Saturday's college football action is the last full slate of games before the College Football Playoff begins on Monday, and we offer our top college football player props and best bets for Saturday's bowl games based on the best NCAAF odds.
Five of the eight teams in action on Saturday won 10-plus games, and three of the four games have point spreads of a touchdown or less.
The only one that does not is the top-six matchup between Florida State and Georgia, as the Bulldogs are the biggest favorite (-19) of any bowl team this season amid the Seminoles' numerous transfers and opt-outs.
As part of our look at all college bowl game odds, here are our college football player props and best bets for Saturday's four-game slate (odds via our best college football betting sites; pick confidence based on a 1-to-5-star scale).
Don't miss our New Year's Six predictions for more on this weekend's biggest matchups.
College football best bets for Saturday
- Ole Miss +4.5 vs. Penn State (-105 via FanDuel, BetMGM) ????
- Maryland +6.5 vs. Auburn (+100 via Caesars) ???
- Georgia -9.5 first half spread vs. Florida State (-125 via BetRivers) ????
- Wyoming ML vs. Toledo (-160 via FanDuel) ????
Not intended for use in MA
Affiliate Disclosure: Sportsbook Review may receive advertising commissions for visits to a sportsbook
College football schedule and odds for Saturday
(Odds via DraftKings)
- Ole Miss vs. Penn State (-4.5)
- Auburn (-6.5) vs. Maryland
- Georgia (-20) vs. Florida State
- Toledo vs. Wyoming (-3.5)
College football game picks
Ole Miss and Penn State have had similar seasons, going a combined 17-0 straight up as the favorite and 1-4 SU as the underdog, with all four losses coming against four of the top seven teams in the country.
However, the Rebels own an impressive home win over LSU and its Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback, and the depth of the SEC challenged Ole Miss much more than the Big Ten challenged Penn State, as the Nittany Lions did not beat a single team inside the SP+ top 30 this season.
Penn State scored 27 combined points in losses to Michigan and Ohio State, and quarterback Drew Allar completed just 52.5% of his passes and averaged 4.2 yards per attempt against ranked competition this season.
If Penn State cannot get its running game going (the Rebels allowed fewer than 140 rushing yards per game outside of losses to Alabama and Georgia), it will be a long day offensively, as the Nittany Lions rank in the bottom eight of the country in Passing Downs Explosiveness and outside the top 50 in Passing Success Rate.
The Ole Miss defense should be motivated after getting lit up for 42 points in last year's Texas Bowl. In addition, the Rebels are searching for their 11th win, which would cap their first 11-win season in program history. We expect that to fuel Ole Miss to at least a cover behind Lane Kiffin's up-tempo offense that should give a stout Penn State defense fits, given that it is unaccustomed to such a style.
All the best sports betting apps are in unison with a spread of 4.5 points, but only FanDuel and BetMGM charge less than the standard -110 juice.
Get the best odds via our BetMGM bonus code: SBRBONUS.
Our Philip Wood dives deeper into this matchup with his Ole Miss vs. Penn State prediction.
Visit our Google News page and click “Follow” (?) for the latest odds, picks and news!
The biggest reason Maryland is a near-touchdown underdog is because starting quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa opted out of the bowl game, leaving the start to Billy Edwards Jr. and his 45 snaps this season.
However, the line has arguably moved too much off of an initial opening of Auburn -2.5 based on this news, as the Tigers will be without two starting cornerbacks (DJ James and Nehemiah Pritchett) as well as defensive tackle Marcus Harris, who all have played 471-plus snaps. Those three opt-outs compromise an Auburn defense that ranked in the top 35 in points per game allowed (22.7) this season.
Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze is 7-1 against the spread in eight bowl appearances, but his offense is not all that difficult to prepare for, as the Terrapins defense can ex pect a heavy diet of zone reads.
Auburn's only two road wins in SEC play were against Vanderbilt and Arkansas, who went a combined 1-15 in conference play. Meanwhile, Maryland ended the regular season with two road wins in its final three games, including one against a bowl winner (Rutgers), and its only loss in that span was by seven points to Michigan, becoming one of just two teams to stay within seven points of the top-ranked Wolverines.
The Terrapins held up well in the trenches against the Big Ten's leading rusher, Rutgers' Kyle Monangai, in the regular season finale. We expect them to have something up their sleeve to solve Auburn's potent rushing attack as well.
Caesars is the only one of our best sports betting sites where one can back the Terrapins at +6.5 for plus money, but this is only a three-star play, given the uncertainty surrounding Edwards at quarterback.
C Jackson Cowart breaks down the Music City Bowl with his Auburn vs. Maryland prediction.
After SMU's 23-14 outright loss to Boston College as a 13-point favorite on Thursday, double-digit favorites dropped to 11-21 ATS in the last five bowl seasons.
That has us somewhat skeptical to back Georgia and the mammoth 20-point spread for the full game against Florida State, even if the Seminoles are playing with a third-string quarterback and have an unhealthy number of transfers and opt-outs. However, Seminoles quarterback Brock Glenn was unimpressive in his only start this season, completing eight of 21 passes for 55 yards and 2.6 yards per attempt against a Louisville defense that was lit up for 372 yards passing and six touchdowns in its bowl game.
A Georgia team that was just the fourth since 2000 to win 29 consecutive games will have plenty of depth to overcome its transfers and opt-outs, and losing by three points in the SEC Championship to Alabama is nothing to be ashamed of, especially since head coach Nick Saban is now 5-1 SU against Kirby Smart.
This is a value-based four-star play, as we are okay with paying the steeper -125 price at BetRivers since it is the only shop not offering a first-half spread of -10.5.
Our Orange Bowl preview offers C Jackson Cowart's best Georgia vs. Florida State prediction.
Wyoming checks all the boxes of a team one should be eager to back in a bowl game as the Cowboys will be heavily motivated to send head coach Craig Bohl into retirement after his 10 years with the team.
The Cowboys are 3-2 SU in bowl games under Bohl and combine an explosive offense (Wyoming scored 42 points in each of its final two games) with a defense that knows how to prevent big plays (Wyoming ranks 17th in the country and second in the Mountain West in Defensive Explosive ness).
Toledo should have difficulty getting over the sting of losing in the MAC Championship 23-14 as a 6.5-point favorite against Miami (OH), and the Rockets' offensive ceiling is lowered after starting quarterback Dequan Finn entered the transfer portal. Wyoming covered both games against ranked opponents this season and is 4-0-1 ATS in bowls during Bohl's tenure.
We would have jumped at laying the points with the Cowboys if the spread were under a field goal. While we would not put anyone off looking into alternate spread odds to lay under a field goal (-2.5), we are getting good value with the moneyline odds at FanDuel, the only shop offering less than a price of -170 to back Wyoming to win outright.
College football best bets made 12/28/2023 at 3:50 p.m. ET.
Editor's note: Get ready for the launch of Vermont sports betting with o ur best Vermont sportsbook promos, and be sure to download the best Vermont sports betting apps! 21+ and present in VT. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.
Check out our best college football betting sites:
- Caesars Promo Code: SBRBONUS1000 | Read our Caesars Review
- BetMGM Bonus Code: SBRBONUS | Read our BetMGM Review
- bet365 Bonus Code: SBRBONUS | Read our bet365 Review
- BetRivers Promo Code: SBRBONUS | Read our BetRivers Review
- FanDuel Promo Code | Read our FanDuel Review
- DraftKings Promo Code | Read our DraftKings Review
(21+. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER)
* Bonuses not applicable in Ontario.
Related pages
- Best Sports Betting Sites | Best Sportsbook Promos (U.S. only)