I hope all of the readers out there had a nice holiday, maybe with some winning tickets from Santa left under the tree.
We’re in the full swing of bowl season now, with one round of the College Football Playoff in the books and a bunch more football to carry us through the end of 2024 and on to the New Year.
Next week I’ll take a look at the past year for this column, but for now we’ve still got one more set of picks to end the year on a positive note.
Let’s take a look at what’s on the board this week.
Georgia Tech -3 vs. Vanderbilt
(Birmingham Bowl)
3:30 p.m. Friday, ESPN
Vanderbilt was a hot ticket in the world of college football for about half a season after knocking off Alabama and winning a few other big games, but the Commodores hit the skids pretty hard down the stretch.
They enter the Birmingham Bowl with losses in four of their last five games, and their heavy QB-run offense couldn’t gain much traction against some tough defenses.
Georgia Tech presents another good run defense, most recently bottling up Georgia’s ground game in that eight overtime marathon in the Yellow Jackets’ regular season finale.
The difference in this game will be on the other side of the ball. Georgia Tech QB Haynes King is as dangerous a run threat as Vandy’s Diego Pavia, but the Vanderbilt defense isn’t built to stop the run. King’s also more than capable of throwing the ball even without top wideout Eric Singleton.
Vanderbilt was a great story for much of the year, but they’re going to be out-gunned here.
Miami -3.5 vs. Iowa State
(Pop-Tarts Bowl)
3:30 p.m. Saturday, ABC
I know we’re all going to lock in on this game mainly to see which of the three flavored Pop-Tarts will be toasted and eaten live on air, but this is a really good matchup on the field, too.
Now Cam Ward has said he’s going to play and there’s no indication otherwise, but you never really know until kickoff if that will hold true. But if he’s got the ball for the Hurricanes, I think he’s going to put on one last show before heading to the pros.
Iowa State’s defense got shredded in the Big 12 title game, and this won’t be any easier an assignment than Arizona State was. Not only do you have Ward, but running back Damien Martinez and wideout Xavier Restrepo are also going to be in there.
I faded the Cyclones in that Big 12 title game because I didn’t think their offense would be good enough to make up for their defense getting beaten. I feel the same way here, especially with Miami’s weapons all looking like they’re bought in and amped up for one last game.
NFL
Saints ML -105 vs. Raiders
1 p.m. Sunday
This game is in New Orleans, and the Raiders are a slight road favorite. If you’ve watched even a minute of Raiders football this year, you might think that’s crazy. I do, too.
Obviously the Saints are not doing great, coming off a 34-0 loss to Green Bay in primetime on Monday. Without Alvin Kamara and Derek Carr, the offense couldn’t do much and the defense isn’t as stout as it’s been the last couple years.
But, thinking about that defense, it’s one thing to get carved up by the Packers, one of the best offenses in the game. Now they’re back at home against the Raiders, who have basically nothing doing for them? An easier assignment for the Saints, undoubtedly.
Assuming the Saints stick with Spencer Rattler at quarterback, I think his mobility will help mitigate some of the Raiders’ pressure up front, which is really the only good thing happening for the Raiders up front. Their guys at the second level aren’t any good, and the Saints should be able to move the ball.
Bear in mind that the Raiders won a game last week that they probably weren’t happy about, and now they find themselves in danger of missing out on a QB at the top of the 2025 draft. This is a must-lose for Las Vegas, so I’ll happily side against them.
Lions -3.5 at Niners
8:15 p.m. Monday, ESPN
We’ve got a rematch of last season’s NFC title game on Monday Night Football here, and I expect this one to be a little different than that conference championship game.
The Niners, now officially eliminated from the playoffs, appear to be pretty much cooked. Injuries and underperformance combined bit San Francisco hard this year.
But the Lions have dealt with some tough injury luck this year — they just lost David Montgomery and Aidan Hutchinson’s been out most of the season — and they keep pushing through.
The numbers are still pretty good for the Niners’ defense, but from watching them play it looks like they’re a step back from last year’s unit. Trying to cover all the weapons Detroit has got has been an impossible task all year long, I don’t think it’s going to happen here for San Francisco.
The post With Ward playing, back Miami in Pop-Tarts Bowl appeared first on Times Leader.