College Football Bowl Odds 2023: Betting Tips for Top Games on Thursday's Schedule
Thursday's four-game college football bowl schedule features a plethora of intriguing factors that could sway your bets.
The first two games will serve as home contests for the Boston College Eagles and Rutgers Scarlet Knights inside two of the most historic baseball stadiums in the United States.
Each home side faces bigger-name opposition, but they both have the right components in the ground game to be successful and cover the spread.
The Pop-Tarts Bowl has by far the coolest trophy and it will be won by the team with the best backup quarterback.
The Alamo Bowl serves as Thursday's finale, and it could feature a terrific finish for one of the best stories in all of college football, who is in an offensive mismatch against a power program depleted by the transfer portal.
Fenway Bowl (11 a.m. ET, ESPN)
The matchup between the American Athletic Conference champion and a 6-6 ACC team should be easy to figure out, right?
But this is bowl season where the game is being played just a few miles away from the weaker team's campus.
The Boston College Eagles should have the home crowd behind them and that may lead to more motivation to win the Fenway Bowl than the SMU Mustangs.
BC could used a win over a ranked squad to springboard it into next season behind dual-threat quarterback Thomas Castellanos.
The sophomore threw for 2,146 yards and is 43 yards away from being a 1,000-yard rusher.
The Eagles need Castellanos to be dynamic in both facets of the offense from the start to put the SMU defense on its heels a bit.
An early start in a road setting could unsettle the Mustangs and make the game closer than the oddsmakers think.
SMU won the AAC Championship Game with backup quarterback Kevin Jennings, who had an extra few weeks to earn first-team snaps in practice to feel more comfortable on Thursday.
Even if Jennings plays well, the Mustangs could be locked into a one-score game, like they have on the road for most of the season.
SMU's only double-digit wins came against the East Carolina Pirates and Temple Owls, two of the worst AAC programs, and it conceded at least 28 points in four of its seven games away from Dallas.
The Miami Hurricanes may want nothing to do with playing a road game in the northeast in late December against a run-heavy team.
Miami, like SMU, will face a crowd that should be heavily in favor of its opponent, the Rutgers Scarlet Knights.
Miami's motivation should be questioned since it will be playing with a third-string quarterback and will be without multiple starters on both sides of the ball due to NFL draft opt-outs and the transfer portal.
Rutgers, like Boston College, is building toward 2024. That plan received a boost earlier this month when running back Kyle Monangai confirmed his return.
Monangai could be Thursday's top gainer on the ground. He ran for 1,099 yards in the regular season.
Rutgers' star tailback has the potential to wear down the Miami defense and lead the Big Ten side to one of its largest point totals of the season.
A bowl victory would be a huge morale boost to Rutgers since it finished Big Ten play on a four-game losing streak against four bowl qualifiers.
Miami comes into the Bronx on a four-game bowl losing streak, which includes a 35-3 thumping at the hands of the Wisconsin Badgers in the 2018 Pinstripe Bowl.
A similar fate could await the Hurricanes inside Yankee Stadium if the Rutgers offense controls the clock and wears down their depleted defense.
Pop-Tarts Bowl (5:45 p.m. ET, ESPN)
The Pop-Tarts Bowl presents a unique quarterback situation for both the NC State Wolfpack and Kansas State Wildcats.
NC State will likely go back to Brennan Armstrong, who was benched earlier in the season in favor of M.J. Morris, who then hit the transfer portal at the end of the regular season.
Armstrong has thrown 41 interceptions in his career, which is tremendous news for a K-State defense that had 12 picks and 10 fumble recoveries this season.
K-State lost veteran signal-caller Will Howard to USC in the portal, but it may be better off with Avery Johnson because of what the freshman brings to the field.
Johnson ran for over 30 yards in four appearances and completed 65.7 percent of his passes.
Johnson's dual-threat ability could help the Wildcats exploit a NC State defense without linebacker Payton Wilson, who could be a first-round NFL draft pick in April.
Johnson and 1,000-yard rusher D.J. Giddens could wreak havoc on a Wolfpack defense that also lost its starting nose tackle to the transfer portal.
The Wildcats are used to winning games with stout defensive play and offensive control on the ground and Thursday's contest should feature a continuation of that.
Alamo Bowl (9:15 p.m. ET)
The Arizona Wildcats are one of the worst nightmare of matchups for any ranked opponent.
The Wildcats reeled off four wins over Top 25 teams in their final six games to reach 9-3. They held five of their last six foes to 24 points or fewer.
Arizona can also hurt opposing defenses through two 80-catch, 10-touchdown receivers in Tetairoa McMillan and Jacob Cowing, as well as with 800-yard rusher Jonah Coleman.
The majority of Arizona's offense will be on the field in San Antonio, which is something you can't say for the Oklahoma Sooners.
Quarterback Dillon Gabriel left in the transfer portal, offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby is now the head coach at Mississippi State and star offensive lineman Cayden Green transferred to Missouri.
A gutted Oklahoma offensive line could have trouble protecting Jackson Arnold against a ferocious Arizona front.
Arizona also has more motivation to win the Alamo Bowl since a victory would confirm the program's first 10-win season since 2014.
Oklahoma can still be competitive if Arnold plays well, but Arizona is as battle-tested of a program you will see and its 4-2 record against Top 25 foes shows it can win tough contests.
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