Betting preview for Frisco Bowl: North Texas vs. Boise State – VSiN
By Adam Burke (VSiN.com)
It’s the most wonderful time of the year, and there are 43 college football bowls to wager on. VSiN is here to help bettors sort through them all and find the value. Be sure to check out our College Football Bowl Betting Guide, our homepage for individual bowl previews and our running best bets file.
>Get all VSiN Bowl picks, sortable by game.
This is the preview for the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl
Independence Stadium (Shreveport, Louisiana)
Betting splits: 31% of handle, 73% of bets on Houston -7
Bowl betting trends run the gamut between something you might want to pay attention to and just a bunch of noise. Some coaches take bowl games more seriously than others and have their teams more prepared. Dana Holgorsen is not one of those guys. The Houston head coach is 3-6 SU and 2-7 ATS in his last nine bowl games. Between Houston (since 2019) and West Virginia (2011-18), things have not gone well.
Holgorsen won 17-13 over Auburn last year, but lost 28-14 to Hawaii in 2020 with Houston. His last three bowl games with West Virginia were losses by 16, 16 and 17 points. Will he have his Cougars fired up to play the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns? Early money seems to think so, as this line has moved up a few points to -7, with a stray -7.5 out there.
It was a down year for Louisiana offensively due to a lot of turnover at the QB position. All-time leading passer Levi Lewis exhausted his eligibility, leaving Ben Wooldridge and Chandler Fields to fill his shoes. Collectively, they did post a 26/9 TD/INT ratio, but explosive plays were limited, and the Ragin’ Cajuns finished the regular season tied for 93rd in yards per play. Houston, meanwhile, finished in the top 20 in offensive YPP.
The Cougars limped to a 7-5 finish because they allowed nearly six yards per play on defense. Everybody remembers them for the 77-63 loss to SMU, but this was a defense that had issues throughout the year. Louisiana’s defense was quite a bit better, coming in at 5.27 yards per play, but keep in mind that Houston’s strength of schedule was 35 spots higher than Louisiana’s per Jeff Sagarin.
Also, keep in mind that Holgorsen has lost outright three times in five tries as a bowl game favorite. — Adam Burke
Matchup page for Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl
Get best bets on every college football bowl game
Betting Splits: Percentage of handle & tickets from DraftKings for every game on the board, updated every 10 minutes. GO HERE.
NFL Power Ratings: 3 sets of numbers from Steve Makinen. GO HERE.
CFB Power Ratings: 3 sets of numbers from Steve Makinen. GO HERE.
View more CFB tools for Pro subscribers
View more NFL tools for Pro subscribers
Live Bet Saturday: You can often tell early which team is better prepared for their bowl game, if you are unsure of a side pre-game, watch the first few drives and pick your side, it is probably worth it even if the number is worse than what you would have gotten pre-game. View more tips
Pro Football Blitz: Always check the weather before betting any NFL total. The temperature at Lambeau Field at kickoff is forecast for 20 degrees with snow in the second half. View more tips
Matt Brown: Rams +7.5 vs. Packers. View more picks
Chuck Edel: UConn-Marshall UNDER 41 (Myrtle Beach Bowl). View more picks
New feature: Bowl picks on one page, sortable by game.
VSiN
Tools
VSiN Specials
VSiN
Tools
VSiN Specials
VSiN
Tools
VSiN Specials
VSiN
Tools
VSiN Specials
VSiN
Tools
VSiN Specials
facebook twitter instagram youtube