The Daily Sweat: Can Mike Gundy continue his bowl game excellence?
Bowl season has been underway for over a week now, but the action really gets good in the week leading up to the New Year. There are four college football bowl games on Tuesday. There will be at least three bowl games every day through Saturday. Of course, Saturday is highlighted by the two College Football Playoff semifinals.
The week between Christmas and New Year's is already a very hard time to be productive for anyone, but the presence of these bowl games will make that even harder. On Tuesday, the action begins at noon ET while the final kickoff takes place at 10:15 p.m.
The first game of the day features Georgia Southern and Buffalo in the Camelia Bowl. It seems like the Eagles are the popular side here, as this line has moved from 3.5 to 5.5 in the past few days, with Georgia Southern installed as the favorite. Buffalo squeaked past Akron in its finale to become bowl eligible and failed to cover the spread in its final four games of the season.
In the First Responder Bowl, Memphis is a 7-point favorite over Utah State. That line is down from the opening number of 9.5. Utah State will be without its top two rushers in Calvin Tyler Jr. and Robert Briggs.
The day continues with Coastal Carolina and East Carolina meeting in the Birmingham Bowl. East Carolina is currently a 7-point favorite. There's a lot up in the air with the Chanticleers as they've had coaching turnover and players opting out and entering the transfer portal. Jamey Chadwell has accepted the Liberty job and will not coach in this game. Grayson McCall has entered the portal but is expected to still play on Tuesday. At BetMGM, 96% of the money is on the game to go over 65 points. The total opened at just 59.5.
The nightcap features two teams that will look unrecognizable compared to what we saw in the regular season. Graham Mertz has transferred to Florida and Spencer Sanders is in the portal, so neither Wisconsin nor Oklahoma State has its starting quarterback. Jim Leonhard will coach his final game with Wisconsin as Luke Fickell gets set to take over. On the other side, Mike Gundy is 11-5 all-time both straight up and against the spread in bowl games. His Pokes are 3.5-point underdogs on Tuesday night.
Ten game NBA slate
The NBA season marches on with a solid 10-game slate on Tuesday night.
The Philadelphia 76ers have won eight straight games, going 7-1 against the spread over that span. They are 4.5-point road favorites against the Washington Wizards on Tuesday.
Out west, the Memphis Grizzlies are 7.5-point home favorites over the Phoenix Suns. The Suns have lost three straight games and will be without Devin Booker due to a groin injury. The conference-leading Denver Nuggets are 3.5-point road favorites over the Sacramento Kings.
NHL returns from holiday break
The NHL took three days off for its holiday break, but the league returns to action on Tuesday night with an 11-game slate. One thing to keep in mind is that the league bans travel during its break, so all road teams on Tuesday will be forced to travel the morning of the game. That's not normal and likely messes with some routines, so home teams might have the advantage coming out of the break.
The Metropolitan Division features two intriguing matchups. The New York Rangers have won eight of nine games and are -160 home favorites against the Washington Capitals, who have won four straight and nine of their last 10. Elsewhere, the Pittsburgh Penguins have won eight of their last 10 games. They are -130 road favorites against the New York Islanders.
Out West, we have the "Battle of Alberta" as the Calgary Flames are -145 home favorites against the Edmonton Oilers. Other intriguing games include Minnesota being a slight -120 road favorite against the Winnipeg Jets and the Vegas Golden Knights being a -110 road pick'em against the Los Angeles Kings.
First look at Week 17
Week 16 of the NFL season wrapped up on Monday night with the Los Angeles Chargers securing a win, cover and playoff berth in a 20-3 road victory over the Indianapolis Colts. Just two weeks of regular season football remains as teams fight for playoff spots and seeding. Let's take a look at the early betting lines for this weekend's games at BetMGM:
Dallas Cowboys (-10) @ Tennessee Titans
Arizona Cardinals @ Atlanta Falcons (-3.5)
Chicago Bears @ Detroit Lions (-5.5)
Denver Broncos @ Kansas City Chiefs (-13.5)
Miami Dolphins @ New England Patriots (-2.5)
Indianapolis Colts @ New York Giants (-5)
New Orleans Saints @ Philadelphia Eagles (-6.5)
Carolina Panthers @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers (-3)
Cleveland Browns @ Washington Commanders (-2.5)
Jacksonville Jaguars (-4) @ Houston Texans
San Francisco 49ers (-5.5) @ Las Vegas Raiders
New York Jets (-2.5) @ Seattle Seahawks
Minnesota Vikings @ Green Bay Packers (-3)
Los Angeles Rams @ Los Angeles Chargers (-6.5)
Pittsburgh Steelers @ Baltimore Ravens (-3)
Buffalo Bills (-1) @ Cincinnati Bengals
