NCAA College Football Bowl Week 2 Picks - Late Games
NCAA College Football Bowl Week 2 Late Games
All times Eastern
Friday, December 27
Academy Sports + Outdoor Texas Bowl
Neither team is a hell-raiser offensively. Oklahoma State averaged 33.4 ppg, A&M, 30.0. The 7-5 Aggies ended their season ignominiously, losing at LSU, 50-7. The Cowboys will be without their best receiver, Tylan Wallace, who suffered a torn ACL and is lost for the season. Three of OKST's four losses were to ranked foes - Texas, Baylor, Oklahoma. Bottom line, A&M coach, Jimbo Fisher, likely doesn't have the chops to compete at the highest levels, but this team may be just good enough to win this by a slim margin. Take the points.
Coin Flip: Texas A&M
Prediction: Aggies 27 Cowboys 24
While the Trojans may encounter problems scoring against Iowa, their defense is sufficient to keep the game close. The 9-3 Hawkeyes only scored more than 27 points once in conference play (Rutgers, 30-0 W). USC is sneaky good. Losses to BYU and Notre Dame were by three points each, and they finished winning five of their last six in addition to a September 30-23 defeat of Utah.
Coin Flip: USC
Prediction: Trojans 27 Hawkeyes 20
6-6 Washington State led the nation in passing yards, amassing a gaudy 444.3 yards per game. They rack up an average of 39.0 points per contest but allow 31.4. The Cougars will certainly score plenty here, as will the Falcons. Air Force will have to rely on their pass defense and control of the clock in order to claim victory in what should be one of the highest-scores of the bowl season.
Coin Flip: Washington State
Prediction: Falcons 42 Cougars 34
Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic
The Tigers have plenty of firepower. ranked eighth nationally, at 40.5 points per outing. Their defense is solid enough. They wouldn't be 12-1 with some defensive ability, but the Nittany Lions will be their sternest test.
10-2 Penn State's losses were to Minnesota and Ohio State, which speaks volumes about their quality. They are surely good enough to win this, but so is Memphis.
Coin Flip: Penn State
Prediction: Tigers 27 Nittany Lions 23
Those numbers fail in comparison to those produced by the 10-2 Fighting Irish. Notre Dame racked up 37.1 points per game this season and gave up a mere 18.7, good for a ranking of 14th nationally. The two losses suffered by the Irish were to high-quality squads, dropping a 23-17 decision at Georgia and a 45-14 stunner at Michigan. They've won five straight since that rain-socked October disaster against the Wolverines. Following a 21-20 close call against Virginia Tech, the Irish pounded their final four opponents, outscoring the likes of Duke, Navy, BC, and Stanford by a combined 175-58. None of those games were even close.
Topping the Cyclones will not be an easy task. The Iowa State losses were close, including an 18-17 loss to Iowa, a 42-41 defeat at Oklahoma, and a 23-21 loss at Baylor. They stack up pretty well against the Irish. This one comes down to which team is better prepared and motivated. Any turnovers are likely to be costly.
Coin Flip: Iowa State
Prediction: Cyclones 31 Fighting Irish 26
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NCAA Bowl Week 2 Early Games
NCAA CFP SemiFinal Games
6:45 pm #25 Oklahoma State vs. Texas A&M (-6 1/2, 54) - Maybe some defense will be employed here, as the Aggies allowed 22.7 points per game and the Cowboys 27.0 in the wide open Big 12.
San Diego County Credit Union Holiday Bowl
8:00 pm #22 USC vs. #19 Iowa (-2, 52) - This is a solid, PAC-12 - Big Ten meeting between two ranked teams. Iowa has a limited offense but a hard-nosed defense. The Hawkeyes were fifth nationally, allowing a mere 13.2 points per game, but the offense cannot be counted upon to score much, even against USC's sometimes faulty defense.
Cheez-It Bowl
10:15 pm #24 Air Force (-3, 68) vs. Washington State - After losing their first conference game, at Boise State, 30-19, the Air Force Falcons took flight, winning their next seven Mountain West contests. A 34-25 defeat at Navy was their only other loss of the season, finishing with seven straight wins for a 10-2 record. The loss to Boise kept the falcons out of the conference championship game. Air Force is vastly improved after a 5-7 showing in 2018. They rushed for 292.5 yards per game, third nationally.
Saturday, December 28
12:00 pm #15 Memphis vs #13 Penn State (-7, 60 1/2) - Other than a 30-28 loss at Temple, the Memphis Tigers were el perfecto during the regular season, compiling a 12-1 mark beating Cincinnati in their regular season closeout game, 34-24, and the following week in the AAC championship, 29-24.
Camping World Bowl
12:00 pm #14 Notre Dame (-3 1/2, 54 1/2) vs. Iowa State - For a team with a 7-5 record, Iowa State's point differential is solid. They averaged 34.1 points per game while allowing 25.3.
