Bowl Game Betting – (16) Mizzou Faces Run-Happy (25) Gophers in Citrus Bowl

Citrus Bowl: Orlando, Florida (Jan. 1, 1:00 p.m. Eastern).

(16) Missouri Tigers (-4.5, 47.5 o/u) vs. (25) Minnesota Golden Gophers

The No. 16 Missouri Tigers (10-3) have to hold their heads high after another successful season in the SEC East. Despite losing to Alabama in the SEC championship, the Gary Pinkel-led squad is going to a New Year’s Day bowl game against a ranked team, the No. 25 Minnesota Golden Gophers (8-4).

Pinkel said, “Certainly, there’s things we have to do to improve, but I’m so very proud of my players, coaches and this football program. This is a great opportunity. We got a chance to finish strong and we’ll be playing a very good football team.”

Defense is where the Tigers are strongest; the team gave up just over 21 points per game this season and led the SEC with 42 sacks. The team’s high level of play begins with SEC Defensive Player of the Year Shane Ray, who had 14 sacks, alone, and is projected as a top-ten pick in the 2015 NFL Draft.

Missouri was generally good against the run this year, allowing just 135.8 yards per game on the ground; however, they were torched for 242 yards by Alabama in the SEC title game, where they were crushed 42-13 and failed to cover the generous 14.5-point spread.

Heading into the Citrus Bowl, the coaching staff and the front seven will have to try to figure out what went so wrong against the Tide, as the Tigers will be facing a Minnesota team that loves to pound the football.

Led by running back David Cobb, the Gophers average 224 yards rushing per game, 27th in the nation. Cobb, a 5’11”, 230 lb. senior, ran for 1,548 yards on the year (five more yards than starting QB Mitch Leidner had passing), including four games of more than 180 yards.

These are fun times for the Gophers, who will be playing their first New Year’s Day bowl game since 1962.

Said Minnesota head coach Jerry Kill, “Bowl games are all good, but we’ve certainly gotten rewarded by going to the Citrus Bowl. I think we all know you want to play in January. We haven’t done that in a long time. I think everybody’s excited. This is another step forward, and we need to take advantage of that step.”

While taking the points and Minnesota is somewhat appealing, a better play is the under (47.5).

(Photo credit: eagle102.net (flickr) [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode]. Photo has been cropped.)