College football bowl picks, odds, best bets for Dec. 16, 2023 by proven expert: This 3-leg parlay pays 6-1

The 2023-24 college football bowl season kicks off on Saturday with seven games, six of them coming between FBS foes. The action begins early with an 11 a.m. ET kickoff between Ohio and Georgia Southern in the Myrtle Beach Bowl. The latest SportsLine consensus bowl odds list Georgia Southern as the 3.5-point favorite. The first Power Five team to be in action is UCLA, a 4.5-point favorite against Boise State in the LA Bowl at 7:30 p.m. ET.

The day concludes with a Big 12 vs. Pac-12 matchup as Texas Tech (-3) takes on California in the Independence Bowl at 9:15 p.m. ET.  Before locking in any college football picks on those bowl games or others, be sure to see the top Dec. 16 college football expert picks, predictions and best bets from Barrett Sallee.

Sallee is a true insider -- a CBS Sports analyst, SiriusXM host, Heisman voter and consistently one of the top CBS Sports experts picking games against the spread. He debuted with SportsLine in 2017 and has delivered his three best college football picks to members each week. 

Now, he has turned his attention to the college football bowl odds and is sharing his top three best bets over at SportsLine. If you parlay them together, you could be looking at a return of around 6-1. Get his top college football picks at SportsLine.

Top college football expert predictions for Dec. 16 bowls

One of Sallee's top college football bowl picks for Saturday: Georgia Southern covers as 3.5-point favorites over Ohio in the 2023 Myrtle Beach Bowl at 11 a.m. ET. This matchup kicks off the 2023-24 college football bowl season and it's a setting that Georgia Southern quarterback Davis Brin is very familiar with.

While playing with Tulsa in 2021, Brin threw for 285 yards and two touchdowns to earn Myrtle Beach Bowl MVP honors in a win over Old Dominion. Brin transferred to Georgia Southern this season and threw for 3,431 yards and 22 touchdowns. Meanwhile, Ohio has run into some injury issues that Sallee expects to cause problems.

"The Bobcats are down multiple starters heading into kickoff, so it's hard to trust a team that, otherwise, would probably be favorites over the Eagles," Sallee said. "Both of these teams will struggle to move the football, but Eagles' quarterback Davis Brin's high-risk, high-reward style of play will lead to enough big plays to make things difficult for a limited Bobcats team." See what other picks Sallee likes at SportsLine. 

How to make Dec. 16 college football bowl picks 

Sallee has also found two other college football picks he loves, including going Under the total in a game that he expects to be "an old-school slug fest." You can only see his picks at SportsLine.