2009 St. Petersburg Bowl Predictions: UCF v. Rutgers Football Odds & Picks
The 8-4 UCF Golden Knights meet the 8-4 Rutgers Scarlet Knights on December 19th at 8:00 PM EST on ESPN in the 2009 edition of the St. Petersburg Bowl at Tropicana Field. And may the best Knights win. College football odds makers expect the best Knights to be the Scarlet Knights, listing Rutgers as a 2.5-point favorite with the total set at 44.5.
Looking for a place to bet your college football picks this bowl season? Do your football betting at Bookmaker and get a great 20% cash sign up bonus!
The Golden Knights are going after their first bowl win in school history Saturday night and they’ll hope a balanced offensive attack, led by running back Brynn Harvey can lead them to it. The Golden Knights enter averaging 26.3 points on 348 yards of total offense per game. And this unit may be clicking at just the right time as it has racked up 400 or more yards of total offense in four of its last six games. Much of UCF’s offensive success can be attributed to efficient red zone play which has produced scores ofn35 of 49 red zone possessions (71 percent). Harvey finished with 1,077 yards on the ground and his 14 rushing touchdowns this season were good for a second place tie in school history.
UCF’s defense has been its strength this season. Few teams have been able to put as much heat on opposing passers. The Golden Knights enter this contest ranking fifth in the nation in sacks per game with 3.1 and 11th in tackles for loss per game with 7.6. The Knights also rank fourth in the country against the run, allowing just 82.5 yards per game, and 23rd in scoring defense, giving up only 20.7 points per contest. The guys to watch on the defense are Bruce Miller and Jarvis Geathers, who make up one of the best defensive end tandems in the country. Miller leads the Knights with 12.0 sacks and 16.5 tackles for loss in 2009 and Geathers isn’t far behind with 11.0 sacks and 13.5 tackles for loss.
UCF has struggled to tame mobile quarterbacks, but Rutgers QB Tom Savage isn’t exactly in the mobile category. He’s been sacked 34 times this season, which has contributed to negative 103 rushing yards. If these two ends can continually keep the heat on Savage, UCF should have an excellent opportunity to pull off the small upset. It is worth nothing that the Golden Knights are 6-1 ATS in their last 7 games as an underdog. If you like the Golden Knights to pull off the small upset Saturday night, bet UCF at +2.5 at Bookmaker.
The Rutgers offense has been up and down this season, but fortunately the defense and special teams have been able to contribute points when it has been down. For Rutgers to win this football game, I believe they’ll have to be able to run the ball well enough with Joe Martinek to keep UCF honest. If they are able to do so, it could open up some big play opportunities for Savage to hook up with Tim Brown and Mohamed Sanu down the field via play action.
Rutgers boasts a big play defense adept at creating turnovers and turning them into points. While UCF’s defensive end duo may get most of the headlines leading up to this one, Rutgers defensive end Jonathan Freeny, who leads his team with 8.5 sacks, deserves his share of the limelight as well. His pressure is what creates so many of the turnovers the linebackers and defensive backs are able to come up with. Rutgers shows up in the bowl season so it is definitely worth noting that the Scarlet Knights are 3-0-1 ATS in their last 4 bowl games. If you like this trend to continue, bet Rutgers at -2.5 at Bookmaker.
Jimmy Boyd enters the college bowl season on a strong 11-4 college football run. He has also dominated the bowl season each of the last two years, finishing the 2007-08 bowl season on a 14-5 run and the 2008-09 season on a 10-4 home stretch run. Crush your book again this year through the BCS Championship Game with Jimmy’s expert football picks!
