And it all comes down to this! The BCS National Championship Game picks are finally here to be made, and here at Bankroll Sports, we are looking at some of the best college football prop picks on the board and showing you how you can win on the BCS Championship Game without playing the Alabama vs. Notre Dame odds or spreads.

Team To Call First Timeout: It seems like something awfully stupid to bet on, but when push comes to shove, most of the early timeouts that are called in games are called because coaches and players aren’t so sure of what they are ultimately supposed to be doing. Alabama has been here and done this time and time again, whether it be here at the National Championship Game, playing in the SEC Championship, or playing in front of tens of thousands of fans at Tiger Stadium or any of the other huge venues that the SEC has to offer. Notre Dame plays its share of big games, but this is as big as it gets. QB Everett Golson isn’t even trusted in the two minute drill, and it just doesn’t look all that pretty for him under center in this game. The Alabama defense is fast, strong, and hits incredibly hard, and that really could confuse the heck out of Golson early on. Significantly more often than not, it seems as though Notre Dame will be calling the first timeout of the contest. Notre Dame To Call First Timeout (-125)

Will AJ McCarron Throw a Touchdown Before an Interception?: This is one of these no-lose props for us as we see it. McCarron only threw three interceptions all year long, and two of those came in one game against the Texas A&M Aggies. He just isn’t put into positions where he can get into trouble all that often, and Head Coach Nick Saban really protects him. Yes, the Notre Dame defense is great, and yes, that might keep him from throwing a touchdown at all. However, knowing that we are getting our money back if neither a TD nor an INT is thrown, there is just no way that we think that McCarron is getting picked off first. At -500 is probably the fair price for this prop, and we’re going to take full advantage of it. AJ McCarron To Throw a Touchdown Before an Interception (-200)

Will AJ McCarron Throw an Interception?: Same shtick. Considering the fact that he was picked off in two out of 13 games this year, we really don’t see McCarron getting intercepted in this game. AJ McCarron To Not Throw an Interception (-110)

Will Jeremy Shelley Miss a Field Goal?: We’re not ones to say that a kicker can never miss, but Shelley just isn’t put into a position to miss all that often. He is the short range kicker for the Crimson Tide, and he is the only kicker in America that didn’t miss a single kick this year. It’s ridiculous to think that he is posted at just -220 to not miss a field goal in this game when he hasn’t missed all year long. Jeremy Shelley To Not Miss a Field Goal (-220)

Eddie Lacy Yards On First Rushing Attempt Over/Under 3.5: Lacy averaged 6.5 yards per carry this year, and he is running behind the best offensive line in the country. Apologies to the Fighting Irish, but they aren’t holding Lacy under four yards on more than half of his carries in this game in all likelihood. Eddie Lacy Yards On First Rushing Attempt Over 3.5 (-115)

Everett Golson Over/Under 205.5 Passing Yards: Alabama conceded just 166.2 passing yards per game this year, and Golson averaged under 180 passing yards per game. Granted, we know that Golson has played against some tough defenses, but he hasn’t seen a team like this one. He has at least 200 passing yards in four straight games, but those games have come against Pitt, Boston College, Wake Forest, and USC. This is a much tougher task and should be a lot more like the game that he had against Michigan State or Stanford, both of which he was mired under 180 total passing yards. Everett Golson Under 205.5 Passing Yards (-115)

Kyle Brindza Over/Under 6 Points: We would basically need Brindza to boot two field goals to win this prop bet for us, and we think that it is very reasonable that he would ultimately be able to do that. Remember that Brindza kicked 23 field goals for an offense that often sputtered down near the goal line this year. It’s absolutely unimaginable to think that Alabama is going to post another shutout in a second straight National Championship Game, and though it might be ill-advised, we have to think that the Notre Dame kicker will at least get a couple of cracks from inside 40 yards or so in this game. Kyle Brindza Over 6 Points (-140)

Will Everett Golson Throw a 1st Half Touchdown Pass?: The better question might be asking whether Golson is going to throw a TD pass in the entire game or not. The Alabama defense probably isn’t allowing more than one TD for the whole game, let alone for the whole half, and the likelihood that Golson throws it isn’t all that good. Remember that this is still just a sophomore, and it comes in a game against a fantastic defense. Golson only threw 11 TDs all year. There doesn’t seem to be even a 40% chance of him throwing one in the first 30 minutes of this game. Everett Golson Doesn’t Throw a First Half Touchdown Pass (-160)

Our 2013 bowl predictions continue on Monday, January 7th with the National Championship Game, and we are set to make our National Championship Game predictions, tips, and keys to the game for the duel between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

2013 National Championship Game: Alabama Crimson Tide vs. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
2013 National Championship Game Location: Sun Life Stadium, Miami Gardens, FL
2013 National Championship Game Date/Time: Monday, January 7th, 8:30 p.m. (ET)
2013 National Championship Game On TV: ESPN, Watch ESPN

Click Here For The Rest Of The 2012-13 Bowl Game Schedule And Other Bowl Game Previews

Key #1: The Fighting Irish have to prove that they can get through one of the best offensive lines in America
They say that the reason that even the teams in college football can’t even hold a candle to the worst team ever assembled in the NFL is because of the play in the trenches. The big boys in the NFL are just bigger, stronger, faster, and more agile than the ones in college, and whereas every now and again you get a team that has a few great linemen on both sides of the ball on a collegiate team, you’ve got tremendous depth along both lines in the NFL. If there is an offensive line in college football that was ready to go up against a defensive line in the NFL though, the Alabama line would be the one. The Crimson Tide feature just a slew of offensive linemen that just have a tendency of leaning on opposing defensive lines and ultimately getting them to wear down over the course of a game. It’s not that Alabama runs the ball a zillion times that really makes this team go – after all, the Tide do only run the ball on 63% of their plays. It’s just the fact that these linemen just continually pave hole after hole in opposing defenses. Don’t get us wrong, as RB Eddie Lacy and RB TJ Yeldon are both fantastic athletics. The reason that they are averaging 6.5 yards per carry each is because of this offensive line. It doesn’t matter who you’ve got running the ball when you’ve got Mack trucks there to pave the way. The Notre Dame defense has been great this year in a number of clutch situations in the trenches along the defensive line, but it hasn’t seen an offensive line like this one all year long. That’s where the Golden Domers are going to prove that they belong, or will shrivel in this game.

National Championship Game Odds at WagerWeb Sportsbook
Alabama Crimson Tide -10
Notre Dame Fighting Irish +10
Over/Under 40.5
Click Here to Bet Your National Championship Game Picks!

Key #2: Everett Golson has to prove that this is his time to shine
It’s tough to knock anything that the Irish have done this year, as they are a 12-0 team and the only undefeated team that is eligible to play for the National Championship this season. However, we have never been fans of the split quarterback system, especially knowing that QB Everett Golson was always taken out of the lineup in the two-minute drill. Every play is a big one when you’re playing against the talented Alabama defense, and Golson has to make the most of his opportunities. If Head Coach Brian Kelly truly believes that this is the man for the job, he should stick with him. Golson though, only completed 58.9 percent of his passes this year, averaged just 177.9 passing yards per game, and had just 11 TDs against five picks. He really doesn’t have a target, save for TE Tyler Eifert that is all that remarkable of a receiver, and in the end, it is going to come down to what he can make happen against one of the very best defenses in college football.

Key #3: The Irish have to control the clock
Time of possession is always a key stat in SEC games, and generally speaking, whichever team ultimately possesses the ball for longer tends to win. The Irish only average taking 68.7 snaps per game offensively this year, while the Crimson Tide are even lower at 63.2 offensive snaps per game. Clearly, neither of these teams are in all that much of a hurry to try to get up to the line of scrimmage and play. But ask the Georgia Bulldogs what happens when you get killed in the time of possession battle against Alabama. In the SEC Championship Game, Lacy ran for 181 yards, and Yeldon ran for 153 yards. The end result was 350 total rushing yards for the team on the day on a total of 51 carries. This goes back to that whole offensive line thing that we were talking about earlier. Alabama absolutely will punish you if you let it. The Fighting Irish cannot let the Crimson Tide take 70 snaps in this game, or they are going to be in a whole mess load of trouble. Golson has to keep the sticks moving on third downs, and when the defense has a chance to get off of the field, it has to take those chances. It isn’t absolutely imperative for Alabama to win the time of possession battle, but we feel as though Notre Dame has no chance whatsoever to get the job done if it doesn’t have the majority of the possession for the game.

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2013 Sugar Bowl picks are going to be entertaining to make this year, as we have two teams that are going to be going at it against each other in what could be an unpredictable game in the Florida Gators and the Louisville Cardinals. Join us for our Sugar Bowl keys to the game and our Louisville vs. Florida predictions.

2013 Sugar Bowl: Florida Gators vs. Louisville Cardinals
2013 Sugar Bowl Location: Mercedes Benz Superdome, New Orleans, LA
2013 Sugar Bowl Date/Time: Wednesday, January 1st, 8:30 p.m. (ET)
2013 Sugar Bowl On TV: ESPN

Click Here For The Rest Of The 2012-13 Bowl Game Schedule And Other Bowl Game Previews

Key #1: Florida’s offense needs to get something out of someone aside from Mike Gillislee
We give all of the credit in the world to what RB Mike Gillislee has been able to do this year. He has had a good offensive line in front of him, which really has helped quite a bit, and he put up 1,104 yards and a total of 11 TDs on the year. The most remarkable part about the whole thing is that he did all of this without any semblance of a passing game. Florida’s offense just stunk it up with QB Jeff Driskel out there, as he threw for just 1,465 yards and 11 TDs and rushed for 404 yards. Granted, when Driskel was at his best, Florida was in fine shape. The good news is that he was at his best in the team’s most recent game against the Florida State Seminoles. In that game, he threw for 147 yards and a score and proved to be the MVP of the game. When he was effective, the rest of the ground game was able to really get going, and the team ended up with 244 yards on 47 carries for the game. That’s the type of production that it is going to take to ultimately win the Sugar Bowl this year, but if Driskel has one of these games where he goes 10-of-28 for 90 yards with no scores, Florida is going to be in a heck of a lot of trouble.

Sugar Bowl Odds at BetGuardian Sportsbook
Florida Gators -14
Louisville Cardinals +14
Over/Under 47
Click Here to Bet Your Sugar Bowl Picks!

Key #2: Louisville’s defense has to step up against the run
For most of the season, Head Coach Charlie Strong had his boys from the ‘Ville playing great ball on the defensive side of things. Down the stretch though, the team slipped just a bit. The Syracuse Orange ran for 278 yards against this unit, and the Connecticut Huskies picked up 149 yards on the ground as well. The team rebounded against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights and held a team that really can move the rock on the ground to just 54 yards, and that’s a large chunk of the reason why Louisville was even able to make it to the BCS this year. Take out that game against Syracuse though, and what’s left is a unit that allowed right around 140 yards per game rushing this year. If the Cardinals can hold the Gators to that type of a number, the blue and orange are going to have an awfully tough time figuring out how to cover the spread in this one, and potentially win the game outright as well. If Driskel is forced to put the ball in the air, the Gators are going to be in some trouble.

Key #3: The Cards cannot get beaten by Florida’s special teams
We have seen the Gators do too much work on special teams over the course of the last few months to know that it could be problematic again in this one. The team has tried fake punts, fake field goals, gimmick plays, has blocked punts, blocked kicks, returned kicks and punts for scores… You name it on special teams, Head Coach Will Muschamp has dialed it up. Most of it has worked, but not all of it has. If not for the blocked punt returned for a touchdown against the Louisiana Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns, it’s anyone’s guess as to whether the Gators would have been playing here or in the Outback Bowl (or worse). Here’s the other facet to Florida’s game that we haven’t discussed yet: The kicking game. K Caleb Sturgis has a huge leg and can boot it from 55 yards if given the chance. He was one of the better kickers in America this year, while P Kyle Christy averaged a whopping 46.1 yards per punt attempt. Special teams are where Florida really has killed a ton of foes this year, and Louisville has to avoid being the next team in a long line of clubs that succumbed to the UF special teams unit to have a chance at the upset.

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Our 2013 bowl predictions continue on Tuesday, January 1st with the Rose Bowl, and we are set to make our Rose Bowl predictions, tips, and keys to the game for the duel between the Wisconsin Badgers and the Stanford Cardinal.

Click Here For The Rest Of The 2012-13 Bowl Game Schedule And Other Bowl Game Previews

2013 Rose Bowl: Wisconsin Badgers vs. Stanford Cardinal
2013 Rose Bowl Location: Rose Bowl Stadium, Pasadena, CA
2013 Rose Bowl Date/Time: Tuesday, January 1st, 5:00 p.m. (ET)
2013 Rose Bowl On TV: ESPN, Watch ESPN

Key #1: The Badgers have to prove that they are a lot better than an 8-5 team
It almost seems like an insult that an 8-5 team is playing in the Rose Bowl this year. Granted, we know that the only reason that Wisconsin even had the chance to play in the Granddaddy of them All this year is because of the way that the Big Ten happened to shake out with both the Penn State Nittany Lions and the Ohio State Buckeyes on bowl probation. It’s tough to say that this is your average 8-5 team, though. The team lost its five games this year by a combined 19 points, and all but one of those losses came against teams that went on to win at least nine games. And, one of those losses against the Nebraska Cornhuskers was avenged in the Big Ten Championship Game. The schedule actually ended up being a lot tougher than we thought at the outset of the year, and there is a real chance for Wisky to prove that it is worthy of finishing ranked in the Top 25 if it can pull off this upset. There’s a reason that this team is playing in its third straight Rose Bowl in spite of the fact that it has used six different quarterbacks in that stretch.

Rose Bowl Odds at WagerWeb Sportsbook
Wisconsin Badgers +5.5
Stanford Cardinal -5.5
Over/Under 47.5
Click Here to Bet Your Rose Bowl Picks!

Key #2: The offensive line for the Badgers and the defensive line for the Cardinal have to put on shows against the other
This is a heck of a battle between two units that are just flat out awesome. The offensive line for the Badgers is always one of the best in the nation, and this year has been no exception. In spite of the fact that the team has absolutely no passing game whatsoever, this OL just continues to be one of the best in the nation. RB Montee Ball, RB James White, and RB Melvin Gordon are great, but they wouldn’t get to 3,099 yards combined without a great front five. These three backs averaged 6.14 yards per carry this year, and that doesn’t happen for even the best backs in the game without an outstanding line. The defensive front for Stanford doesn’t get much help from the linebackers in the form of blitzes, but that doesn’t make this group ineffective by any stretch of the imagination. The Cardinal allowed just 88.0 yards per game this year on the ground, and that was the third best mark in the entire nation. Whichever team wins the battle in the trenches is going to be the team that has the upper hand in this game.

Key #3: One of these teams has to produce some form of a passing game
The Badgers have been through a ton of quarterbacks this year. QB Danny O’Brien simply stunk, and he was done after just a few games this year. After that, QB Joel Stave took over and completed 59.3 percent of his passes for 1,104 yards before getting hurt. Now, it’s up to QB Curt Phillips, who has started the last three games for Wisky. The team hasn’t played all that well offensively with Phillips in the lineup, and probably for a good reason. He’s a senior that had only thrown 12 passes in his career prior to this year without throwing a touchdown. On the other side of the field, Stanford has quarterback issues as well. QB Josh Nunes completed just 52.8 percent of his passes and threw seven picks against 10 scores before Head Coach David Shaw pulled the plug on him. Now, it’s up to QB Kevin Hogan, who is the future of the Stanford offense to get the job done. A highly touted recruit, Hogan hasn’t disappointed, but he hasn’t been asked to do much. He mostly throws very simple passes and gets the job done with his legs, which is why his completion percentage is so high at 72.9 percent. That being said, one of these teams badly needs to come up with a great game from their quarterback, and whichever one comes up with it will have the better chance of beating the college football betting odds in this one.

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The X’s and O’s of the Outback Bowl predictions aren’t shared by many expert handicappers, but here at Bankroll Sports, we are giving up all of our insight and telling you all of the keys to the game for the South Carolina Gamecocks vs. Michigan Wolverines. The Outback Bowl picks are some of the hardest to make this year of all of the bowl games, so don’t miss out on all of our South Carolina vs. Michigan predictions!

2013 Outback Bowl: South Carolina Gamecocks vs. Michigan Wolverines
2013 Outback Bowl Location: Raymond James Stadium, Tampa Bay, FL
2013 Outback Bowl Date/Time: Tuesday, January 1st, 1:00 p.m. (ET)
2013 Outback Bowl On TV: ESPN

Click Here For The Rest Of The 2012-13 Bowl Game Schedule And Other Bowl Game Previews

Key #1: Someone has to figure out how to get a hat on Jadeveon Clowney
Short of LB Manti Te’o for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, there probably isn’t a defensive player in the land that is more feared than DE Jadeveon Clowney is for the Gamecocks. If you didn’t believe in him in the first 11 games of his freshman campaign, you had to become a believer after he picked up 4.5 sacks against QB Tajh Boyd and the Clemson Tigers. That was a game in which Clowney absolutely single handedly put away one of the best offenses in the country without really all that much help or all that much need for help. Michigan has had problems shutting down some of the best defensive ends that it has seen this year, and the offensive line is going to be under tons of pressure in this one. Clowney’s presence is going to open up the ability for some other blitzers or interior linemen to get clean runs at the Wolverines’ quarterbacks as well. Neutralize Clowney, and at least there’s a chance. Don’t do it, and he is going to run roughshod on this offense and have a showcase of a game.

Outback Bowl Odds at BetRevolution Sportsbook
South Carolina Gamecocks -4.5
Michigan Wolverines +4.5
Over/Under 47.5
Click Here to Bet Your Outback Bowl Picks!

Key #2: The OL for the Gamecocks has to pave some holes for the running game
For as great as the South Carolina defense is, the offense ranks 66th or worse in virtually every major offensive category. Some of that is the fact that the SEC schedule has been a nightmare once again this season, but part of that is because the offensive line for the Gamecocks just hasn’t been as good as it usually is. Case in point? Before he was injured, RB Marcus Lattimore averaged just 4.6 yards per carry this year. He averaged 5.0 yards per carry as a sophomore. Take out Lattimore’s production, and the offensive line for the Gamecocks averaged just 3.31 yards per carry. That isn’t going to cut it in this game against the Wolverines, especially knowing that they have excelled at times stopping teams from running the football. It’s not necessarily about what RB Kenny Miles and RB Mike Davis can do, but it is about what the offensive line is able to pave out when push comes to shove.

Key #3: The Michigan offense has to keep this SC defense guessing
It has just become too predictable over the course of the last few games of the season for the Michigan offense. The team is very likely to run the football with QB Denard Robinson taking the snap, and it is very likely to throw it with QB Devin Gardner doing the honors. Instead, there should be more of lining up these two men all over the field. They did combine to throw for 2,300+ yards this year and averaged over nine yards per pass attempt, but a lot of that was trickery. Robinson rushed for 1,166 yards, though most of those yards came as a scrambler or a Wildcat pivot. Some came at running back, and some too, came as a wide receiver on sweeps. Robinson also caught a couple of passes for 24 yards as well. Gardner isn’t as mobile of a quarterback as Robinson is, but he did have 77 rushing yards and caught 16 passes for 266 yards earlier in the year. Perhaps lining them both up on the outside and letting someone like WR Roy Roundtree or WR Jeremy Gallon taking snaps wouldn’t be a bad idea. The gimmicks aren’t going to work all the time, but they could work some, and that’s what it will take to get a few past this top class SEC defense that is one of the better units in America.

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2013 Capital One Bowl picks are going to be entertaining to make this year, as we have two teams that are going to be going at it against each other in what could be an unpredictable game in the Georgia Bulldogs and the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Join us for our Capital One Bowl keys to the game and our Nebraska vs. Georgia predictions.

2013 Capital One Bowl: Georgia Bulldogs vs. Nebraska Cornhuskers
2013 Capital One Bowl Location: Florida Citrus Bowl, Orlando, FL
2013 Capital One Bowl Date/Time: Tuesday, January 1st, 1:00 p.m. (ET)
2013 Capital One Bowl On TV: ABC

Click Here For The Rest Of The 2012-13 Bowl Game Schedule And Other Bowl Game Previews

Key #1: Taylor Martinez has to get over his poor history in big time games
For all of the pomp and circumstance that came with QB Taylor Martinez to Lincoln, he really hasn’t figured out how to live up to the hype that he built for himself out of high school and in the very beginning of his collegiate career. In this, his junior year, Martinez was supposed to become a more accomplished quarterback. He did set career highs for passing yards, completion percentage, TDs, and quarterback rating, and he had a great year as a rusher as well. However, the dude has to learn how to throw the football in a big time game, and doing so against the vaunted Georgia defense is not a good way to learn on the job. Martinez did rush for 140 yards and two TDs in the Big Ten Championship Game, but he also threw for just 184 yards and two picks on just a 51.5% completion percentage. In two bowl games, Martinez has gone just 17-of-25 for 169 yards with two TDs and two picks through the air with 60 yards on the ground. Take away the two picks, and those are great numbers for just one game, but this is two games that we’re talking about. Martinez is developing the moniker of being a quarterback that can’t play in the clutch, and if he lives up to that in this one, the Huskers stand absolutely no chance.

Capital One Bowl Odds at BetGuardian Sportsbook
Georgia Bulldogs -8.5
Nebraska Cornhuskers +8.5
Over/Under 60.5
Click Here to Bet Your Capital One Bowl Picks!

Key #2: Aaron Murray has to show no fear to throw into the teeth of this secondary
To say that we think that the Cornhuskers are overrated in the secondary is a bit of an understatement. Yes, this unit ranked No. 1 in the land against the rush at 148.2 yards per game allowed this year, but in truth, who in the heck did the Huskers play that has a passing game? QB Brett Hundley threw for over 300 yards and four TDs in what probably amounted to be the best quarterback that the Children of the Corn played against all year long, and that’s a good sign if you’re QB Aaron Murray. Murray has been playing against some of the best defenses in the game all year long in the SEC, and he has never backed down from a challenge. There isn’t a throw that the sophomore can’t make, and he threw for 3,458 yards and 31 TDs with three more on the ground. That’s tremendous efficiency to say the least. Murray has to stick with his guns. He won’t be asked to put the ball in the air 40 times in this one, but he’ll need to make a dozen big throws or so in traffic. We have no doubt that he’ll get the job done on those throws, but he has to do so to make sure that the Dawgs loosen up the front seven.

Key #3: The Nebraska defense has to avoid literally getting run over
The Wisconsin Badgers rushed for 539 yards against the Cornhuskers in the Big Ten Championship Game. The Ohio State Buckeyes rumbled for 371 when they welcomed Nebraska to Columbus earlier in the campaign. In those two games, the Huskers allowed a total of 133 points and an average of 9.3 yards per carry. Both games had the same type of feeling to them. A 31-yard run by QB Braxton Miller opened up the floodgates for a huge second half for the Buckeyes in which they had three TD runs of at least 16 yards. RB Melvin Gordon rumbled in from 56 yards out right at the beginning of the Big Ten title game, and there ended up being five touchdown runs that covered at least 10 yards in that game for the Badgers. This defense proved that it had the goods to stop the run against the rest of the country this year, as the rest of the teams in the land averaged just 147.5 yards per game. However, as Big Red has proven, you can break their will. Do that, and this one is going to be a romp in favor of UGA.

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Our 2013 bowl predictions continue on Tuesday, January 1st with the Gator Bowl, and we are set to make our Gator Bowl predictions, tips, and keys to the game for the duel between the Mississippi State Bulldogs and the Northwestern Wildcats.

2013 Gator Bowl: Mississippi State Bulldogs vs. Northwestern Wildcats
2013 Gator Bowl Location: EverBank Field, Jacksonville, FL
2013 Gator Bowl Date/Time: Tuesday, January 1st, 12:00 p.m. (ET)
2013 Gator Bowl On TV: ESPN2, Watch ESPN

Click Here For The Rest Of The 2012-13 Bowl Game Schedule And Other Bowl Game Previews

Key #1: The Wildcats have to get Kain Kolter involved in all facets of the game
QB Kain Kolter is really a quarterback in name only. He is the prototypical “Slash” type of player, and he’ll line up against anyone in any position on the field. He’s just that great of an athlete. Kolter isn’t the best passer in the world, but he will take some snaps under center and in the shotgun and throw the ball. He had 796 passing yards with eight TDs and just two picks, but at this point, it is almost a bit more of a gimmick for him to throw the ball than anything else. Still, he is the Wildcat quarterback and is quick as the wind, and his 12 rushing touchdowns this year were no mistake. He had 820 yards as well and averaged 5.2 yards per carry, and that number includes all of the times that he was sacked as well. Kolter was also frequently split out wide at the receiver position as well. He caught 16 passes for 169 yards on the outside. This is the type of man that really can mess with the game plan that the Bulldogs have defensively, and the SEC reps have to be prepared to see anything and everything out of Kolter.

Gator Bowl Odds at WagerWeb Sportsbook
Mississippi State Bulldogs +1.5
Northwestern Wildcats -1.5
Over/Under 53.5
Click Here to Bet Your Gator Bowl Picks!

Key #2: Venric Mark has to have a big time game
Those in Evanston really thought that Mark should have been considered for the Heisman Trophy at some points this year. Just a junior, Mark is going to have another chance to flash his skills next year. He had 213 carries for 1,310 yards on the ground in his primary trade, but he also proved to be a decent receiver with 101 yards and a great return man as well. All told, Mark ended the season with the most all-purpose yards in the Big Ten with 2,048, and he is going to have the chance to get the ball in his hands a solid 20-25 times in this game between offense and special teams. The Mississippi State defense is going to have to be all over the field, knowing exactly where Mark is with the football, because one misstep, and the junior could be off to the races. This is the man that has the ability to blow this game out of proportion if the Wildcats get ahead.

Key #3: Tyler Russell has to take care of the football and hit some big plays to Chad Bumphis
Northwestern had a defense this year that made some big time plays against the run, but this secondary is absolutely suspect at best. The Cats ranked just 97th in the country, allowing 261.6 passing yards per game, and that came against a Big Ten conference that just didn’t have all that many great passers in it this year. The time is clearly here for QB Tyler Russell to be a playmaker in this, the final game of his junior season. An ankle injury has slowed down Russell just a bit, but there is a clear difference in his stats between his wins and his losses. In wins this year, Russell threw for 19 TDs and just one pick. In four losses, he had three scores and five INTs. Those latter numbers just aren’t going to cut it, and it is a clear indication that this team is only going to go as far as Russell takes it. WR Chad Bumphis is the big play man and the favored receiver that Russell has to work with, and if he makes some big time plays, as he has done sporadically over his whole career in Starkville, the Bulldogs are going to have a real chance at the mild upset.

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