Myrtle Beach Bowl: Coastal Carolina vs. UTSA Picks, Predictions and Odds

It’s been a long and eventful college football season, but now the best time of the year on the calendar has finally arrived.

The inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff has already delivered plenty of action and excitement, but before we can play the quarterfinal games, bowl season will resume in earnest on Monday with the Myrtle Beach Bowl in Conway, South Carolina between Coastal Carolina and UTSA.

While the Chanticleers certainly have the geographical “home field” advantage in this game, it’s the Roadrunners that are heavy favorites on Monday, and for good reason. 

Let’s get into the odds for this game, as well as our expert’s Coastal Carolina vs UTSA betting picks and predictions.

Coastal Carolina vs. UTSA betting picks and predictions

UTSA -10 (-110)

This UTSA team has been excellent down the stretch of this season, and that should continue in Monday’s game. 

Things got off to a rocky start for the Roadrunners in the nonconference portion of their schedule, as they were blown out in consecutive games by Texas State and Texas, before starting conference play with demoralizing defeats to East Carolina and Rice. 

However, Jeff Traylor’s team has bounced back in a major way since the middle of October, winning four of their last six games and rounding into form on both sides of the ball. The UTSA offense has flourished with Owen McCown at quarterback and the Roadrunners defense ranks fourth nationally in success rate allowed and eighth in third and fourth down success rate.   

Not only are the Roadrunners winning, but they’ve been covering the spread with room to spare as well. In fact, Texas San Antonio has covered the closing number in each of its last four games, dating back to a victory over Memphis on November 2. The Roadrunners have scored 27 or more points in six of their last seven contests, and they should be ready and motivated to hang another big number to close the season.

On the other side, Coastal Carolina has produced another solid season under head coach Tim Beck, outperforming preseason expectations by making a bowl game. However, the Chanticleers are dealing with a rash of opt-outs and players in the transfer portal, including both quarterbacks used this season — Ethan Vasko and Noah Kim.

With that in mind, it’s hard to imagine the Chanticleers being able to keep up with UTSA’s high-powered offense, and the Coastal Carolina defense will also be without a number of key starters in this game as well. 

The Roadrunners are already the better team on paper, and the gap has only gotten larger given the pieces that Coastal Carolina is missing on Monday.

Let’s take UTSA -10 at -110 to make a statement in this game.

Over 56.0 Total Points (-110)

While there are avenues for both teams to cover this spread, the path to a winning game script for either side is one that shades to the over.

As previously mentioned, the UTSA offense is clicking on all cylinders, with the Roadrunners having scored at least 30 points in five of their last six contests. That’s a scary sight for this Coastal Carolina defense, which ranks outside the top 100 in opponent passing success rate, EPA per dropback and points per drive allowed.

The Chanticleers play a “bend but don’t break” style of defense, and while that works well against lesser opponents, it certainly won’t get the job done against McCown and a UTSA offense that has looked like a completely different unit since the start of conference play.

On the other side, while the UTSA defense has been stout against the run, the Roadrunners secondary can be had. Therefore, it wouldn’t be a shock if UTSA allowed a few explosive plays in the passing game, even with Coastal Carolina missing a number of key pieces on offense. The Chanticleers aren’t going to stay close by just getting stops, they’ll need to hit some explosive plays that lead to points.

Given that we should also have good weather for this game, we can expect plenty of points on Monday. Let’s back the Over 56.0 at -110 in this one.

Read more betting picks and predictions for College Football on site.

Coastal Carolina vs. Texas San Antonio odds

Coastal Carolina	+290 ML
UTSA	-370 ML
Spread	Texas San Antonio -10.0
Total Points	O/U 56.0

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This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.