After a long and eventful college football regular season, the most wonderful time of the year is finally here. Bowl season might not be as essential across the college football landscape as it once was, but it still presents bettors with a plethora of games to handicap and wager on. The action gets underway on Saturday with a matchup between Boise State and Washington in the LA Bowl at SoFi Stadium, and we also have the annual Army-Navy game to keep us entertained.
With the first weekend of bowl games upon us, it’s time to get into this Saturday slate with my weekly best bets column. We have gotten back on track in the column with a 2-0 mark last week, so let’s keep that momentum going this week! Let’s take a look at my pair of CFB best bets for Saturday, and you can also find out all of our expert CFB picks for the Bowl Season action.
CFB best bet: Washington Huskies team total over 30.5 (-125)
Odds available at BetRivers Sportsbook at time of publishing. Over 52 (-115) also playable at time of publishing.
Both teams are expected to be mostly intact in this game, and we shouldn’t see either side impacted all that much by opt-outs and potential transfers. If anything it would be Boise State that is more impacted by any potential opt-outs, as offensive tackle Kage Casey and safety Ty Benefield could end up missing this contest. While I lead toward laying the points with Washington as significant favorites in this game, my preferred wager is on the Huskies to eclipse their team total. The full game over is also on my card, but I’ll stick with the Washington team total over for my best bet on this game.
For starters, Washington appears to be motivated to play in this game, as star running back Jonah Coleman and future NFL wide receiver Denzel Boston should be in the lineup on Saturday. Head coach Jedd Fisch recently stated that he expects all of his starters to suit up in this game, outside of those with long-term injuries. With that in mind, this offense is extremely dangerous, especially with quarterback Demond Williams playing behind an offensive line should be healthy for the first time in well over a month. Washington has shown that it can score with anybody when healthy (5th in success rate & 15th in EPA per play), and it shouldn’t face much resistance against a Boise State defense that is 117th in points per quality drive allowed and has struggled against the run all season long. Let’s take the Huskies to clear their team total in this one.
Get our expert’s full Boise State vs Washington prediction
CFB best bet: Navy Midshipmen -6 over Army Black Knights (-110)
Odds available at DraftKings Sportsbook at time of publishing. Playable to Navy -6.5
The annual Army-Navy game is one that typically doesn’t produce many fireworks, but the Midshipmen should be in position to score plenty of points against an Army defense (121st in success rate allowed) that hasn’t fared well when stepping up in class this season. Blake Horvath and company are averaging 6.3 yards per carry on the ground, which is nearly 2 yards per carry more than Army on the season. Navy is significantly more explosive offensively as well, with the Midshipmen sitting at 7th in success rate, 5th in early downs EPA and 10th in points per drive (CFB-Graphs). The path should be clear for Navy’s offense in this game, and I have a hard time seeing the Army offense (104th in success rate) keeping up with the Midshipmen as the game goes along. Ultimately, I look for Navy to win by at least a touchdown on Saturday.
Lock in our expert’s Army vs Navy predictions
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