Pop-Tarts Bowl Betting Preview: Take the Over & Receiver TDs

• The over for the 57.0 point total is the best bet for the Pop-Tarts Bowl for Miami vs Iowa State.
• Xavier Restrepo and Jayden Higgins are both excellent bets to score touchdowns because of their production, history attached to this game, and the high likelihood of a shootout.

ORLANDO, Fla. – The best bets for the Pop-Tarts Bowl featuring Miami versus Iowa State are on points, and a lot of them.

Specifically, bettors should be looking at college football betting sites like Bovada that allow users to bet the over on the 57.0-point total and on Xavier Restrepo and Jayden Higgins to score touchdowns.

Pop-Tarts Bowl Odds: Miami vs Iowa State

Bet on the Over for Miami vs Iowa State

Iowa State (31st) and Miami (FL) (60th) both have above average, but not elite, defenses when looking at how many points per game each college football team gives up per game.

Against average offenses, that might be enough to bet the under for a relatively high over/under of 57.0 points.

But, both defenses have to face an offense that is better at scoring points than they are at preventing them.

• Miami Offense: 44.2 points per game (best in the country) vs Iowa State Defense 21.5 points per game given up (31st nationally)
• Iowa State Offense: 30.2 points per game (50th nationally) vs Miami Defense 23.9 points per game given up (60th nationally)

Overall, both offenses are ranked better than the defenses that they will face.

Even if the defenses do slow down the offenses slightly so that they score below their 74.4 combined points per game average, that would not be enough.

The defenses are not good enough to hold both offenses to nearly nine points worse than their season-long averages, which is what they would need to do in order for this game to go under 57 points.

Therefore, the best bet for the Pop-Tarts Bowl between Iowa State and Miami is on the over.

Bet on Xavier Restrepo to Score a Touchdown

With -168 odds to score a touchdown during the Pop-Tarts Bowl, legal sports betting sites have deemed it more likely than not that Xavier Restrepo will score a touchdown against Iowa State.

Given that this Miami vs Iowa State preview already touted the over as the best bet, Restrepo to score is another great option.

Specifically, because Restrepo has scored at least one touchdown in eight of Miami’s 12 games this season.

Another reason to bet on Xavier Restrepo to score is that the Miami coaching staff may force-feed him the ball.

This will be Restrepo’s last collegiate game and he will go down as an all-time legend. Restrepo has the most receiving yards in Miami history and has the fourth most career receiving touchdowns for the Hurricanes (21). They may want to highlight him one more time before he moves on from the program by getting him a touchdown.

Bet on Jayden Higgins to Score a Touchdown

Jayden Higgins has scored a touchdown in nine of Iowa State’s 13 games this season. Despite scoring a touchdown in 69.2% of ISU’s games this season, sportsbooks have given the standout near-even odds to score against Miami. Jayden Higgins’ touchdown odds at Bovada are -114.

Similar to the case for Restrepo, if this game is going to go over, multiple players will have to score touchdowns. In this case, bettors just get better odds.

Higgins has scored a touchdown in five of the seven games that the over/under has gone over for Iowa State this season.

Another interesting reason to bet on Jayden Higgins to score a touchdown is that he is playing against his hometown team.

Higgins, who transferred from Eastern Kentucky to Iowa State two years ago, was never offered a scholarship to play for Miami out of high school.

That means he will be extra motivated to score a touchdown, which is another reason why the -114 odds for Jayden Higgins is one of the best bets for the Pop-Tarts Bowl.

News tags: College Football | Florida | Iowa | Iowa State | Jayden Higgins | Miami | Pop-Tarts Bowl | Xavier Restrepo