The Wake Forest Demon Deacons and Mississippi State Bulldogs will square off on December 30th at the Music City Bowl, and we are set to make our college football bowl games predictions for the duel in Nashville.

Music City Bowl: Wake Forest Demon Deacons vs. Mississippi State Bulldogs
Music City Bowl Location: LP Field, Nashville, TN
Music City Bowl Date/Time: Friday, December 30th, 6:40 p.m. (ET)
Music City Bowl Television Coverage: ESPN, ESPN3.com

Click Here For The Rest Of The 2011-12 Bowl Game Schedule And Other Bowl Game Previews

Key #1: Wake Forest has to find some way to get past this stout MSU defense
The Demon Deacons aren’t the stoutest offensive team in the country this year, as they average just 374.5 yards per game and 26.8 points per game. They only had one game with more than 35 points scored this year, and that game against the Gardner-Webb Bulldogs from the FCS. Against bowl eligible teams, this offense was even worse for the most part, save for the big time game against the Florida State Seminoles. Remember that Mississippi State played in the big time SEC West, where there were games against the Arkansas Razorbacks, Alabama Crimson Tide, LSU Tigers, Georgia Bulldogs, South Carolina Gamecocks, and Auburn Tigers. Yikes. It’s amazing to think that the Dogs are only allowing 19.9 points per game this year, and unless all of a sudden, the Demon Deacons find some tremendous offense with someone that we aren’t expecting, this should surprisingly be a bit of an easier task for a tremendous Mississippi State defense.

Music City Bowl Odds at Wager Web Sportsbook
Wake Forest Demon Deacons +6.5
Mississippi State Bulldogs -6.5
Over/Under 48
Click Here to Bet The Music City Bowl Picks!

Key #2: Vick Ballard and LaDarius Perkins need to find some holes in the Wake Forest defense
Ballard and Perkins combined to run the ball 260 times this year, which, unlike a season ago, made this offense a lot more of a 50/50 run/pass team as opposed to a team that predominantly ran the football and threw it sometimes. The passing game still isn’t really all that great in terms of getting the ball down the field, as the team is only averaging less than seven yards per pass attempt on the campaign. Ballard came up just short of 1,000 yards on the ground last year, and he did so on more carries than he has had this season. Ballard is going to finish up his career in this one, and Wake Forest is going to have a hard time stopping him when he can take it between the tackles, especially knowing that this defense is conceding 162.9 yards per game on the ground, No. 69 in the nation.

Key #3: Chris Givens needs to make the big time play
In certain games this year, the Bulldogs were able to really do a consistent job of stopping most drives, but they were often prone to those one or two plays that really broke their backs. Givens has been doing that exact same thing to opposing defenses all season long. Though he only caught 11 more passes than his fellow WR Michael Campanaro, Givens averaged over 17 yards per reception, one of the best marks in the entire country. His 1,276 receiving yards were tops on the team, and he had nine TDs. He also had 71 yards on the ground and was often used in a number of different lights. He can break this game wide open for the Demon Deacons, and if he doesn’t do so, Wake Forest is going to be in a heck of a lot of trouble.

Click Here to get the best college football picks that you’ll find on the internet, including our Music City Bowl picks and the NCAA football picks for the rest of the bowl game odds.

Week 3 of college football betting action is here! But before you get started with the NCAA football odds, be sure to check out our college football prop picks for the first day of the third week of the season, including the LSU vs. Mississippi State picks!

Vick Ballard Over/Under 87.5 Rushing Yards
The Bayou Bengals have allowed less than 50 rushing yards per game this year, and that makes it hard to believe that Ballard is going to be getting anywhere near this 87.5 yard barrier. The truth of the matter is that he has averaged over 150 yards per game as well, but it just isn’t going to happen this week. Last year, Ballard carried the ball 11 times for 28 yards, and the running backs as a whole for the Bulldogs ended up toting the rock 33 times for only 90 yards. Ballard isn’t going to be able to do it on his own, and he won’t reach this ‘total’. Ballard Under 87.5 Rushing Yards (-115 at BetOnline Sportsbook)

Chris Relf Over/Under 15 Completions
In the first week of the year, we took Relf ‘over’ 11.5 completed passes, and we find it odd that that number, against a stouter defense, has gone up 3.5 completions. Now, it’s true that Relf has completed 33 passes in two games, but it is clear that QB Tyler Russell is going to get his snaps as well under center. There has to be a concerted effort to try to run the football, and even if it fails, we don’t expect Head Coach Dan Mullen to get off of that kick. There are too many variables in this one, but we just can’t see many situations in which Relf completes at least 16 passes. Relf Under 15 Completions (-115 at BetOnline Sportsbook).

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In the third game of the “New Year’s Resolution” between the SEC and the Big Ten, the Gator Bowl will pit the Mississippi State Bulldogs against the Michigan Wolverines. These two teams have taken very different paths to get here this year, but they are both going to be proud to be here in Jacksonville. But which team will beat the Gator Bowl odds at Ever Bank Stadium? The three keys to this game are going to be the difference.

Key #1: Mississippi State’s defense has to use the exact same game plan it used against Auburn
It’s not often that you see Auburn Tigers QB Cam Newton be held down in a game, but that’s exactly what happened when he faced these Bulldogs early in the season. Now, what we need to remember is that this was several months ago before we even knew that Newton was going to be a Heisman candidate, let alone a runaway winner of the award. On that day, he rushed for just 70 yards and threw for just 136 yards and two total scores with a pick. The Tigers were held to just 350 yards on the day, and the Bulldogs were able to stay alive every step of the way to nearly pull off the upset. (However, on that day, MSU was only a one point underdog.) QB Denard Robinson is built in the exact same mold as Newton from the standpoint that he will look to throw the ball after he checks his running options. Newton was originally viewed as a poor man’s Robinson, but what ended up happening was the exact opposite. Still, this is a dynamic rusher that can make a lot of things happen, but the MSU defense needs to figure out how to contain him.

Key #2: Michigan has to keep Robinson clean
The problem with Robinson is that he is really a one man band on this team. He handled the ball 495 times this year, 245 of them coming on the ground. He really has no regard for his body at times and takes a tremendous beating. Michigan had to switch to backup QB Tate Forcier on several instances over the course of the year when Robinson either wasn’t at his best or when he had taken a few too many shots. In this game though, Forcier won’t be here. He was ruled academically ineligible for this game, which really just leaves Robinson to take care of himself. The offensive line has to do a great job taking care of him in the pocket, and RB Vincent Smith and RB Michael Shaw might have to do some more carrier of the football at times if Head Coach Rich Rodriguez wants to stay competitive in this game. If anything happens to Robinson, Big Blue is finished.

Key #3: Someone has to step up in the passing game for the Bulldogs
We know that it just isn’t in the nature of the Bulldogs to try to throw the ball all that much, but this secondary for Michigan is very, very bad 260.2 yards per game allowed. Normally speaking, QB Chris Relf would be trying to get the ball in the air to WR Chad Bumphis. However, Bumphis isn’t likely to be in the lineup in this one due to a collarbone injury. Both WR Malcolm Johnson and WR Leon Berry are questionable as well, while TE Marcus Green is definitely out of the game. Relf only threw the ball 195 times this year for 1,495 yards and nine scores, but a ton of his passes were in the direction of his top receiver. With Bumphis out, WR Arceto Clark becomes the team’s top receiver. The problem with that? Clark only had 22 catches for 317 yards and a pair of TDs. Someone has to step it up in a big way to be able to keep this offense balanced.

The brackets have been released for March Madness, and there are already teams lined up out the door that want to take their swipes at the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee for leaving them out of the field of 65. All of these teams have one thing in common, though. They all lost when it really counted and all had holes their resume. Here’s our March Madness edition of our Weekly Rap Sheet.

Rap Sheet Picture of the Week

Connecticut Huskies HC Jim Calhoun while watching his team crash out of the Big East Tournament to St. John’s.

It feels like this is a weekly ordeal, but at last, it’s finally over with. The 2009-10 Connecticut Huskies are no more. Poor HC Jim Calhoun had to sit there and watch his team blow it out its you know what against the Johnnies on Wednesday at the Big East Tournament. UConn turned the ball over 19 times in defeat. G Kemba Walker shot just 4/17 from the field, but at least it looked like he was trying out there. G Jerome Dyson, on the other hand, looked like he quit on his team. The superstar turned the ball over nine times and was just never mentally in the game. With their season hanging in the balance, the Huskies came up flat against a bad team and lost 73-51 to fall completely out of consideration for the NCAA Tournament.

Not only are we going to take a swipe at the Rhode Island Rams, but we’re going to go after all four bubble teams in the Atlantic 10 as well. None… Not one of you put together enough of a resume to even be considered one of the last four teams left home from the dance. URI looked alright until getting smashed to bits 57-44 by Temple. Even a close loss might’ve made the Rams look like a potential NCAA Tournament team. As for the Charlotte 49ers, Dayton Fliers, and St. Louis Billikens… C’mon guys. You really didn’t think you had a chance of reaching the big dance when you didn’t even qualify for your league semifinals, did you? Charlotte, we’re especially pointing the finger at you. You screwed up by losing to 12-20 Massachusetts on your home court to end your season with losses in seven of your L/8 games.

Yeah, Mississippi State Bulldogs, I hear you moaning as well, especially after you were just a matter of a few tenths of a second from winning the SEC. You’ve got a heck of a lot better gripe about going to the dance after playing the Cats tough, and your win over Florida in the SEC Tournament paired with two wins over Ole Miss should’ve been good enough to go dancing, right? Sorry… Tournament teams don’t lose to Rider on opening night at home by two touchdowns. You should’ve known that your season was over right then and there.

The Virginia Tech Hokies has a nice little gripe, right? After all, 23 wins, ten of which came in the ACC should’ve been good enough to get into the NCAA Tournament, right? Wrong. Play somebody. Brown, UNC-Greensboro, Campbell, Delaware, Iowa, Georgia, VMI, Penn State, Charleston Southern, Maryland-Baltimore County, Longwood, Seton Hall, and North Carolina Central. Those were your out of conference wins. Give me a break. Don’t fall flat on your face against Miami in your first ACC Tournament game, and you’re dancing. For now, don’t complain.

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Let’s get one thing straight before I get started with this little rant: Mississippi State and Minnesota don’t deserve to be in the NCAA Tournament in they don’t win their respective conferences on Sunday. But neither do Illinois, Florida, Rhode Island, Seton Hall, or any other teams that are sitting on this proverbial “bubble” that we have come to know and love.

Come to think of it, Virginia Tech, Florida State, Wake Forest, and probably about 12 other teams shouldn’t get the right to play for the National Championship either.

And you want to expand this field to 96 teams next year???

Regardless of whether I like it or not, the Golden Gophers and Bulldogs are both going to get to win their way onto the dance floor the old fashioned way: by winning their conference tournaments.

These two teams should both take lessons from the teams before them. Washington was considered a bubble team until it removed all doubt by winning the Pac-10. San Diego State could say the same thing with the Mountain West.

The other lesson that Mississippi State and Minnesota should take into consideration: Don’t complain if you don’t get into the field.

The Golden Gophers have some unsightly losses on their resume, including a 28-point defeat to Michigan which capped a season sweep for the Wolverines over Minnesota, a loss at Northwestern, and ‘L’s to Portland and Miami. Winning more than one legitimate road game (@ Illinois) in conference would’ve helped quite a bit, too.

Hey Mississippi State, why the heck are you losing at home to Rider? It doesn’t matter that that loss came on the first night of the regular season. It’s Rider! Tournament teams don’t lose to Western Kentucky or to Arkansas, Alabama, or Auburn in conference play. The only road wins in SEC play came at Ole Miss, LSU, and South Carolina.

Don’t get me wrong… Anyone that wins their conference tournament is deserving of a spot in the field of 65. It’s all of these bubble teams that annoy the heck out of me.

I’ll admit this much: I smirked just a bit when Utah State and UTEP both lost their conference finals, which is probably going to take a bid away from one of these teams that doesn’t deserve to go dancing.

And once again, I’d love nothing more than to see the Dawgs and Gophers take care of business, pull upsets in their conference finals, and take automatic bids to the dance. Then there will be two more teams deserving of their tickets to the NCAA Tournament, while more teams will be left at home, complaining that the system doesn’t work and that there should be more teams allowed in the NCAA Tournament.

But don’t worry, all of you 21-10 teams. When the field expands to 96 teams, you’ll all be in the tournament. Then all we’ll have complaining is all of the 18-14 teams why they’re not allowed to play for college basketball’s biggest prize.