College Football Bowl Picks: Ranking Every Game for Confidence Pools
Some people consider the end of December and early January the “holiday season” but college football fans only know this most wonderful time of the year as College Football Bowl Season. Spread out across nearly four weeks, there are 41 college football bowl games. There are the traditional games like the Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Rose Bowl and Fiesta Bowl but there are also some relatively new bowl games like the Jimmy Kimmel LA Bowl, named after the late-night host, and the Fenway Bowl, named after the famous MLB ballpark the Red Sox call home.
One of the great things about bowl season is all the different ways fans can show off their college football expertise. From betting on the games to pick ‘em pools, college football fans go into overdrive during bowl season. Perhaps one of the best ways to display your college football knowledge is in a confidence pool, where participants pick each bowl winner and then assign a point value based on their “confidence” in that game’s prediction.
Sports Illustrated’s Kyle Wood ran through all 41 college football bowl games and gave his confidence picks. You can find that article here or keep reading below for his picks and corresponding confidence points.
Bahamas Bowl: UAB over Miami (Ohio)
Spread: UAB -11
Dec. 16, 11:30 a.m ET
Confidence points: 36
Cure Bowl: UTSA over Troy
Spread: UTSA -2.5
Dec. 16, 3 p.m. ET
Confidence points: 24
Fenway Bowl: Cincinnati over Louisville
Spread: Louisville -2
Dec. 17, 11 a.m. ET
Confidence points: 3
Las Vegas Bowl: Oregon State over Florida
Spread: Oregon State -10
Dec. 17, 2:30 p.m. ET
Confidence points: 39
LA Bowl: Fresno State over Washington State
Spread: Fresno State -4
Dec. 17, 3:30 p.m. ET
Confidence points: 5
Lending Tree Bowl: Southern Miss over Rice
Spread: Southern Miss -6.5
Dec. 17, 5:45 p.m. ET
Confidence points: 16
New Mexico Bowl: SMU over BYU
Spread: SMU -4
Dec. 17, 7:30 p.m. ET
Confidence points: 27
Frisco Bowl: Boise State over North Texas
Spread: Boise State -10.5
Dec. 18, 9:15 p.m. ET
Confidence points: 32
Myrtle Beach Bowl: Marshall over UConn
Spread: Marshall -10
Dec. 19, 2:30 p.m. ET
Confidence points: 34
Potato Bowl: San Jose State over Eastern Michigan
Spread: San Jose State -4
Dec. 20, 3:30 p.m. ET
Confidence points: 1
Boca Raton Bowl: Toledo over Liberty
Spread: Toledo -5
Dec. 20, 7:30 p.m. ET
Confidence points: 11
New Orleans Bowl: South Alabama over Western Kentucky
Spread: South Alabama -4.5
Dec. 21, 9 p.m. ET
Confidence points: 30
Armed Forces Bowl: Air Force over Baylor
Spread: Baylor -5.5
Dec. 22, 7:30 p.m. ET
Confidence points: 10
Independence Bowl: Houston over Louisiana
Spread: Houston -6.5
Dec. 23, 3 p.m. ET
Confidence points: 26
Gasparilla Bowl: Wake Forest over Missouri
Spread: Wake Forest -1
Dec. 23, 6:30 p.m. ET
Confidence points: 7
Hawaii Bowl: San Diego State over Middle Tennessee
Spread: San Diego State -7
Dec. 24, 8 p.m. ET
Confidence points: 25
Quick Lane Bowl: Bowling Green over New Mexico State
Spread: Bowling Green -3.5
Dec. 26, 2:30 p.m. ET
Confidence points: 8
Camellia Bowl: Georgia Southern over Buffalo
Spread: Georgia Southern -3.5
Dec. 27, 12 p.m. ET
Confidence points: 9
First Responder Bowl: Memphis over Utah State
Spread: Memphis -7.5
Dec. 27, 3:15 p.m. ET
Confidence points: 23
Birmingham Bowl: East Carolina over Coastal Carolina
Spread: East Carolina -8
Dec. 27, 6:45 p.m. ET
Confidence points: 35
Guaranteed Rate Bowl: Wisconsin over Oklahoma State
Spread: Wisconsin -3
Dec. 27, 10:15 p.m. ET
Confidence points: 18
Military Bowl: UCF over Duke
Spread: Duke -3
Dec. 28, 2 p.m.
Confidence points: 14
Liberty Bowl: Arkansas over Kansas
Spread: Arkansas -3
Dec. 28, 5:30 p.m. ET
Confidence points: 17
Holiday Bowl: Oregon over North Carolina
Spread: Oregon -14
Dec. 28, 8 p.m. ET
Confidence points: 41
Texas Bowl: Ole Miss over Texas Tech
Spread: Ole Miss -3.5
Dec. 28, 9 p.m. ET
Confidence points: 31
Pinstripe Bowl: Minnesota over Syracuse
Spread: Minnesota -7.5
Dec. 29. 2 p.m. ET
Confidence points: 29
Cheez-It Bowl: Florida State over Oklahoma
Spread: FSU -7.5
Dec. 29, 5:30 p.m. ET
Confidence points: 37
Alamo Bowl: Washington over Texas
Spread: Texas -4.5
Dec. 29, 9 p.m. ET
Confidence points: 13
Duke’s Mayo Bowl: Maryland over NC State
Spread: Maryland -1.5
Dec. 30, 12 p.m. ET
Confidence points: 5
Sun Bowl: UCLA over Pitt
Spread: UCLA -6
Dec. 30, 2 p.m. ET
Confidence points: 12
Gator Bowl: Notre Dame over South Carolina
Spread: Notre Dame -2.5
Dec. 30, 3:30 p.m. ET
Confidence points: 20
Arizona Bowl: Wyoming over Ohio
Spread: Ohio -1.5
Dec. 30, 4:30 p.m.
Confidence points: 4
Orange Bowl: Clemson over Tennessee
Spread: Clemson -6.5
Dec. 30, 8 p.m.
Confidence points: 33
Sugar Bowl: Alabama over Kansas State
Spread: Alabama -3
Dec. 31, 12 p.m. ET
Confidence points: 22
Music City Bowl: Iowa over Kentucky
Spread: Iowa -2
Dec. 31, 12 p.m. ET
Confidence points: 6
Fiesta Bowl: Michigan over TCU
Spread: Michigan -7.5
Dec. 31, 4 p.m. ET
Confidence points: 38
Peach Bowl: Georgia over Ohio State
Spread: Georgia -6.5
Dec. 31, 8 p.m.
Confidence points: 28
ReliaQuest Bowl: Mississippi State over Illinois
Spread: Illinois -2
Jan. 2, 12 p.m. ET
Confidence points: 2
Cotton Bowl: USC over Tulane
Spread: USC -2.5
Jan. 2, 1 p.m. ET
Confidence points: 19
Citrus Bowl: LSU over Purdue
Spread: LSU -14
Jan. 2, 1 p.m. ET
Confidence points: 40
Rose Bowl: Utah over Penn State
Spread: Utah -2
Jan. 2, 5 p.m. ET
