One of the final games remaining on the bowl season schedule is the Duke's Mayo Bowl, featuring a matchup between the Minnesota Golden Gophers and Virginia Tech Hokies in a showdown between Big Ten and ACC foes.
The Hokies were one of the more disappointing teams in the sport this season, winning just six games and underperforming in an ACC that was noticeably weak.
On the other side, this is a Minnesota team that came on strong over the second half of the season, winning five of its last seven games and even putting up a terrific fight against a Penn State team that is just two victories away from a National Championship.
Let’s get into the odds for this game, plus our expert’s betting picks and predictions for the Duke's Mayo Bowl.
Bowl games are often about motivation and which teams want to be there more, and we believe that we have a severe mismatch in motivation and roster construction for this contest.
On one side, Minnesota is a team that traditionally takes bowl season seriously, particularly under head coach P.J. Fleck, who has been a covering machine in bowl games in his career.
The same can’t be said for a Virginia Tech team that could be down as many as 14 starters between transfer portal losses and potential opt-outs on both sides of the ball.
Fleck quietly has a pretty solid offense on his hands (top 40 in success rate, 18th in third and fourth down success rate), led by a quarterback in Max Brosmer who has 22 total touchdowns to just four interceptions on the season.
And, while it would ordinarily be difficult for the Gophers' offense to generate consistent success against a Virginia Tech defense that is a top 40 unit in the nation, the Hokies are going to be missing a number of starters on all three levels of their defense, which certainly makes the task easier.
While this is a pretty inflated spread compared to what it would look like in the regular season, the current gap in depth and motivation between the teams is even larger than the number would indicate on Friday.
Let’s take Minnesota -8.5 (-110) to finish the season on a high note in Charlotte.
While there are avenues for both teams to cover this spread, the path to a win for either side is to keep the game low-scoring.
Minnesota is a team that likes to lean on its ground game (top 40 in rushing success rate), and we do not expect the Gophers to establish the line of scrimmage and stay ahead of the chains, while also not hitting a bunch of explosive plays in this game.
On the other side, don’t expect Virginia Tech to contribute much to this game with its offense, especially with starting quarterback Kyren Drones and starting running back Bhayshul Tuten expected to be absent, as well as a couple of wide receivers.
Therefore, Minnesota should be able to crowd the box and tee off on backup quarterback Colin Schlee and make him uncomfortable in the pocket.
We can’t see this game being a shootout. With that in mind, back Under 43.0 Total Points (-110) in the Duke's Mayo Bowl.
Read more betting picks and predictions for College Football on site.
Minnesota | -350 ML |
Virginia Tech | +280 ML |
Spread | Minnesota -8.5 |
Total Points | O/U 43.0 |
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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.