Bowl Game Pick 'Em: Staff Picks and Best Bets for Bowl Season

The RotoWire college football staff lines up their best bets for bowl season with picks against the spread for every game, along with their best bets.

Updated on January 4, 2023 1:22PM EST

Bowl Game Pick 'Em: Staff Picks and Best Bets for Bowl Season

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Updated on January 4, 2023 1:22PM EST

Bowl Game Pick 'Em

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College Football Bowl Picks: Staff Picks for 2022-23 Bowl Season

Bowl season officially gets underway Friday in the Bahamas with UAB vs. Miami (OH) kicking things off. Our college football staff is battling for bragging rights with picks against the spread for each bowl game.

All picks are against the spread
~~Losing picks are noted as such~~
Pushes are italicized
Best Bets are bolded
All odds courtesy of BetMGM

Favorite	Spread	Underdog	John McKechnie	Greg Vara	Chris Morgan	Nick Grays	Nick Whalen	Thomas Snodgrass
UAB	-10.5	Miami (OH)	MIAOH	MIAOH	~~UAB~~	~~UAB~~	MIAOH	~~UAB~~
Troy	-1.5	UTSA	~~UTSA~~	~~UTSA~~	TROY	~~UTSA~~	~~UTSA~~	~~UTSA~~
Louisville	-1.5	Cincinnati	LOU	~~CIN~~	~~CIN~~	~~CIN~~	~~CIN~~	LOU
Oregon State	-10.5	Florida	ORST	ORST	ORST	ORST	ORST	ORST
Fresno State	-3	Washington State	FRESNO	~~WAZZU~~	~~WAZZU~~	FRESNO	~~WAZZU~~	FRESNO
Southern Miss	-6.5	Rice	SMISS	SMISS	SMISS	SMISS	SMISS	~~RICE~~
SMU	-5.5	BYU	~~SMU~~	~~SMU~~	BYU	BYU	~~SMU~~	~~SMU~~
Boise State	-10.5	North Texas	~~BSU~~	~~BSU~~	~~BSU~~	UNT	~~BSU~~	UNT
Marshall	-10	Connecticut	~~UCONN~~	~~UCONN~~	MRSH	~~UCONN~~	MRSH	MRSH
San Jose State	-4.5	Eastern Michigan	~~SJSU~~	~~SJSU~~	EMU	~~SJSU~~	~~SJSU~~	~~SJSU~~
Toledo	-4.5	Liberty	~~TOL~~	~~TOL~~	~~TOL~~	~~TOL~~	~~TOL~~	~~TOL~~
South Alabama	-4.5	Western Kentucky	~~SALA~~	WKU	~~SALA~~	WKU	~~SALA~~	WKU
Baylor	-6.5	Air Force	AF	AF	~~BAY~~	~~BAY~~	~~BAY~~	AF
Houston	-6.5	Louisiana	HOU	HOU	HOU	~~ULL~~	~~ULL~~	HOU
Wake Forest	-1	Missouri	WAKE	WAKE	WAKE	~~MIZZOU~~	WAKE	WAKE
San Diego State	-7	Middle Tennessee	MTSU	MTSU	~~SDSU~~	~~SDSU~~	MTSU	MTSU
Bowling Green	-3	New Mexico State	~~BGSU~~	NMSU	~~BGSU~~	~~BGSU~~	~~BGSU~~	NMSU
Georgia Southern	-3.5	Buffalo	~~GSU~~	BUF	BUF	~~GSU~~	BUF	~~GSU~~
Memphis	-7.5	Utah State	MEM	MEM	MEM	MEM	MEM	MEM
East Carolina	-9	Coastal Carolina	~~CCU~~	ECU	ECU	~~CCU~~	ECU	~~CCU~~
Wisconsin	-3	Oklahoma State	WIS	WIS	~~OKST~~	~~OKST~~	~~OKST~~	~~OKST~~
Duke	-2	UCF	~~UCF~~	DUKE	DUKE	DUKE	DUKE	DUKE
Arkansas	-3	Kansas	~~ARK~~	KU	~~ARK~~	~~ARK~~	~~ARK~~	~~ARK~~
Oregon	-14	North Carolina	UNC	~~ORE~~	UNC	~~ORE~~	~~ORE~~	UNC
Mississippi	-3.5	Texas Tech	OM	OM	OM	OM	OM	OM
Minnesota	-7	Syracuse	MINN	MINN	MINN	~~CUSE~~	MINN	~~CUSE~~
Florida State	-7.5	Oklahoma	~~FSU~~	~~FSU~~	~~FSU~~	OU	~~FSU~~	~~FSU~~
Texas	-5	Washington	WAS	WAS	WAS	~~TEX~~	~~TEX~~	WAS
Maryland	-1.5	NC State	~~NCST~~	MD	MD	~~NCST~~	MD	MD
UCLA	-6.5	Pittsburgh	~~UCLA~~	~~UCLA~~	~~UCLA~~	PITT	~~UCLA~~	PITT
Notre Dame	-2.5	South Carolina	ND	~~SCAR~~	~~SCAR~~	ND	~~SCAR~~	ND
Ohio	-1.5	Wyoming	~~WYO~~	~~WYO~~	OHIO	~~WYO~~	~~WYO~~	~~WYO~~
Clemson	-6.5	Tennessee	~~CLEM~~	~~CLEM~~	~~CLEM~~	~~CLEM~~	~~CLEM~~	UT
Iowa	-2.5	Kentucky	IOWA	IOWA	IOWA	UK	UK	UK
Alabama	-3.5	K-State	~~KSU~~	~~KSU~~	BAMA	BAMA	~~KSU~~	BAMA
Michigan	-7.5	TCU	~~MICH~~	TCU	~~MICH~~	TCU	~~MICH~~	~~MICH~~
Georgia	-6.5	Ohio State	~~UGA~~	~~UGA~~	~~UGA~~	OSU	~~UGA~~	OSU
Illinois	-2	Mississippi State	MSU	~~ILL~~	MSU	~~ILL~~	MSU	~~ILL~~
USC	-1.5	Tulane	TUL	~~USC~~	~~USC~~	TUL	~~USC~~	~~USC~~
LSU	-10.5	Purdue	LSU	LSU	LSU	~~PUR~~	~~PUR~~	~~PUR~~
Utah	-2.5	Penn State	PSU	~~UTAH~~	~~UTAH~~	~~UTAH~~	~~UTAH~~	~~UTAH~~
Record			20-21	21-20	21-20	15-26	13-28	21-20

Records updated through Jan.2

Favorite	Spread	Underdog	Henry Bredemeier	Chris Bennett	Anthony Morehouse	Seth Grossman	Jake Blanchard
UAB	-10.5	Miami (OH)	~~UAB~~	~~UAB~~	~~UAB~~	~~UAB~~	MIAOH
Troy	-1.5	UTSA	~~UTSA~~	~~UTSA~~	TROY	~~UTSA~~	TROY
Louisville	-1.5	Cincinnati	~~CIN~~	~~CIN~~	~~CIN~~	LOU	~~CIN~~
Oregon State	-10.5	Florida	~~FLA~~	ORST	~~FLA~~	ORST	~~FLA~~
Fresno State	-3	Washington State	~~WAZZU~~	~~WAZZU~~	FRESNO	~~WAZZU~~	~~WAZZU~~
Southern Miss	-6.5	Rice	SMISS	SMISS	~~RICE~~	~~RICE~~	~~RICE~~
SMU	-5.5	BYU	BYU	~~SMU~~	BYU	~~SMU~~	~~SMU~~
Boise State	-10.5	North Texas	~~BSU~~	~~BSU~~	UNT	~~BSU~~	UNT
Marshall	-10	Connecticut	MRSH	~~UCONN~~	~~UCONN~~	~~UCONN~~	MRSH
San Jose State	-4.5	Eastern Michigan	~~SJSU~~	~~SJSU~~	~~SJSU~~	~~SJSU~~	EMU
Toledo	-4.5	Liberty	~~LIB~~	TOL	~~LIB~~	~~LIB~~	~~LIB~~
South Alabama	-4.5	Western Kentucky	WKU	WKU	~~SALA~~	~~SALA~~	WKU
Baylor	-6.5	Air Force	~~BAY~~	~~BAY~~	AF	~~BAY~~	~~BAY~~
Houston	-6.5	Louisiana	HOU	HOU	HOU	HOU	~~ULL~~
Wake Forest	-1	Missouri	WAKE	WAKE	WAKE	WAKE	~~MIZZOU~~
San Diego State	-7	Middle Tennessee	MTSU	~~SDSU~~	MTSU	~~SDSU~~	MTSU
Bowling Green	-3	New Mexico State	NMSU	NMSU	~~BGSU~~	NMSU	~~BGSU~~
Georgia Southern	-3.5	Buffalo	~~GSU~~	~~GSU~~	BUF	~~GSU~~	~~GSU~~
Memphis	-7.5	Utah State	MEM	~~USU~~	~~USU~~	MEM	~~USU~~
East Carolina	-9	Coastal Carolina	ECU	ECU	ECU	ECU	ECU
Wisconsin	-3	Oklahoma State	~~OKST~~	WIS	~~OKST~~	WIS	WIS
Duke	-2	UCF	~~UCF~~	DUKE	DUKE	DUKE	DUKE
Arkansas	-3	Kansas	~~ARK~~	~~ARK~~	~~ARK~~	~~ARK~~	~~ARK~~
Oregon	-14	North Carolina	UNC	~~ORE~~	UNC	UNC	UNC
Mississippi	-3.5	Texas Tech	OM	OM	OM	OM	OM
Minnesota	-7	Syracuse	MINN	MINN	~~CUSE~~	~~CUSE~~	MINN
Florida State	-7.5	Oklahoma	~~FSU~~	~~FSU~~	~~FSU~~	~~FSU~~	~~FSU~~
Texas	-5	Washington	WAS	WAS	~~TEX~~	~~TEX~~	WAS
Maryland	-1.5	NC State	MD	~~NCST~~	MD	~~NCST~~	MD
UCLA	-6.5	Pittsburgh	~~UCLA~~	~~UCLA~~	~~UCLA~~	~~UCLA~~	~~UCLA~~
Notre Dame	-2.5	South Carolina	ND	~~SCAR~~	ND	ND	ND
Ohio	-1.5	Wyoming	OHIO	~~WYO~~	~~WYO~~	~~WYO~~	OHIO
Clemson	-6.5	Tennessee	UT	~~CLEM~~	~~CLEM~~	~~CLEM~~	~~CLEM~~
Iowa	-2.5	Kentucky	UK	IOWA	UK	UK	IOWA
Alabama	-3.5	K-State	BAMA	~~KSU~~	BAMA	BAMA	BAMA
Michigan	-7.5	TCU	~~MICH~~	TCU	~~MICH~~	TCU	TCU
Georgia	-6.5	Ohio State	OSU	~~UGA~~	OSU	~~UGA~~	~~UGA~~
Illinois	-2	Mississippi State	MSU	~~ILL~~	~~ILL~~	MSU	MSU
USC	-1.5	Tulane	TUL	~~USC~~	TUL	~~USC~~	TUL
LSU	-10.5	Purdue	~~PUR~~	LSU	~~PUR~~	LSU	LSU
Utah	-2.5	Penn State	~~UTAH~~	~~UTAH~~	~~UTAH~~	~~UTAH~~	~~UTAH~~
Record			21-20	15-26	17-24	15-26	22-18

Records updated through Jan. 2

College Football Bowl Picks: Staff Picks for 2022-23 Bowl Season

All picks are against the spread
~~Losing picks are noted as such~~
Pushes are italicized
Best Bets are bolded
All odds courtesy of BetMGM

Favorite	Spread	Underdog	John McKechnie	Greg Vara	Chris Morgan	Nick Grays	Nick Whalen	Thomas Snodgrass
UAB	-10.5	Miami (OH)	MIAOH	MIAOH	~~UAB~~	~~UAB~~	MIAOH	~~UAB~~
Troy	-1.5	UTSA	~~UTSA~~	~~UTSA~~	TROY	~~UTSA~~	~~UTSA~~	~~UTSA~~
Louisville	-1.5	Cincinnati	LOU	~~CIN~~	~~CIN~~	~~CIN~~	~~CIN~~	LOU
Oregon State	-10.5	Florida	ORST	ORST	ORST	ORST	ORST	ORST
Fresno State	-3	Washington State	FRESNO	~~WAZZU~~	~~WAZZU~~	FRESNO	~~WAZZU~~	FRESNO
Southern Miss	-6.5	Rice	SMISS	SMISS	SMISS	SMISS	SMISS	~~RICE~~
SMU	-5.5	BYU	~~SMU~~	~~SMU~~	BYU	BYU	~~SMU~~	~~SMU~~
Boise State	-10.5	North Texas	~~BSU~~	~~BSU~~	~~BSU~~	UNT	~~BSU~~	UNT
Marshall	-10	Connecticut	~~UCONN~~	~~UCONN~~	MRSH	~~UCONN~~	MRSH	MRSH
San Jose State	-4.5	Eastern Michigan	~~SJSU~~	~~SJSU~~	EMU	~~SJSU~~	~~SJSU~~	~~SJSU~~
Toledo	-4.5	Liberty	~~TOL~~	~~TOL~~	~~TOL~~	~~TOL~~	~~TOL~~	~~TOL~~
South Alabama	-4.5	Western Kentucky	~~SALA~~	WKU	~~SALA~~	WKU	~~SALA~~	WKU
Baylor	-6.5	Air Force	AF	AF	~~BAY~~	~~BAY~~	~~BAY~~	AF
Houston	-6.5	Louisiana	HOU	HOU	HOU	~~ULL~~	~~ULL~~	HOU
Wake Forest	-1	Missouri	WAKE	WAKE	WAKE	~~MIZZOU~~	WAKE	WAKE
San Diego State	-7	Middle Tennessee	MTSU	MTSU	~~SDSU~~	~~SDSU~~	MTSU	MTSU
Bowling Green	-3	New Mexico State	~~BGSU~~	NMSU	~~BGSU~~	~~BGSU~~	~~BGSU~~	NMSU
Georgia Southern	-3.5	Buffalo	~~GSU~~	BUF	BUF	~~GSU~~	BUF	~~GSU~~
Memphis	-7.5	Utah State	MEM	MEM	MEM	MEM	MEM	MEM
East Carolina	-9	Coastal Carolina	~~CCU~~	ECU	ECU	~~CCU~~	ECU	~~CCU~~
Wisconsin	-3	Oklahoma State	WIS	WIS	~~OKST~~	~~OKST~~	~~OKST~~	~~OKST~~
Duke	-2	UCF	~~UCF~~	DUKE	DUKE	DUKE	DUKE	DUKE
Arkansas	-3	Kansas	~~ARK~~	KU	~~ARK~~	~~ARK~~	~~ARK~~	~~ARK~~
Oregon	-14	North Carolina	UNC	~~ORE~~	UNC	~~ORE~~	~~ORE~~	UNC
Mississippi	-3.5	Texas Tech	OM	OM	OM	OM	OM	OM
Minnesota	-7	Syracuse	MINN	MINN	MINN	~~CUSE~~	MINN	~~CUSE~~
Florida State	-7.5	Oklahoma	~~FSU~~	~~FSU~~	~~FSU~~	OU	~~FSU~~	~~FSU~~
Texas	-5	Washington	WAS	WAS	WAS	~~TEX~~	~~TEX~~	WAS
Maryland	-1.5	NC State	~~NCST~~	MD	MD	~~NCST~~	MD	MD
UCLA	-6.5	Pittsburgh	~~UCLA~~	~~UCLA~~	~~UCLA~~	PITT	~~UCLA~~	PITT
Notre Dame	-2.5	South Carolina	ND	~~SCAR~~	~~SCAR~~	ND	~~SCAR~~	ND
Ohio	-1.5	Wyoming	~~WYO~~	~~WYO~~	OHIO	~~WYO~~	~~WYO~~	~~WYO~~
Clemson	-6.5	Tennessee	~~CLEM~~	~~CLEM~~	~~CLEM~~	~~CLEM~~	~~CLEM~~	UT
Iowa	-2.5	Kentucky	IOWA	IOWA	IOWA	UK	UK	UK
Alabama	-3.5	K-State	~~KSU~~	~~KSU~~	BAMA	BAMA	~~KSU~~	BAMA
Michigan	-7.5	TCU	~~MICH~~	TCU	~~MICH~~	TCU	~~MICH~~	~~MICH~~
Georgia	-6.5	Ohio State	~~UGA~~	~~UGA~~	~~UGA~~	OSU	~~UGA~~	OSU
Illinois	-2	Mississippi State	MSU	~~ILL~~	MSU	~~ILL~~	MSU	~~ILL~~
USC	-1.5	Tulane	TUL	~~USC~~	~~USC~~	TUL	~~USC~~	~~USC~~
LSU	-10.5	Purdue	LSU	LSU	LSU	~~PUR~~	~~PUR~~	~~PUR~~
Utah	-2.5	Penn State	PSU	~~UTAH~~	~~UTAH~~	~~UTAH~~	~~UTAH~~	~~UTAH~~
Record			20-21	21-20	21-20	15-26	13-28	21-20

Records updated through Jan.2

Favorite	Spread	Underdog	Henry Bredemeier	Chris Bennett	Anthony Morehouse	Seth Grossman	Jake Blanchard
UAB	-10.5	Miami (OH)	~~UAB~~	~~UAB~~	~~UAB~~	~~UAB~~	MIAOH
Troy	-1.5	UTSA	~~UTSA~~	~~UTSA~~	TROY	~~UTSA~~	TROY
Louisville	-1.5	Cincinnati	~~CIN~~	~~CIN~~	~~CIN~~	LOU	~~CIN~~
Oregon State	-10.5	Florida	~~FLA~~	ORST	~~FLA~~	ORST	~~FLA~~
Fresno State	-3	Washington State	~~WAZZU~~	~~WAZZU~~	FRESNO	~~WAZZU~~	~~WAZZU~~
Southern Miss	-6.5	Rice	SMISS	SMISS	~~RICE~~	~~RICE~~	~~RICE~~
SMU	-5.5	BYU	BYU	~~SMU~~	BYU	~~SMU~~	~~SMU~~
Boise State	-10.5	North Texas	~~BSU~~	~~BSU~~	UNT	~~BSU~~	UNT
Marshall	-10	Connecticut	MRSH	~~UCONN~~	~~UCONN~~	~~UCONN~~	MRSH
San Jose State	-4.5	Eastern Michigan	~~SJSU~~	~~SJSU~~	~~SJSU~~	~~SJSU~~	EMU
Toledo	-4.5	Liberty	~~LIB~~	TOL	~~LIB~~	~~LIB~~	~~LIB~~
South Alabama	-4.5	Western Kentucky	WKU	WKU	~~SALA~~	~~SALA~~	WKU
Baylor	-6.5	Air Force	~~BAY~~	~~BAY~~	AF	~~BAY~~	~~BAY~~
Houston	-6.5	Louisiana	HOU	HOU	HOU	HOU	~~ULL~~
Wake Forest	-1	Missouri	WAKE	WAKE	WAKE	WAKE	~~MIZZOU~~
San Diego State	-7	Middle Tennessee	MTSU	~~SDSU~~	MTSU	~~SDSU~~	MTSU
Bowling Green	-3	New Mexico State	NMSU	NMSU	~~BGSU~~	NMSU	~~BGSU~~
Georgia Southern	-3.5	Buffalo	~~GSU~~	~~GSU~~	BUF	~~GSU~~	~~GSU~~
Memphis	-7.5	Utah State	MEM	~~USU~~	~~USU~~	MEM	~~USU~~
East Carolina	-9	Coastal Carolina	ECU	ECU	ECU	ECU	ECU
Wisconsin	-3	Oklahoma State	~~OKST~~	WIS	~~OKST~~	WIS	WIS
Duke	-2	UCF	~~UCF~~	DUKE	DUKE	DUKE	DUKE
Arkansas	-3	Kansas	~~ARK~~	~~ARK~~	~~ARK~~	~~ARK~~	~~ARK~~
Oregon	-14	North Carolina	UNC	~~ORE~~	UNC	UNC	UNC
Mississippi	-3.5	Texas Tech	OM	OM	OM	OM	OM
Minnesota	-7	Syracuse	MINN	MINN	~~CUSE~~	~~CUSE~~	MINN
Florida State	-7.5	Oklahoma	~~FSU~~	~~FSU~~	~~FSU~~	~~FSU~~	~~FSU~~
Texas	-5	Washington	WAS	WAS	~~TEX~~	~~TEX~~	WAS
Maryland	-1.5	NC State	MD	~~NCST~~	MD	~~NCST~~	MD
UCLA	-6.5	Pittsburgh	~~UCLA~~	~~UCLA~~	~~UCLA~~	~~UCLA~~	~~UCLA~~
Notre Dame	-2.5	South Carolina	ND	~~SCAR~~	ND	ND	ND
Ohio	-1.5	Wyoming	OHIO	~~WYO~~	~~WYO~~	~~WYO~~	OHIO
Clemson	-6.5	Tennessee	UT	~~CLEM~~	~~CLEM~~	~~CLEM~~	~~CLEM~~
Iowa	-2.5	Kentucky	UK	IOWA	UK	UK	IOWA
Alabama	-3.5	K-State	BAMA	~~KSU~~	BAMA	BAMA	BAMA
Michigan	-7.5	TCU	~~MICH~~	TCU	~~MICH~~	TCU	TCU
Georgia	-6.5	Ohio State	OSU	~~UGA~~	OSU	~~UGA~~	~~UGA~~
Illinois	-2	Mississippi State	MSU	~~ILL~~	~~ILL~~	MSU	MSU
USC	-1.5	Tulane	TUL	~~USC~~	TUL	~~USC~~	TUL
LSU	-10.5	Purdue	~~PUR~~	LSU	~~PUR~~	LSU	LSU
Utah	-2.5	Penn State	~~UTAH~~	~~UTAH~~	~~UTAH~~	~~UTAH~~	~~UTAH~~
Record			21-20	15-26	17-24	15-26	22-18

Records updated through Jan. 2

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ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Chris Bennett

Author

Bennett covers baseball, college football and college basketball for RotoWire. Before turning to fantasy writing, he worked in scouting/player development for the Atlanta Braves and Montreal Expos. He's also a fan of the ACC.

Jake Blanchard

Author @jakeblanch

Jake attended college at the University of Alabama, where a childhood love for college football truly blossomed. During his time in college, Jake started his own blog, where he wrote about all sports, but it mainly focused on college football, NFL and MLB while also giving gambling advice. Jake now covers college football for RotoWire.

Nick Grays

Author @NickGrays44

Grays covers college football for RotoWire by night and is a Financial Analyst by day.

John McKechnie

Author @johns_tailgate

John is the 2016 and 2021 FSWA College Writer of the Year winner. He is a Maryland native and graduate of the University of Georgia. He's been writing for RotoWire since 2014.

Chris Morgan

Author @ChrisXMorgan

Chris Morgan is a writer of sports, pop culture, and humor articles, a book author, a podcaster, and a fan of all Detroit sports teams.

Thomas Snodgrass

Author @Bettor_Off_Dead

Thomas is a former RotoWire contributor. He is a Chicago-based writer and bettor that has contributed to multiple sports betting publications, formerly working alongside BetQL, FanSided, and BetSided. He is a fan of sports statistics and the detailed stories behind the numbers.

Greg Vara

Author @gregvara

Vara is the lead golf writer at RotoWire. He was named the FSWA Golf Writer of the Year in 2005 and 2013. He also picks college football games against the spread in his "College Capper" article.

Nick Whalen

Author @wha1en

Now in his 10th year with the company, Nick is RotoWire's Senior Media Analyst, a position he took on after several years as the Head of Basketball Content. A multi-time FSGA and FSWA award winner, Nick co-hosts RotoWire's flagship show on Sirius XM Fantasy alongside Jeff Erickson, as well as The RotoWire NBA Show on Sirius XM NBA with Alex Barutha. He also co-hosts RotoWire's Football and Basketball podcasts. You can catch Nick's NBA and NFL analysis on VSiN and DraftKings, as well as RotoWire's various social and video channels. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @wha1en.