With college football bowl season in full swing we have a menu of seven games on the slate for Saturday, Dec. 23 in which to make a winning parlay card from. The game of football is unpredictable and when you add in the varying degrees of motivation for each team the process of backing a winner becomes even more difficult. There have been drastic changes to the college football betting line in a few games with players opting out and coaches leaving their programs. You hear about those things when a major program is involved but not so much when a team like Georgia State has a number of players enter the transfer portal, most notably leading rusher Marcus Carroll. Early NCAAF odds had the Panthers as a 2.5-point favorite with the line shifting in favor of the Utah State Aggies in their Famous Idaho Potato Bowl matchup.

I stumbled a bit with last week’s college football parlay missing on two of my three picks. When you lose one wager the final count isn’t that important. And talking about motivation I didn’t expect the UCLA Bruins to put up a fight as they limped into their game with Boise State. Things looked worse when the Bruins fell behind 16-7 at halftime. A funny thing happened on their way to a loss, though. A 21-point third quarter vaulted UCLA to 35-22 cover win. Ohio slammed Georgia Southern 41-21 in the Myrtle Beach Bowl easily going over the 48.5 total handing me another loss. I did escape with my pride when Fresno State beat New Mexico State outright 37-10 in the New Mexico Bowl. With a number of bowl games remaining betting on college football is fun and easy at BetRivers sportsbook.

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Bowl Game Schedule for Saturday, December 23, 2023

Birmingham Bowl – Troy (-7.5, 44) vs. Duke

Camellia Bowl – Arkansas State (-3, 54) vs. Northern Illinois

Armed Forces Bowl – James Madison (-2.5, 41) vs. Air Force

Potato Bowl – Georgia State vs. Utah State (-2.5, 59.5)

68 Ventures Bowl – South Alabama (-17, 46) vs. Eastern Michigan

Las Vegas Bowl – Utah (-6.5, 41.5) vs. Northwestern

Hawai’i Bowl – Coastal Carolina vs. San Jose State (-10.5, 52)

Since I already spoke about the Potato Bowl matchup between Georgia State and Utah State it only makes sense that I’d include it on my college football parlay. It was a rotten close to the season for the Panthers losing five in a row after opening with six wins in seven games. All but one of those losses was a blowout, too, with the Panthers going 1-4 on the college football betting line. And things seemingly got worse with players entering the portal led by Marcus Carroll, who rushed for 1,350 yards and 13 TDs. I’m backing the Aggies minus the points since their roster remains intact and they didn’t lose five straight by an average of three touchdowns.

I think San Jose State is overvalued as a 10.5-point favorite on the NCAAF odds. The Spartans are hot taking a six-game winning streak and a share of the Mountain West title into the Hawai’i Bowl matchup with Coastal Carolina. And they’ve been profitable going 8-2 against the college football point spread in their last 10 games. They made a trip to the Island in late October soundly beating Hawai’i 35-0 with star QB Chevan Cordeiro triumphant in his return home. He gets another shot on Saturday.

With Grayson McCall transferring the QB situation for the Chanticleers is unstable. They are a system based team, though, with a strong ground game. And that’s something SJS had a problem with. I think this is going to be closer than oddsmakers anticipate, though I like the Spartans coming out on top but by less than 10 points.

You often hear complaints about the time off between the end of the season and bowl games. I don’t think Air Force is making a big deal out of the situation. Struggling with injuries and inconsistency, the Falcons limped home with four straight losses after a scorching 8-0 start. They’ve had time to heal and the ground game will test a James Madison defense that led the FBS in fewest rushing yards allowed (61.5) and rushing yards per play (2.1). Two strong defensive squads have me leaning to the UNDER on a college football bet against the total.

Utah State -2.5

Coastal Carolina +10.5

Air Force / James Madison UNDER 41

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