Thursday, February 9th, 2012
The Connecticut Huskies from the Big East conference will play the South Carolina Gamecocks from the SEC conference in the Papa Johns Bowl college football game to be played on Saturday January 2nd. Kick off time at Birmingham Alabama is scheduled for 2PM Eastern Time with national television coverage provided by ESPN. The LVSC college football odds makers have set the opening point spread in this contest and the South Carolina Gamecocks were opened as 3 point favorites with the over under coming in at 51. The early money from the college football betting public has come in on the favorite, as the South Carolina Gamecocks are currently a 4-½ point favorite. The total has seen early movement from the college football betting public towards the over, as the over under is currently lined at 51 ½ for the bettors to play into. College football money line gamblers can make a play on the favored South Carolina Gamecocks at –190 with the underdog Connecticut Huskies returning +160 to pull off the upset victory with no need for getting the points.
The South Carolina Gamecocks enters the Papa Johns Bowl with a 7-5 record. They are coming off an impressive 35-17 home victory over in state rival the Clemson Tigers to close out their regular season on November 28th. Despite a 7-5 record this season the Gamecocks were a losing team in conference finishing with a 3-5 record in the SEC. Sophomore quarterback Stephen Garcia hit on 56% of his passes with 17 touchdowns and 9 interceptions. Garcia improved greatly from his freshman season. He is coming off a three touchdown passing performance against Clemson. South Carolina only averaged 21.8 points per game this season. The reason behind the poor offensive output by the Gamecocks has been the play of their running game. The Gamecocks could only produced 3.7 yards a carry on the ground this season. Brian Maddox was a disappointment this season with 100 carries for a mere 3.1 yards a carry average. Freshman running back Kenny Miles had a breakout game against Clemson with 114 yards on 17 carries in victory. South Carolina is a good defensive team allowing just 20 points per game. They rank 3rd in the SEC conference in total defense allowing just 304 yards a game. The Gamecocks secondary is an outstanding unit allowing their opponents just 10 touchdown passes this season. Steve Spurrier is in his 5th year coaching the program. The head coach is coaching in his 4th bowl game in 5 years at the school. South Carolina is 1-2 straight up and against the spread in Spurrier’s three bowl games as head coach. Iowa defeated 4-point underdog South Carolina 31-10 in their bowl game last season. South Carolina have additional notable victories over bowl bound Mississippi and Kentucky this season. Connecticut finished their regular season with a 7-5 record. The Huskies concluded their season with 3 straight victories. The team has been involved in many close games this season all their losses coming 4 points or less. They lost 5 games by a combined 15 points. Connecticut is an outstanding running team averaging 172 yards per game on the ground. The Huskies have an impressive 1-2 punch on the ground with Jordan Todman with 5.1 yards a carry average and Andre Dixon at 4.7. The backs have combined for 27 rushing touchdowns this season. Junior quarterback Zach Frazier hit on just 54% of his passes this season with 9 touchdowns and 9 interceptions. He was more accurate down the stretch hitting a combined 33 of 58 with 4 touchdowns and an interception in his final two games. The Huskies have notable victories over bowl bound Ohio and South Florida this season. They fell just 2 points short of defeating Cincinnati losing 47-45 on November 7th. Randy Edsall is in his 11th season coaching at the program. He is coaching his fourth bowl game with the school. Connecticut is 2-1 straight up and against the spread in his three bowl games. The Huskies defeated the Buffalo Bulls in their bowl game last year winning 38-20 as a 7-point favorite.
For the Latest CFB Odds Please Visit our CFB Odds Page
CFB Trend: Connecticut Huskies are 6-0 ATS as an underdog this season
The Wagerline consensus has 50.1% of the CFB bettors on South Carolina –4 1/2
The Wagerline consensus has 61.2% of the CFB bettors playing under 51 1/2
Tags: college football betting odds, connecticut huskies versus south carolina gamecocks espn tv papa johns bowl college football betting odds pick preview
