Tigers were 4-8 in 2019, went 4-3 in the 2021 spring season after Sanders took over, and then it all kicked in with an 11-1 season – the only loss in a great, low-scoring battle with ULM of the FBS world – and a SWAC championship.

South Carolina State had a bit of a disappointing season, but it managed to with the MEAC title and get here with wins in five of its last six games. Legendary head coach Buddy Pough has a solid, veteran team built around good lines and a defense that takes the ball away in bunches.

– Jackson State wins on defense, but it has a terrific passing offense led by Shedeur Sanders. Deion’s son is the first player from an HBCU to win the Jerry Rice award as the best freshman in the FCS, throwing for over 3,000 yards with 29 touchdown passes with just six picks. He ran for three scores, too.

Why Jackson State, South Carolina State Will Win
Prediction, What’s Going To Happen, History

NEXT: Why Jackson State Will Win, Why South Carolina State Will Win, Cricket Celebration Bowl Prediction