2010 College Football Bowl Odds & Predictions: There is no such thing as too much garlic, chocolate or college football. And we can hardly wait, because beginning Saturday (Dec. 18), the 2010-11 College Football Bowl season begins when the first two of 33 bowl games will be played. The season kicks off with the New Mexico Bowl (2 PM ET) in Albuquerque, when the Cougars of Brigham Young University (MWC) are matched up with the Miners of Texas-El Paso (C-USA). Following that game, Northern Illinois (MAC) will play Fresno State (WAC) in the Humanitarian Bowl with kickoff set for 5:30 PM at Broncos Stadium in Boise, Idaho. ESPN will televise both games.
BetUS.com and most offshore sportsbooks list BYU as heavy 11 1/2-chalk favorites versus the Miners with a posted total of 50 points in the New Mexico Bowl while Northern Illinois is giving 1-point as a slight favorite over Fresno State with a 58 1/2 total in the Humanitarian Bowl.
BYU and UTEP are two teams who had their ups and downs in 2010, each getting bowl qualified with the minimum six wins. At times UTEP looked like a team ready to compete for the C-USA championship, but would back slide and lose while looking like an also-ran. UTEP is a pretty good offensive team but struggled defensively giving up points en-mass to opposition with high-powered offenses; 58 to Arkansas and 54 to Houston, both games played on the road.
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BYU got its season off to a dreadful start losing five of its first seven games. Of course all those losses came against quality teams playing in bowls this season. The Cougars came together in the end and won four of their last five games to get bowl qualified. Only two of the Cougars six wins came against teams with winning records, Washington and San Diego State.
Northern Illinois had a great year in 2010 winning 10 games under head coach Jerry Kill. However, the Huskies coach, or now former coach, has left DeKalb to take the Minnesota job. NIU hired a new coach, Wisconsin Defensive Coordinator Dave Doeren, who will not coach the team in the H-Bowl. NIU Linebackers Coach Tom Matukewicz will serve as Interim Head Coach in the game.
Fresno State went 8-4 this season, with three of their losses to teams currently ranked in the AP Top-25, No. 10 Boise State, No. 13 Nevada and No. 24 Hawaii. The Bulldogs had some impressive wins, notching victories against Cincinnati of the BIG EAST in Week 1 and Illinois of the BIG TEN to end the season.
College Football Predictions : It's too early for me to make an official pick on either of these games but I am leaning to UTEP +11 1/2 and Fresno State -1. Check back with Point-Spreads.com on Saturday to get Saturday's full game previews and picks.
