Free NCAA Football Prediction: Georgia State vs. Ball State Odds
Looking for Georgia State Panthers vs. Ball State Cardinals free picks? College football betting sees the Panthers taking on the Cardinals on Saturday, December 25, 2021, at the Camellia Bowl in Montgomery, AL. Cappers Picks provides complimentary handicapping picks all NCAA football season long so stay tuned for more FREE college football game predictions like this Panthers Cardinals free pick.
College Football Handicapping Analysis: Camellia Bowl
Georgia State Panthers (7-5) vs. Ball State Cardinals (6-6)
Date: Saturday, December 25, 2021
Time: 2:30 pm EST
Venue: Cramton Bowl
NCAA Football ATS Spread Odds: Panthers -6 / Cardinals +6 (Bet Now!)
NCAA Football Moneyline Odds: GA State -225 / Ball State +185
NCAA Betting Total Odds: O/U 51
Camellia Bowl college football sees the Panthers and Cardinals meet at the Cramton Bowl in Montgomery, AL.
The Panthers are favored by 6 points over the Cardinals in this Camellia Bowl matchup.
For the 4th time in the last 5 years, the Georgia State Panthers will be in the post-season as Shawn Elliot has gotten his program to another bowl game. Elliot is in his 5th year with the Panthers program and he has gotten his teams to a bowl game appearance in all but one season over this time in Atlanta.
The Panthers are 2 – 2 in 4 all-time bowl games played and they’ll be looking for two straight wins after taking out Western Kentucky last year at the Lending Tree Bowl, 39 – 21.
The Cardinals finally found their first bowl win last year under Mike Neu as they will also be looking to earn a second straight season with a victory in the post-season.
Ball State had accumulated an 0 – 7 bowl game record before finally getting over the hump last year with their win over San Jose State in the Arizona Bowl, 34 – 13.
Georgia State Panthers
The Panthers were 4 – 5 with 3 games to play in the regular season and it didn’t look like this team had enough fight in them to get to bowl season this time around.
With wins over Coastal Carolina, Arkansas State, and Troy, the Panthers now ride a modest 3-game win streak into Montgomery with a 7-win campaign already in the books. The 8th win for Coach Elliot’s program would make it his best year of the 5 in charge and winning back-to-back bowl games has never happened here before.
Georgia State has only been to 4 bowl games since the 2015 season and they have alternated wins and losses having a 2 – 2 overall record in the post-season.
Cornelius Brown was expected to come into Atlanta and take over this program that had nearly every starter back in the lineup around him. Darren Grainger basically saved the season because Brown really has no ability to throw a football yet and Grainger took over as the starter when the calendar turned to October.
Grainger ended the season with just over 1,500 passing yards with a nice 16 – 4 TD to INT ratio and then his legs pitched in quite nicely to the mix as well. Tucker Gregg has run the ball 176 times, and Jamyest Williams has pounded the rock 120 times. Grainger totaled 123 rushes for another 524 yards which certainly helped this ground game to succeed.
The Panthers rank 8th in rushing offense putting up 225.4 yards per game on the ground and we will certainly be expecting another 50 carries in this game. Williams and Gregg will be seen toting the rock all afternoon in Montgomery as they have all season long.
Ball State Cardinals
The Cardinals went into the final day of the regular season needing a win over Buffalo to secure bowl eligibility. With a 20 – 3 win over the Bulls, the Cardinals earned their way here and it wasn’t as easy as most people thought it would be.
If you recall, this Cards program was 7 – 1 a year ago and everyone came back for 2021 hoping to make this is a big season. After a 1 – 3 start, this team really never looked like a contender in the MAC and the offense was supposed to be a strength of this team big time.
Drew Plitt will be wearing the #9 red and white jersey for the last time and he did reasonably well this season. He would say otherwise because of the success of 2020, but Plitt ended the regular season with 2,248 passing yards with a 17 – 5 TD to INT ratio.
The one thing the experience did bring this year was the ability to not have turnovers cost them games. This team did a great job of holding on to the ball and did just as well creating turnovers. It may not have led to a lot of points being put on the board, but those turnover stats are important as we know.
The Cards could have easily won 3 of those games that produced losses, however, so it was just a matter of a play or two that changed the outcome of games this team could have won.
Carson Steele is the guy who will be seen carrying the load out of the backfield as he put up 177 rushes for 829 yards with 6 trips to the end zone. Also supporting the ground game is WR Justin Hall, as he has also added 6 rushing TDs to the mix on top of the 5 receiving scores to his credit.
NCAA Football Handicapping Trends
- Over is 6-2 in the Panthers’ last 8 games on field turf.
- Panthers are 2-5-1 ATS in their last 8 games on field turf.
- Cardinals are 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games in December.
- Cardinals are 14-5 ATS vs. a team with a winning record.
- Cardinals are 10-4 ATS in their last 14 games as an underdog.
4* Free Camellia Bowl NCAA Betting Final Analysis:
I think 51 is a rather low total for a game that both teams would love to find wins. One of these two programs will be winners of back-to-back bowl games and that helps build momentum for next season.
I can see this as a 27 – 24 type of game and that does get us exactly 51 points. After that, I hope we see it get tied up at 27 so we can get that 54 in the books and maybe see some extra football. We have not seen overtime in the post-season yet so maybe this will be the one that gets there.
The final could be 33 – 30 after overtime, so let’s call for it to happen with the dog covering the +6 as well.
4* Free Camellia Bowl NCAA Betting Pick: Ball State +6 & Over 51
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