College Football Bowls 2024 Pre-Christmas Matchups, Odds And Picks

The college football bowls 2024 schedule kicked off last weekend, and there are 11 bowl games before Christmas Day. The 12-team College Football Playoff opening round games are also Dec. 20-21 giving early Christmas gifts to bettors for more watch and wager action. I’m chipping in updated odds and bowl Picks and Opinions on select college bowl games at Off Shore Gaming Association, and updates on Forbes over the next week ahead of Christmas, and adding here with more updates on a separate article for the 21 bowl games Dec. 26-Dec. 31.

That does not including the Fiesta Bowl Dec. 31 that kicks off the College Football Playoff quarterfinals, and the three other CFP quarterfinals Jan. 1 in the Peach, Rose and Sugar Bowls.

There are four more bowl games Jan. 2-4 before the CFP national semi’s Jan. 9-10 for the Orange and Cotton bowls and National Championship Game Monday, Jan. 20 in Atlanta.

Check out my betting strategies and tips on betting the bowls from previous seasons at OSGA and Vegas Sports Zone. That includes strong results in select seasons including 2018 college bowls that went 18-5 ATS on rated plays, 14-4 ATS opinions for a 32-9 ATS (78%) mark on all rated plays and opinions including 11-1 ATS finish on the final 12 bowl games.

Factors In Handicapping College Football Bowl Games

– Motivation and excitement of selected bowl
– Point spreads, adjustments and major market moves
– ATS situations and profiles
– Injuries, suspension, distractions, players sitting out for NFL Draft
– Under-performing and Over-performing teams and season expectations
– Coaching success, changes, preparation
– Location of bowl, regional or home field advantage
– Look for coordinator changes, not just head coaching changes. First time play callers, offense or defense, are not in as good a situation to have success.

With more than more than 1,500 FBS scholarship players, and nearly 2,000 total FBS players now in the transfer portal, it’s clear that the game has changed in college football. That includes for bowl games, as some of these players will still play on their current teams for a final bowl game, and others will sit out to prepare for the NFL draft and not risk injury (and let their teammates down). Injuries and game day news will affect betting lines with many market moves early after the bowl games are announced. Many head coaching and coordinator changes only adds to the considerations and complexities of handicapping the bowl games, along with NIL money and recruiting of portal players. Did I mention final exams, holidays and travel and bowl festivities among the other distractions of preparations, practice and performance as players try to stay motivated on the move? Building a program has changed to creativity in finding players to fit into a team. It’s free agency. Bet the bowls wisely. (The first year of the portal era, there were 1,561 players who transfered).

College Football Bowl Matchups, Odds And Picks

Picks and Opinions will be added daily along with select game analysis and information you can bet on. See initial analysis with stats and ATS info at OSGA for college football bowls 2024.

Tuesday, Dec. 17

Frisco Bowl – No. 25 Memphis (-4.5) vs. West Virginia, O/U 58.5
Toyota Stadium – Frisco, Texas, 9 p.m. on ESPN

Pick: Memphis

Wednesday, Dec. 18

Boca Raton Bowl– James Madison (-7) vs. Western Kentucky, 51.5
FAU Stadium – Boca Raton, Florida, 5:30 p.m. on ESPN

LA Bowl – No. 24 UNLV vs. Cal (pk), 47
SoFi Stadium – Inglewood, CA, 9 p.m. on ESPN

Thursday, Dec. 19 

New Orleans Bowl – Sam Houston vs. Georgia Southern (-6), 49
Caesars Superdome – New Orleans, LA, 7 p.m. on ESPN2

Friday Dec. 20 

Cure Bowl – Ohio (-3.5) vs. Jacksonville State, 54.5
Camping World Stadium – Orlando, FL, 12 p.m. on ESPN

Gasparilla Bowl – Florida (-14) vs. Tulane, 49.5
Raymond James Stadium – Tampa, FL, 3:30 p.m. on ESPN

College Football Playoff First Round Game
No. 8 Indiana at No. 5 Notre Dame (-7), 50.5
South Bend, IN – 8 p.m. on ABC/ESPN

Saturday, Dec. 21

College Football Playoff First Round Game
No. 10 SMU at No. 4 Penn State (-8.5), 54
University Park, PA – 12 p.m. on TNT/MAX

College Football Playoff First Round Game
No. 16 Clemson at No. 3 Texas (-11.5), 51.5
Austin, TX – 4 p.m. on TNT/MAX

College Football Playoff First Round Game
No. 7 Tennessee at No. 6 Ohio State (-7.5), 47
Columbus, OH – 8 p.m. on ABC/ESPN

Monday, Dec. 23 

Myrtle Beach Bowl – Coastal Carolina vs. UTSA (-9), 55.5
11 a.m. | ESPN
Brooks Stadium – Conway, South Carolina, 11 a.m. on ESPN

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl – Northern Illinois (-3) vs. Fresno State, 40.5
Albertson’s Stadium – Boise, Idaho, 2:30 p.m. on ESPN

Tuesday, Dec. 24

Hawaii Bowl – South Florida vs. San Jose State (-4.5), 62
Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complet – Honolulu, HI, 8 p.m. on ESPN

More updates, picks, stats and information you can bet on each game day. Check back here for updates throughout bowl season.

You can bet on it.