College Football Best Bets for Las Vegas Bowl

The 2022 college football bowl season kicks off Friday, Dec. 16, and let’s make this clear and read closely: These are damn difficult to predict.

Why?

Several reasons, chief among them: Who the hell is actually going to be on the field? Sometimes it’s not until a day or two before the game that players – generally those preparing for the NFL Draft – decide to sit out or give it a go. Usually, though, it’s earlier than that, in the interest of helping their team prepare a game plan.

There are a couple of sites out there tracking who’s in and who’s out, which is why it’s wise to wait until the week of bowl games to make a wager. For example, there’s no reason to bet on Ohio State-Michigan yet, not when Buckeyes star wideout Jaxon Smith-Njigba has declared he’s nursing a hamstring injury and will sit out the national semifinal even though ESPN’s Todd McShay reported that he’s healthy and most definitely should play even though it appears he won’t.

Well, yeah. I mean it’s one thing if it’s the Herschel Walker Punching Bag Bowl (trademarked; is that a thing yet?), but sitting out a national playoff game?!

Point is, wait on those later games, which is why I’ll make a couple of picks over the next few weeks, with a couple or few selections for each week/end.

The second thing is: Will a team even be motivated to play? That, of course, ties into the first question. If star players are bailing out, will the rest of the squad even be interested in another game, especially if it’s already had a disappointing season?

The answer is usually no, but again, bowl season is tough to figure out every year.

But we’ll do our best and make two selections (as in bets) every week – I’m going with two bets on the same game this week, I like it that much – and we’ll see how it goes.

Sound good?

But before we get to the picks, the following odds are courtesy of DraftKings, which offers great sign-up bonuses.

But don’t forget about all the other great gambling options and awesome offers available in your state including those from BetMGM, FanDuel, and many more.

Also, be sure to check out our guide to online casinos, from Michigan to New Jersey. You can place all your football future bets at various sites in several states across the country.

Let’s do this. Picks are in CAPS.

Las Vegas Bowl: 6-6 Florida vs. 9-3 OREGON STATE (-10) and UNDER 52.5 points

Reason 1: These were some passionate ornery Beavers this season. Except for a bad loss to Utah, OSU played every other good Pac-12 team close. They lost to USC by three, Washington by three and beat rival Oregon in the Civil Game in an emotional knockdown battle.

Reason 2: Gators dual-threat quarterback Anthony Richardson has declared for the 2023 NFL Draft and will skip Sin City. It’s going to be difficult for Florida to score against an Oregon State defense, which ranked 32nd in total defense (21.42 points per game) and held the high-powered SC Trojans to 17 points in a game the Beavers should have won.

Reason 3: Oregon State rewarded head coach Jonathan Smith with a new six-year contract worth nearly $5 million per season. That’s unheard of for a coach in Corvallis, Ore. The new deal will keep his extremely devoted current players pleased and less likely to enter the transfer portal while also improving future recruiting efforts.

That all adds up to the Beavers chewing up the Gators.