Best Bets for the College Football Bowl Season

• With Jaren Hall out, betting on Tanner Mordecai and the SMU Mustangs to cover the four-point spread against BYU is the best bet for college football bowl season.
• Betting on South Alabama to cover the spread versus Western Kentucky is another strong option based on their elite defense.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – College football bowl season kicks off today, with Bovada offering betting lines on every bowl.

With 42 bowl games on deck, the popular legal college football betting site has given players many opportunities to cash in as the season goes on, with two picks standing out:

• New Mexico Bowl: SMU -4 (-115) to cover against BYU
• New Orleans Bowl: South Alabama -4.5 (-110) to cover against Western Kentucky

Betting on SMU in the New Mexico Bowl

Tanner Mordecai and Rashee Rice lit up scoreboards all season long for the Mustangs, with the duo helping the team average 38.4 points per game.

On the other side, the Jaren Hall-led Cougars put up 31.9 points per game.

In a game that is likely to be a shootout, both defenses also allowed at least 30.0 ppg, betting on SMU is a bet that Hall’s absence will affect BYU more than Rice’s will affect Mordecai and company.

Looking at each star player’s production versus their likely replacements suggests bettors may even be wise to look at alternate spreads for SMU such as -7.0 (+125), -10.0 (+160), or even -16.0 (+245):

• Rashee Rice Production: 98 Receptions, 1,355 Yards, 10 Touchdowns
• Jordan Kerley Production (second most yards): 31 Receptions, 538 Yards, 5 Touchdowns
• Jaren Hall Production: 248 Completions, 376 Attempts, 31 Touchdowns, 6 Interceptions
• All Other BYU Quarterbacks’ Production: 0 Completions, 1 Attempt, 0 Yards, Touchdowns or Interceptions

For full transparency, it may be important to note that two wide receivers for BYU also attempted a single pass this year, with Chase Roberts even throwing a 22-yard touchdown in the process.

Unless bettors have seen any news about a Roberts position switch, betting on SMU to cover at least a -4.0 spread is as strong a bet as there is during bowl season at legal sports betting sites.

Betting on South Alabama in the New Orleans Bowl

South Alabama was six points away from a perfect season, with their losses coming at UCLA (31-32) and home versus Troy (6-10).

With five losses by a combined 64-point total, Western Kentucky was not quite as close.

Both offenses were elite this season, averaging over 31 points per game, with the key differences between the Jaguars and Hilltoppers being the defensive side of the ball:

• South Alabama Jaguars Defense: 19.4 Points per game scored by opponents (15th in the FBS)
• Western Kentucky Hilltoppers Defense: 23.5 Points per game scored by opponents (43rd in the FBS)

With two elite offenses, betting on South Alabama’s elite defense to get a few more stops than Western Kentucky’s is another strong college football bowl season bet to consider, especially with a relatively small -4.5-point spread.

News tags: Bovada | BYU | Chase Roberts | College Football | Jalen Duren | Rashee Rice | SMU | South Alabama | Tanner Mordecai | Western Kentucky