NCAA Football
2012-12-31 - USC at Georgia Tech
A Sports Betting Pick by Addicted
American Football : North America : NCAAF : SUN BOWL
Monday, December 31st, 2012, 2:10PM (7:10PM GMT)
PREVIEW
The Sun Bowl is the 2nd game of the day, taking place in El Paso, Texas. USC make their return to the postseason after a 2 season Bowl ban, so will be eager to notch a win here, especially since they underachieved in the regular season despite boasting a team bursting with talent.
USC was the preseason 1st seed and started 6-1, but finished 7-5, including 5-4 in conference play. They desperately want to add to their 32 Bowl wins (2nd most in the country) but have to go through a Georgia Tech team that is playing a bowl game by getting an NCAA waiver to compete despite a losing record. They finished 6-7, including 5-3 in ACC play.
This is G. Tech's 16th straight Bowl game, but they have actually lost the last 7 straight, including a 30-27 OT loss, to Utah, in last years Sun Bowl. They boast a triple option attack that has racked up 313 yards per game rushing, 4th best in the country.
The big news for USC here is that they will be missing their star QB Matt Barkley. In his place they will start Max Wittek. Wittek saw action against Notre Dame, but as much as this is a downgrade in passing, like I said, there is just too much talent in this USC outfit. They have messed up a fair bit and they will want to make up for it by signing off the season with a win.
The defence will want to shore things up, and I think they will. The main mismatch here is the USC offence vs the G. Tech defence. That is what has me leaning towards the USC cover. You see, USC racked up almost 90 points against Arizona and Oregon, both losses, by the way. That brutal offence will have it's chance against a G. Tech defence that has been gashed for at least 40 points in 6 games this season!
BETTING VERDICT
There's an extra half point we need to give up but I'm going to go with the Trojans to cover as I have them as double digit winners despite the loss of Barkley.
The Pick :
USC 42-31 Georgia Tech
Gooner’s Statistical Value Bet
Take USC -7.5 @ 1.96 (Pinnacle)
