Bowl Slate Preview (Dec. 18)

It was a night of entertainment in college football Tuesday, as Memphis defeated West Virginia in the Frisco Bowl by a score of 42-37, which means the over 60.5 bet took us to the window. Don’t be alarmed if you missed out though, because there are still plenty of bowl games left.

We will help you with all of you bowl game preparations by providing you a breakdown for each matchup with a focus on DFS as well as a betting perspective. Let’s get into it.

Boca Raton Bowl

Western Kentucky vs. James Madison

This matchup is full of opt-outs and injury situations, so player news will impact things greatly. WKU Quarterbacks Caden Veltkamp and TJ Finley have both hit the portal, but it’s widely expected that Veltkamp will play. However, it’s probably closer to 50/50 regarding his status so stay tuned for that final news. Wide receiver Easton Messer has also decided to transfer, so his official status is in the air.

For JMU, star quarterback Alonza Barnett is out due to a leg injury, so they’ll be using Billy Atkins, and this will be just his second collegiate start across three years of playing. The Hilltoppers are going to be missing a large portion of their defensive starters, which helps Atkins obviously.

The Dukes should be able to take advantage of an already porous WKU rush defense that will be missing key pieces as well. WKU has given up over 300 rushing yards in five straight games. Former UNC Tar Heel George Pettaway should feast, and a big game will get him to the 1,000-yard mark for rushing yards. He currently has 881 yards on 149 carries and 5 TDs. He’s also been a solid pass-catcher out of the backfield with 24 receptions for 197 yards and 2 scores. With an inexperienced QB under center, we can expect a heavy workload for Pettaway.

Wayne Knight (427 yards/2 TDs) and Jobi Malary (257 yards/2 TDs) will factor into the equation as well. At receiver, the consistent options have been Omarion Dollison (31-551-6), Cam Ross (37-443-3) and Yamir Knight (48-567-4).

The Toppers would be in a tough spot without Veltkamp as he has played basically the entire season after Finley was benched. He has thrown for 2,806 yards and 23 TDs to 10 INTs while also rushing for 162 yards/7 TDs.

Elijah Young leads the way in the backfield and is a versatile offensive weapon with 846 rushing yards and has produced 43-363-2 as a pass-catcher. They’ve used him a ton as an extra receiver, and he has thrived as a DFS option.

Easton Messer (52-725-4) is potentially playing but if he sits out, the Hilltoppers have enough depth in the receiver room to survive. Kisean Johnson (66-855-7) is the alpha while Dalvin Smith (29-330-3) and KD Hutchinson (22-367-3) flashed big-play ability numerous times.

Even without Barnett, I expect the Dukes to dominate the trenches in this matchup and control the clock via an efficient rushing attack. WKU’s offense has really struggled to put points on the board the last month of the season and things won’t be any easier against a Dukes defense that prides itself on physicality. The line has jumped around throughout the week as players opt out and opt in, but they’re currently -7.5 over on FanDuel which we can get at +100. I’m all over James Madison to take home the Boca Raton trophy.

DFS Targets

George Pettaway
Wayne Knight
Elijah Young
KD Hutchinson
Caden Veltkamp (check status)

Best Bets

James Madison -7.5 (+100, FanDuel)
Wayne Knight (JMU) OVER 55.5 Rushing Yards (-114, FanDuel)

LA Bowl

California vs. UNLV

Starting QB Fernando Mendoza is dealing with a serious illness, but he has also decided to transfer, so it’s extremely unlikely that he will suit up tonight for the Bears. A combination of Chandler Rogers and CJ Harris will handle the QB duties. That’s how it was handled in their last game against SMU, but the offense was completely anemic as they lost 38-6. Top wideout Nyziah Hunter is portaling, and backup RB Javian Thomas is highly questionable due to what is being called an upper body injury. It’s difficult to feel any kind of excitement about the Bears offense if they’re going into the LA Bowl matchup without several key starters.

UNLV would be a lock to win this game easily, but with head coach Barry Odom moving onto Purdue, there could be a slew of opt-outs coming from the roster. However, they have hired former Florida HC Dan Mullen as his replacement. As of now, Hajj-Malik Williams, Jai’Den Thomas and Ricky White are all playing.

Assuming the Rebels won’t be hit by last minute opt-outs, their explosive offense should carry them to a victory. The Bears defense has been fairly strong this year, but if the offense can’t convert they’ll inevitably get tired out, which was the case time and time again this year.

The key to UNLV’s success has been their rushing attack which is led by dual-threat QB Hajj-Malik Williams and lead back Jai’Den Thomas. Williams has rushed for 824 yards/9 TDs while Thomas has racked up 846 yards/7 TDs. Williams is far from a one-trick pony though and has completed 62% of his passes for over 1,800 yards along with 17 TDs. Losing Matthew Sluka early in the year due to “NIL issues” probably made this team better, and Williams has proven himself to be uber talented.

Ricky White went over 1,000 receiving yards for a second straight year and had double-digit touchdowns (11) for the first time in his career. Defenses keyed in on White often, but Jacob De Jesus (34-474-2) had a great finish to the year which forced their opponents to adjust their playcalling.

Bears HC Justin Wilcox may be inclined to use freshman EJ Caminong a lot if things get out of hand early. which is a good thing for development but a bad thing when it comes to offensive output expectation. Health issues led to a lackluster year for Jaydn Ott (301 yards/4 TDs), and it’s hard to envision much success for him here here.

There is still talent in the receiver room without Hunter but lack of chemistry with the QBs behind Mendoza is going to lead to inconsistent results. Tobias Merriweather, Corey Dyches, Jonathan Brady and Jack Endries are the most relevant DFS options remaining on the team.

The total has already been bet down to around 45.5 most places so there isn’t much value left but taking the under is still technically playable at that number. Instead, I’m favoring UNLV -3.5 which is -105 on DraftKings at this moment. Even if it turns into a “grind it out”-style game, UNLV will have enough success to pull out a comfortable LA Bowl victory.