Bowl Slate Preview (Dec. 26)

We hope you had a great Christmas and a happy holidays for whatever you celebrate. As we move toward 2025, we have a plethora of college football bowl games in front of us, which means plenty of opportunities to rebuild your bank account. If you have kids, you know what I’m talking about. 

We have three bowl game matchups Thursday throughout the day, and as always, there will be a ton of news to follow. Let’s get right into it.

GameAbove Sports Bowl

Pittsburgh vs. Toledo

Developing QB Eli Holstein will not play as he works his way back from injury and will instead focus on next season. Backup QB Nate Yarnell has hit the transfer portal, so it’ll be walk-on David Lynch taking over. Daniel Carter is out, and we will probably see a ton of Desmond Reid as the do everything offensive weapon for the team. Konata Mumpfield has transferred as well, leaving Kenny Johnson and Raphael Williams as the top two wideouts.

Toledo has a ton of injuries, but it’s mostly to the backups, so the majority of their offensive and defensive starters will be ready to go.

The best way to attack this game from a fantasy perspective is clearly through Desmond Reid. We thought he would opt-out to focus on draft prep, but this will be a final opportunity to put together a solid performance for scouts to get starry eyed about. Reid was a breakout star this year and the WCU transfer certainly has a future in professional football. He rushed for 797 yards and 4 TDs but also produced 47-564-4 as a pass-catcher, which is better than a lot of starter-level WRs.

Kenny Johnson (44-520-3), Raphael Williams (34-390-5) and TE Gavin Bartholomew (37-303-4) have the most fantasy relevance but with a walk-on at QB, I’m not falling all over myself to roster them.

There were rumors that Toledo’s top wideout Jerjuan Newton was sitting out, but he appears set to take the field. He racked up 949 receiving yards on 64 catches this year, so his presence is obviously important to the team. Junior Vandeross (73-763-4) is a big-time weapon as well and is one of the better options at the position today. He would be a slam if Newton were to sit out. Tight end Anthony Torres (27-362-8) also deserves consideration as has major TD equity when the team gets into the red zone.

The Toledo running attack is rather stale, and they utilize multiple players in a shared backfield. Jacquez Stuart typically gets the first crack at carries, but he is very low on my list. Instead, we want to look at Tucker Gleason as a main team viable option at QB. He has thrown for 2,457 yards and 22 TDs to just 7 INTs while also rushing for 330 yards/6 TDs. With Gleason at the wheel, they’re 30th in Pass Success Rate and 18th in Pass Explosiveness. This is an offense that can break a game wide open and should be able to push the pace throughout in this game. The Panthers would be wise to rely on Desmond Reid all game long, which would keep Toledo’s offense off the field as much as possible. With that said, I like Toledo’s chances to cover as their continuity is a clear advantage.

DFS Targets

Desmond Reid
Raphael Williams
Tucker Gleason
Junior Vandeross
Anthony Torress

Best Bets

Toledo +6.5 (-112, DraftKings)
Desmond Reid OVER 38.5 Receiving Yards (-112, FanDuel)
Tucker Gleason OVER 18.5 Rushing Yards (-112, FanDuel)

Rate Bowl

Rutgers vs. Kansas State

The Scarlet Knights will be without their top player in Kyle Monangai, as he has elected to focus on draft prep. Monangai rushed for over 1,200 yards this season, so his absence is obviously tough on the offense. The team has already been without primary backup Samuel Brown for the second half of the season due to an injury, so they’ll be turning to Antwan Raymond and Ja’Shon Benjamin to handle the rushing duties. 

Several secondary players on offense and defense have decided to transfer, but they’ll still have Dymere Miller (57-731-4), Ian Strong (37-563-5) and KJ Duff (25-375-1). The Wildcat defense has been erratic, looking like the steel curtain at times but a sieve in others. I actually really like Rutgers QB Athan Kaliakmanis in this spot and think the industry as a whole is overlooking him. He has thrown for over 2,400 yards and 17 TDs to 6 INTs while also rushing for 223 yards/3 TDs. He has eclipsed 30 pass attempts in seven of his last eight games so there is plenty of volume for a QB that will draw very little rostership on a DFS slate that is only three games.

Wildcats star running back DJ Giddens (1,343 yards) has declared for the draft, which means Dylan Edwards and Joe Jackson will get sizable bumps in overall workload. Edwards is a dangerous pass-catcher out of the backfield and is a fairly efficient runner but hasn’t been given many opportunities due to Giddens’ dominance. He has rushed for 350 yards with a YPC of 6.3 and caught 17 passes for 106 yards. Jackson has played even less but has shown flashes over the past few games. As a min-price option, he is worth a look in tournaments.

Dual-threat Avery Johnson has had his fair share of ups and downs, but he is one of the better QBs in action today. He has thrown for 2,517 yards and 22 TDs to 9 INTs. He has racked up 548 yards on the ground along with another 6 scores. Rutgers defense has been atrocious for much of the year, so Johnson should feast in this spot.

Tre Spivey and Keagan Johnson are out, so Jayce Brown (47-763-5), Jadon Jackson (14-194-1) and Dante Cephas (13-142-0) are all viable. Brown is the clear-cut alpha in the receiver room and has put up some big games at times. Johnson has favored his tight ends a lot this year, especially in the red zone and that puts Gunnar Oakley (20-220-4) into focus.

Despite losing tremendous talent in Monangai, I would expect Rutgers to be competitive throughout. Kaliakmanis and Dymere Miller are an underrated duo that will be leaned upon heavily. I’m going to be all over their props and will be backing the Scarlet Knights to cover as well.

DFS Targets

Athan Kaliakmanis
Antwan Raymond
Dymere Miller
Ian Strong
Avery Johnson
DJ Giddens
Jayce Brown
Joe Jackson
Garrett Oakley

Best Bets

Rutgers +7 (-108, DraftKings)
Athan Kaliakmanis OVER 205.5 Passing Yards (+100, Caesars)
Dymere Miller OVER 62.5 Receiving Yards (-113, Caesars)

68 Ventures Bowl

Arkansas State vs. Bowling Green

The Red Wolves will have all of their important players available and are taking this game very seriously. Mobile QB Jaylen Raynor leads the team into battle having completed 61.8% of his passes for 2,562 yards while also rushing for 392. He has accounted for 16 total touchdowns (14 passing/2 rushing) through 12 games. 

The duo of Zak Wallace (622 yards) and Ja’Quez Cross (600) has been effective all year. Bowling Green’s defense looks solid on paper but they’ve been bullied by opposing fronts in MAC play, so there is a real path to success for this group through the run game.

Corey Rucker (65-946-5) is a star and will give the Falcons secondary fits all game long. He is Raynor’s favorite target, and they will be peppering him for sure. Courtney Jackson (38-445-2) and Adam Jones (21-255-3) have been steady as secondary weapons.

The Falcons were on the doorstep of a MAC championship appearance but a loss to Miami (OH) in the finale ended those dreams. They’ll be without their top RB Terion Stewart as he has transferred to Virginia Tech. They will utilize a combination of Jaison Patterson (411 yards) and Jamal Johnson (174) in Stewart’s absence.

Harold Fannin is available for this game, and that’s great news for the Falcons because he is one of the best tight ends in all of collegiate football. He has 100 receptions for 1,342 yards and 9 TDs on the season. Fannin could potentially break several records, so you can be sure that the team will force-feed him the ball as much as possible. He is just 11 yards shy of breaking Jace Amaro’s single-season receiving yardage record for tight ends, which was set back in 2013. Additionally, he is 12 receptions away from setting the single-season mark for the TE position. 

The Red Wolves defense has been a weak link all year long so the Falcons offense can and will move the ball with relative ease. Connor Bazelak (2,654 passing yards) will be under center and has operated in an efficient manner for most of the year.

The total is the most advantageous way for us to attack this game and you can currently get it around 53.5 points in most places. The line has been bet up to -10.5 in favor of Bowling Green, and that’s just a tad higher than I am comfortable with. This is the game to stack for DFS purposes as well.

DFS Targets

Harold Fannin
Corey Rucker
Jaylen Raynor
Arkansas State RBs
Rahkeem Smith
Jaison Patterson

Best Bets

OVER 53.5 Total Points (-110, FanDuel)
Corey Rucker OVER 64.5 Receiving Yards (-114, FanDuel)
Harold Fannin OVER 9.5 Receptions (-132, FanDuel)