Miami Beach Bowl Odds & Prediction

2015 Miami Beach Bowl team capsules and pick against the spread!

Last weekend saw the opening of Bowl season, and we were treated to some very interesting games, including something called the “Holy War” in Sin City on a Saturday night. How can you go wrong with that? Bowl season means that I am back with more picks against the spread!

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In case you missed how the point scale works, here is a brief rundown:

5. A lock. I am comfortable making a sizable wager on this game.

4. Very confident. Not quite a lock, but I am comfortable making a decent sized wager on it.

3. Middle of the road. Good enough that I would make a small wager on it.

2. Could go either way. So much so that I wouldn’t bet on it.

1. Stay away from these.

Take note that any games that involve 1-AA teams will NOT be picked. That means I will be staying away from the Air Force Reserve Celebration Bowl. I haven’t paid much attention to FCS schools this year. It wont do anyone any good for me to make only a slightly educated guess on the game.

Just in case you missed any:

• Gildan New Mexico Bowl
• Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl
• Raycom Media Camellia Bowl
• Autonation Cure Bowl
• R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl

Now on to the Miami Beach Bowl!

Western Kentucky(-2.5) vs. South Florida at Miami, FL(2):

Western Kentucky(11-2, 9-0):

Wins: at Vanderbilt(14-12), vs. Louisiana Tech(41-38), vs. Miami(OH)(56-14), at Rice(49-10), vs. Middle Tennessee State(58-28), at North Texas(55-28), at Old Dominion(55-30), vs. Florida Atlantic(35-19), at Florida International(63-7), vs. Marshall(49-28), vs. Southern Mississippi(45-28)

Losses: at Indiana(35-38), at LSU(20-48)

Record vs. bowl teams: 4-2

South Florida(8-4, 6-2):

Wins: vs. Florida A&M(51-3), vs. Syracuse(45-24), at Connecticut(28-20), vs. SMU(38-14), at East Carolina(22-17), vs. Temple(44-23), vs. Cincinnati(65-27), at Central Florida(44-3)

Losses: at Florida State(14-34), at Maryland(17-35), vs. Memphis(17-24), at Navy(17-29)

Record vs. bowl teams: 3-3

Western Kentucky, led by quarterback Brandon Doughty, has an offense that can make Louisiana Tech’s look average. Doughty has a lot of weapons to throw to and spreads the ball around well. The Hilltopper defense has struggled against some good offenses, but their own offense scores enough to keep them in any game.

The South Florida program was left for dead a couple of years ago, but Willie Taggart has this team playing exceptional football. I liked what I saw out of quarterback Quentin Flowers late last year, and his rise to prominence this year has coincided with the South Florida offense taking off. Between him and Marlon Mack, they can keep up with the Hilltopper offense, at least for a while.

South Florida’s defense has been the catalyst to their resurgence. They have a good Memphis team to 24 points, and held Navy to 29. That said, Western Kentucky might be better than both of them. Then again, USF is in Tampa, which isn’t all that far from Miami. The Bulls will be well represented. I just don’t think USF gets over the hump this year, but they are going to be one of my favorites from the group of five next year. This is a really good young team.

My pick: Western Kentucky

Next: The Picks For Every 2015 Bowl!

Stay tuned for FanDuel picks, and the rest of the bowl picks against the spread!