Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

Immediate reactions to various Bowl matchups:

Dec 17 Frisco Bowl (DFW): Memphis Vs West Virginia – underrated early matchup, didn’t realize Memphis was 10-2 and ranked

Dec 20 Gasparilla Bowl (Tampa): Tulane Vs Florida – looking forward to this one, Tulane can cap a strong season, spending a few weeks ranked, with a 10-win season. Or the Gators may continue their strong finish – winners of three straight over #22 LSU, #9 Ole Miss, and rival Florida St – and build toward next season.

Dec 27 Armed Forces Bowl (DFW): Oklahoma Vs Navy – fun matchup, these schools have only played once before; transfer portal could hit OU hard enough to put them at a disadvantage Vs a disciplined Navy squad

Dec 27 Las Vegas Bowl: Texas A&M Vs USC – USC finishing the season where they started – in Vegas; this time around, will be surprised if USC plays with any kind of motivation

Dec 28 Pinstripe Bowl (New York): Boston College Vs Nebraska – Both coaches have something to prove; Bill O’Brien finishing his first year with a win, and Rhule getting Nebraska back to a Bowl

Dec 28 New Mexico Bowl (Albuquerque): Louisiana Vs TCU – Notice this “dog of a bowl” landed a P4 team in TCU from the B12? But I wonder, with the opportunity to level up, why not take Texas Tech, also 8-4, who lost to TCU? The Red Raiders base in Lubbock and across the Texas Panhandle is an easy drive on I-40 across the high desert to ABQ. TT would’ve brought a stronger showing.

Dec 30 Alamo Bowl (San Antonio): BYU Vs Colorado – Two teams from same conference facing off?

Dec 31 Outback Bowl (yes, we know it’s called something else): Michigan Vs Alabama – love this matchup, like when the 2012 Gator Bowl matched up Florida and Ohio State coming off 6-6 seasons.

Dec 31 Texas Bowl (Houston): Baylor Vs LSU – Brian Kelly took over in late 2021 when LSU was 6-6 and heading to Texas Bowl where the Tigers were blown out by Kansas St and playing with only about 40 scholarship players. Three years later LSU is 8-4 and heading to the Texas Bowl with upwards of about 70 scholarship players on the Bowl roster. Great turn around, Brian Kelly.

Well, now we’ll get to see for real!

Anybody want to take one for the team and track our "bets" on these games?  I don't, but some of our super-detailed folks like @medinabuckeye1  or @ELA might volunteer...

If we're going to do this, can we actually make some real stakes? Maybe everyone throws in $10 to participate and it's winner take all? Given how little attention I've paid to CFB this year I'm probably not going to put any real effort into this (or participate at all) if there isn't at least a chance to get something at the end of it...

Either way, I recommend not just making this an against-the-spread competition. I think everyone should have the choice of four bets for each game:

• Favorite money line
• Favorite covers
• Underdog beats
• Underdog money line

That way some of the higher-value bets (like underdog money line) can give people the opportunity for positive variance, and also reduce the chances of ties if multiple people picked different games ATS but all ended up with the same number of right vs wrong so end up with the same "score" since ATS is always a -110 bet...

Oh, you're talking about a different type of bet altogether.  I was just interested in testing the theory of betting the underdog in every game.  Somebody would just have to track the winners against the spread and then see how our fictitious bets did against the betting line.

What you're talking about involves much more thought and consideration, and sounds like a lot more work than I want to put in during the Winter Holidays.

Oh, you're talking about a different type of bet altogether.  I was just interested in testing the theory of betting the underdog in every game.  Somebody would just have to track the winners against the spread and then see how our fictitious bets did against the betting line.

What you're talking about involves much more thought and consideration, and sounds like a lot more work than I want to put in during the Winter Holidays.

Oh, I thought you were suggesting a CFB51 betting acumen challenge... 

I agree it's too much work, which is why I would only really want to put the work in if I could win more than bragging rights 

I always prefer straight up confidence.

Betting with lines in these games went from kind of a crapshoot to REALLY a crapshoot

I mean, you can go to DraftKings and test that strategy

It's not a way to "get rich" obviously, the advantage is pretty thin and doesn't work every time.  It makes some sense to me.

I'm more interested in how the line is "shaped" by bettors, and if that is much of a factor, and if there are inefficiencies one can spot, like bet against ND every time because they have a lot of fans.