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10 Tips For Handicapping College Bowl Games

10 Things To Consider When Handicapping Bowlpreparation, discipline and conduct of the
Games....players when on the road. #7 - Handicapping
the regular season is certainly a little
Handicapping bowl games has a few differenteasier as you have both teams having played
things to consider when trying to beat thebasically the teams within their conference.
line. You obviously still have to take yourThis makes it easy to compare results against
normal statistical handicapping formulas intocommon teams. In bowl games you don't have
consideration, but there are situations thatthat luxury, but comparing the results of
are unique to handicapping bowl games. Herecommon regular season opponents that do exist
are the ones I consider to be important whenis one of my favorite angles for getting an
doing your analyzation. #1 - Look for teamsedge in handicapping bowl games. If team A
coming into their bowl with momentum...I likefor example has lost two games by an average
to look at the last 3 games. Teams coming insay of 10 points per game to two teams that
on winning streaks are more to my favor thanteam B has beaten by an average of say 7
teams that have lost their last game or 2 outpoints, you most definitely have to figure
of 3 of their last 3 games. #2 - Watch forthis into your final prediction. Also in this
the "I'd rather be home watching TV" teams.category, you will want to weigh the
These are teams who feel they were slightedperformance of the two teams against teams
in the bowl they accepted. Some of the betterthat are in bowl games. #8 - Overall
teams in the country having to settle forschedule strength is a very important factor
lesser bowl games have a tendency to not evenin handicapping bowl games, especially the
want to be there. I't's like an embarrassmentstrength of the conference of both teams. A
to them and mentally are not prepared with ateam coming from a major conference will
winning attitude. #3 - On the other side ofoften be matched against a team from a much
the coin from #2, watch out for teams who areoverall weaker conference. Playing a full
just excited to be there. Some teams who hadschedule of much tougher opponents will give
no thoughts of playing in a bowl game at thea big edge over a team playing their entire
beginning of the season have a tendency toschedule against a lesser conference. #9 -
feel their season has been accomplished andAlways give an edge factor to teams that have
whether they win or lose doesn't reallya high percentage of spread covers during the
matter. They feel the season is already made.regular season, especially covering the
#4 - Look for teams who have "been there,spread as a underdog. This indicates that
done that". There is a lot of hype andthey are playing "up" against the tougher
distractions during bowl game week and teamsopponents and have had a lot of value against
that have never experienced it may be at athe line. This will become even more
disadvantage when facing a team with bowlprominent in a big game such as a bowl game.
experience. #5 - Look for teams with#10 - Look for teams that may be in a
coaches who have considerable bowl gamerevenge situation from the previous bowl
experience and especially a winning record inseason. It is not revenge against the team
bowl games, this demonstrates an ability tothey are playing but more so to overcome a
"win the big game". Experienced coaches havepoor performance from a previous bowl game
an edge on preparing their teams for the hypeexperience. A team who last year was a first
of bowl games over a coach who is a firsttime bowl team and got blown away, will have
timer. (Continued from previous newsletter)gained a lot of experience and will be much
#6 - Seeing as all bowl games are played onmore prepared and will want to erase the
neutral fields, it is really a road game forstigma  from  last  year.
both teams. I like to give an edge to teams
who have had winning records on the road,As mentioned earlier, you still need to go
especially against the spread during thethrough the normal statistical routine of
regular season. Teams that do not have goodhandicapping the game including the
road records will have the added problem ofobjectives such as injuries, field conditions
dealing with all the hype. Bowl experience ofetc….The above are angles that are
the coaches also plays a big part in theprimarily unique to handicapping bowl games.



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