The holiday season is one of the most stressful times of the year, so it’s always nice to be able to kick back and relax whenever the opportunity presents itself. For fans of college football, that opportunity will come around this weekend with the start of bowl season. It has been a couple of weeks since the conference championship games were played, so we are ready for some college football action to watch and wager on.

The bulk of the first round of games will be played this coming Saturday, but we also have a number of games to look forward to on Christmas week, which is why we are looking ahead and trying to get you prepared for all the action, which will be coming thick and fast over the holiday season. There is only one game that we need to focus on this coming Monday, with the UCF Knights and the Marshall Thundering Herd heading to Tampa to square off in the Gasparilla Bowl. It was a somewhat disappointing year for the Knights, but they will start this one as a 17 ½ point favorite, with the point total set at 61 ½.

UCF vs Marshall 2019 Gasparilla Bowl Odds, Game Info & Pick

• When: Monday, December 23 at 2:30 PM EST
• Where: Raymond James Stadium, Tampa
• TV: ESPN
• Radio: SiriusXM
• Live Stream: WatchESPN
• Gasparilla Bowl Odds: UCF -17.5 (Total 61.5)

Appalachian State vs UAB 2019 New Orleans Bowl Betting Lines & Preview

Why bet on the UCF Knights?

We have become so accustomed to seeing the UCF Knights dominate the proceedings over the past couple of seasons that their 9-3 record this season needs to be viewed as a bit of a disappointment. While the Knights continued to be fun to watch on the offensive side of the football, they took a real step backward on the defensive side of things, leaking points at a rather alarming rate.

That led to them going just 2-7 ATS in their last 9 games of the regular season, taking them to 5-7 ATS on the season. In their last 1o meetings with Marshall, UCF have had some real success, going 8-2 SU and 7-3 ATS. In 4 of their last 5 games played in the month of December, the Knights have seen the OVER hit.

Team Stats

Offense

• Points per Game: 43.00
• Passing Yards: 320.00
• Rushing Yards: 216.58
• Yards per Play: 6.86

Defense

• Points per Game: 22.83
• Passing Yards: 199.92
• Rushing Yards: 144.92
• Yards per Play: 4.52

Why bet on the Marshall Thundering Herd?

The Marshall Thundering Herd finished the season with a respectable 8-4 record, and while they were a good SU pick this year, they were a lot like the Knights in that they were not a great bet against the spread. The Thundering Herd were actually a worse spread bet than the Knights, managing to cover in just 4 of their 12 games this season.

One of them has to cover this weekend, and it’s the Herd who perhaps look the more likely of the two to do so. Marshall has covered the spread in 7 of their last 8 games against teams from the AAC and are an impressive 10-3 ATS in games that they start as the underdog.

Team Stats

Offense

• Points per Game: 25.83
• Passing Yards: 200.92
• Rushing Yards: 195.58
• Yards per Play: 5.82

Defense

• Points per Game: 23.08
• Passing Yards: 227.83
• Rushing Yards: 134.25
• Yards per Play: 5.34

UCF vs Marshall 2019 Gasparilla Bowl Betting Trends

• Knights are 4-1 SU in their last 5 games this season
• Knights are 7-2 ATS in their last 9 games against Marshall
• The total has gone OVER in 4 of Central Florida’s last 5 games played in December
• Thundering Herd are 6-1 SU in their last 7 games played in December
• Thundering Herd are 10-3 ATS in their last 13 games when playing as the underdog
• The total has gone OVER in 12 of Marshall’s last 18 games

Expert Pick & Final Score Prediction for UCF vs Marshall

Given how poor both of these teams have been in covering the spread this season, I will be avoiding that wager like the plague. Instead, I think that the bet we should be looking at here is the OVER, as this game has the potential to turn into a total shootout.

Score: UCF Knights 48 – Marshall Thundering Herd 33