As we make our way through The 2024 Season’s Bowl games we have 11 games this week! They range from two games today, one on Christmas Eve, and 8 to finish the week. Then we get another 8 games on Saturday! To celebrate bowl season, I’ll be releasing a best bets article each day there’s a bowl game! Get your bets in before the bowl games kick off each day! Let’s hope we continue to win in today’s bowl games best bets for Monday, December 23rd. Check out all the staff picks here. My picks are currently 7-4 including a Moneyline dog play!
2024 Season Today’s Bowl Games Best Bets – Monday, December 23rd
Myrtle Beach Bowl: Coastal Carolina vs. UTSA (-12.5)
The first game on Monday, December 23rd starts bright and early at 8 AM Pacific, 11 AM Eastern. Coastal Carolina, who had an overall record of 6-6 and went 5-7 ATS will be without 27 players who are entering the transfer portal. This includes their top two quarterbacks, one of their top running backs, and some of their top defensive players. This is a tough one for our Monday, December 23rd best bets, because we don’t know how the backups will prepare.
They will face UTSA this morning. UTSA finished 6-6 straight up and 6-6 ATS. UTSA has six players transferring, however their offensive starters will all be present. Their biggest loss will be two players from the defensive line but that will really only affect their depth. These teams have finished differently this season as UTSA won 3 of their last 4 games and Coastal Carolina has lost three of the last five.
Unfortunately comparing offensive and defensive stats between these two teams may not make as big of a difference given all the new personnel that will be playing for the Chanticleers. What’s even more telling is that UTSA opened up as six-and-a-half point favorites. Now they’re up to 13.5 at some books. Even though not all of them were starters, replacing all the players transferring out of Coastal Carolina will be tough to overcome.
Today’s Bowl Games Best Bets: UTSA (-12.5) – Their experience on the field pays off.
Idaho Potato Bowl: Northern Illinois (-3) vs. Fresno State
The second game on Monday, December 23rd, for our best bets, starts at 11:30 AM Pacific and 2:30 PM Eastern. We will see Northern Illinois face off against Fresno State. Northern Illinois finished 7-5 overall and 5-6-1 ATS. They had a big win over Notre Dame early in the year. It would be a nice cherry on top of their season to get a bowl game win.
On the other side of the ball, they’ll face Fresno State. The Bulldogs had a disappointing year, finishing 6-6 straight up and 6-5-1 ATS. Fresno State has dropped three of its last four games. They don’t come into the game with a lot of momentum but this is bowl season! Anything can happen.
Northern Illinois averaged 24.3 points per game. They had 176.1 passing yards a game on average. However, their bread and butter was the run game, where they had 207.3 rushing yards per game. Their defense was decent, only allowing 18.3 points per game. The defense held opponents to an average of 169.3 passing yards and 111.7 rushing yards. They were very balanced on the defensive side of the ball and limited big plays.
Fresno State averaged 26.6 points per game. They had 244.7 passing yards per game and only 98.6 rushing yards per game. Their defense held opponents to 24.6 points, 215.9 passing yards, and 138.7 rushing yards per game. When you line the numbers up it becomes clear that the Huskies defense is the better unit on the field. I hate to take two favorites, but sometimes you have to. The coach for Northern Illinois showed how much he cared about this team after that Notre Dame win. He’ll badly want this win for them.
Today’s Bowl Games Best Bets: Northern Illinois (-3) puts the cherry on the top of their season.
