December 28 Sports Wagering – Holiday Bowl

26th December, 2011 - Posted by tang - No Comments

San Diego, California sets the stage when the California Golden Bears battle against the #24 rated Texas Longhorns on December 28th at the Holiday Bowl. These two teams who are evenly matched will slug it out and Qualcomm Stadium will be jumping. The Holiday Bowl has been a San Diego tradition since 1978 and this season’s game wants to be a classic. The sports book has the line at Texas -3, with the over/under at 47 ½.

College football odds

California is headed by junior Qb Zach Maynard and supplemented in the backfield by junior RB Isi Sofele. The Golden Bear receiving corps is in fantastic hands with sophomore WR Keenan Allen who rates 11th in the nation with 89 receptions. Senior WR Marvin Jones is a good alternative to double teams on Allen.

NFL odds

The Texas Longhorns enter into San Diego with an identical 7-5 total record and a annoying 4-5 record in the Big 12. For a coach of Mack Brown’s stature, these are very weak numbers indeed. Putting together an illustrious record of 140-36, Brown is in his 14th year in Austin. Texas also has identical numbers in the points category, averaging 28.7 on offense and 23.3 on defense. The fact that the Horns come into play still rated 24th on the polls while losing all four of their games versus rated competitors speaks volumes about the regard of the Longhorns and the strength of the Big 12.

What may explain the down year that the Longhorns have seasoned this year is a youthful team still coming to grips with the Brown system. Sophomore Qb Case McCoy and freshman Qb David Ash have both taken snaps this year at the helm. Sophomore WR Mike Davis and freshman WR Jason Shipley have turned in admirable performances over the year while Freshman RB Malcolm Brown has been the workhorse in the backfield.