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VSiN’s college football expert offers his selections for two of the games on Wednesday’s bowl slate.
Pinstripe Bowl: Maryland (-3.5, 54.5) vs. Virginia Tech
Lines move for a variety of different reasons in the bowl season and the aspect of motivation is one of them. From the looks of it, Virginia Tech is not jazzed up about the Pinstripe Bowl. Five starters opted out, with WR Tre Turner, DT Jordan Williams, DE Amare Barno, CB Jermaine Waller and G Lecitus Smith. Furthermore, Hokies QB Braxton Burmeister hopped in the transfer portal.
Those who remain should be excited to play for interim head coach J.C. Price, who has already been retained on new head coach Brent Pry’s staff, but the Hokies will start an inexperienced quarterback in Connor Blumrick and face a Maryland team that hasn’t won a bowl game in over a decade. The Terrapins won the 2010 Military Bowl over East Carolina and are 0-3 since.
One big concern with Maryland is that the Terps are not well-coached under Mike Locksley, who is a strong recruiter but does not excel as an Xs and Os guy. Fortunately for Maryland, Virginia Tech seems unenthused and that usually shows up in game preparation.
Virginia Tech is missing too many pieces here, along with the questions about motivation. Blumrick was 7 of 26 for 42 yards during the regular season. Even a defense as bad as Maryland’s should be able to compete here and the offense draws a team missing three starters on the defensive side of the ball.
Pick: Maryland, -3.5.
Cheez-It Bowl: Iowa State vs. Clemson (-2.5, 44.5)
Clemson is not part of the College Football Playoff for the first time since the inaugural season back in 2014. The Tigers aren’t even playing in a New Year’s Day bowl game. They’ll be in Arizona for the Cheez-It Bowl and be there without Dabo Swinney’s right- and left-hand men. Former defensive coordinator Brent Venables is now at Oklahoma and offensive coordinator Tony Elliott is at Duke (both as head coaches).
Swinney seems fairly disengaged from the college football world right now, complaining about NIL deals and players getting paid. He also has the worst offense he’s had in quite some time, but the defense was still stout, ranking fifth in the nation in yards per play allowed.
Iowa State also had a top-30 defense in the YPP department. The Cyclones will be missing star RB Breece Hall, who has opted out to prepare for the NFL draft. While the team around him has stayed steady, or maybe even improved, it sure feels as if Brock Purdy has regressed. He did post his highest completion percentage this season, but Hall had a career-high in receptions and so did TE Charlie Kolar, who is an NFL prospect and a mismatch for Big 12 defenses.
This game should be a defensive struggle. Iowa State is missing a player who had 289 touches and almost 1,800 total yards. Clemson is good enough in the secondary to shut down Xavier Hutchinson and will match up far better than Big 12 teams against a player like Kolar. Clemson’s offense isn’t going to suddenly light the world on fire.
This should be an entertaining, competitive game, but also one without a lot of points.
Pick: Under 44.5.
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