Chiefs and Chargers Meet With Tons on the Line in Week 17
AFC West foes Kansas City and San Diego wrap up their 2013 Regular seasons Sunday with a pivotal showdown in San Diego – pivotal fort the Chargers who are still barely alive in the playoff race.
This game looks meaningless on the surface but the Indianapolis Colts will be looking to finish strong so they can improve their playoff positioning.
It is the final week of the season and there are lots of scenarios in play with Miami tied with Baltimore and San Diego in the AFC. Only one of those three teams can advance to the playoffs and it is obvious your chances are enhanced if you win your final game.
The favorites carved out a slight 9-7 edge against the spread in Week 16 of the NFL regular season with the total staying UNDER in 11 of the 16 games on the slate.
Settling for a middling finish after running the table during the 2012 regular season, Notre Dame is hoping that the New Era Pinstripe Bowl can give their senior class a shot at going out in a blaze of glory.
I think that Louisville might be the lowest ranked one-loss “major conference” team in history with an #18 next to their name heading into this one.
The Washington Huskies have endured an eventful few weeks entering Bowl Season. Steve Sarkisian stepped down as head coach to accept the lead job at USC, and in his place, Chris Petersen has been named his replacement.
A pair of teams with skilled offenses will square off with each other on Monday, when Georgia Tech meets Mississippi in the Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl in Nashville.
The news from this year’s Chick-fil-A bowl has not been about how the teams to players will match up, but rather how they won’t.
The Kansas State Wildcats and Michigan Wolverines will do battle on Dec. 28 in the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl in Tempe, Arizona.!–more–>
Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl
Michigan Wolverines (7-5) vs. Kansas State Wildcats (7-5)
Date: Saturday, December 28, 2013
Time: 10:15 PM ET
Venue: Sun Devil Stadium
City: Tempe, Arizona
O/U Odds: 55.5
Spread: Kansas State -3.5
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Kansas State was expected to enter a rebuilding year of sorts after taking a run at the title game a year ago, while Michigan had their sites set on a championship this season but could not maintain their strong early season play for long and could now have some trouble finding motivation as they find themselves slotted into a lesser bowl game.
The teams will enter this game in very different form as Kansas State won five of its final six games to earn a berth in the postseason, while Michigan dropped four of its final five games.
The last of those losses for Michigan came in an absolute thriller though, as the team combined with Ohio State to put on a heck of show at the Big House. Quarterback Devan Gardner lit up the Buckeye secondary in that one, completing 32 of 45 passes for 451 yards and four scores without an interception, adding a fifth score on the ground.
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He connected with top wideout Jeremy Gallon nine times for 175 yards and a score as the Michigan offense put up 41 points, but couldn’t complete a late two-point conversion attempt and fell to Ohio State by a score of 42-41 in a heartbreaker. With another 47 yards in this game, Gallon would set the school’s single-season mark for receiving yards.
Kansas State supporters must not have thought there would be a bowl game in the cards for the team after a 2-4 start to the year, but a strong finish to their regular year has the team in the postseason against a solid opponent. Even looking back, none of those initial four losses was by more than 10 points, so the team must have known there was something there. They’ll need to buck the trend of recent play in bowl games as the team has dropped five in a row. Conversely, Michigan is 20-22 all-time in bowl appearances.
Quarterbacks Jake Waters and Daniel Sams filled in for the departed Collin Klein and combined to throw for 2,650 yards and rush for 1,054 more, and each will get time against Michigan’s defense in Tempe.
The time off should serve Michigan well and allow them to re-gain the form they started the year with, while Kansas State likely would have preferred to play this game three weeks earlier so they could continue to ride the wave of momentum they closed the season with.
The Wolverines are 4-1 ATS in their last five games against Big 12 opponents, while the Wildcats are 0-5 ATS in their last five bowl games.
The play: Michigan +3.5
The Cincinnati Bearcats will be looking for their first 10 win season since 2008. While the North Carolina Tar Heels will look to take advantage of playing in the state of North Carolina to beat the Bearcats as they try and have a winning season.
The NBA and Christmas have gone hand-in-hand over the years with a holiday offering of big time matchups. This year is no exception with five showdowns on this Wednesday’s slate.
The Rockets are heading into the traditional Christmas Day matchups looking to double up on road victories against San Antonio – thats right they are one of three teams to nip the Spurs at home this season.
Houston Rockets (18-11) vs. San Antonio Spurs (22-6)
Wednesday December 25
At&T Center – San Antonio, TX
8:00PM
Moneyline: San Antonio -300, Houston +250
Spread: San Antonio -7
O/U: 209
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This is the second of a classic Texas Triangle for the Rockets who need to rebound from a home loss to Dallas on Monday night. This team has been sputtering lately just 5-5 in their last 10.
Unfortunately for Houston, SG James Harden is questionable for this prime-time game. He was fantastic in scoring 31 points in their last victory against the Spurs but replacement Francisco Garcia hardly puts much fean into an opponent. PG Jeremy Lin missed that one but he will be available this time. Lin played for the first time in a couple of weeks on Monday and did not look rusty at all in scoring 20 points against the Mavs.
Over the last 10 the Rockets have covered when they won 4 out of 5 times. Beating the Spurs again at home of going to be very tough to do but even without Harden they can play this team very tight and get a cover. The underdog is 13-6 ATS in this series over the last several seasons including 1-0 this year.
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The Spurs sit atop the Southwest Division looking down on Houston and others. The great thing about this San Antonio team this season is that it really takes care of business against the lower tiers of the league, so far they have lost just 6 games but all of them have been to team that can reasonably considered contenders for an NBA title this season, including the Rockets. They will be looking to prove a point to Houston in this one.
After being out of the lineup for a few games PG Tony Parker returned and had his best game of the season against Toronto in a win on Monday night. Conversely PF Tim Duncan didn’t even score in double digits, and looked more like the player who struggled over the first month of the season. The Spurs have the great record but some of their younger players like Kawhi Leonard haven’t take off like we anticipated after last year’s run to the finals.
The Spurs have not been a good bet at home this season, just 5-8 ATS as compared to 10-5 on the road. Almost always the favourite they do seem to get up for these divisional games with a 5-1 ATS run going against teams from the Southwest division. The one was that earlier SU loss to the Rockets
Spread Pick: Push
O/U Pick: Under
Score Prediction: San Antonio 99 – Houston 92
The Minnesota Golden Gophers and Syracuse Orange will face off in the Texas Bowl on Dec. 27.
Heisman Trophy finalist Jordan Lynch will play the final game of his college career on Thursday, when No. 23 Northern Illinois faces Utah State in the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego.
Marshall was a surprise loser in the Conference USA championship game. They were touchdown favourites but lost by 17 against Rice and now have to bounce back if they want to beat a Maryland team that should be pretty hungry for the first bowl win of the Randy Edsall era.
