2 College Football Best Bets for New Years Day

Happy New Year, fellow sports bettors! Can you believe it’s almost 2024? Time indeed flies when you’re having fun and making money.

We’ve dug into the massive New Year’s Day college football slate to bring you 2 best bets. Let’s take a look at the ReliaQuest Bowl and the Citrus Bowl in this article. Best of luck, folks!

Wisconsin Badgers vs LSU Tigers

Wisconsin finished unranked at 7-5 on the season with an offense that was only able to average 22.8ppg which was 200^th in the country. However, they did win back-to-back games over Nebraska and Minnesota to end their regular season and become bowl-eligible. Injured QB, Tanner Mordecai, is likely to return for this game after missing half of his season.

Leading rusher, Brandon Allen has opted out for the game along with Bell, Dike, and Green who are 3 of the top 4 wideouts. Mordecai will have to do a lot more than he is used to compete with this LSU squad.

At 9-3, LSU finished 13^th in the country and had all 3 losses coming to ranked opponents. They finished the season on a 3-game win streak and won 6 of their last 7. They ranked #1 in scoring offense with 46.4ppg and were led by Heisman winner, Jayden Daniels.

However, he has opted out of this game and will allow Garrett Nussmeier to get the start. It remains to be seen who he will have at wide receiver as both Brian Thomas and Malik Nabers are both opt-out candidates. While Daniels also led the team in rushing, their RBs will be available and are likely to have a larger role in this game.

Best Bet: LSU -9.5 (FanDuel)

The LSU defense is going to be too much for Mordecai to handle after being out for some time and being without a bunch of his weapons. If Nussmeier avoids turning the ball over, he should be able to manage this game enough for the Tigers to walk away with the win.

The Badgers will have real trouble getting anything going with Brandon Allen being out and leaving a large void in the run game.

Key Trends:

• LSU is 6-1 ATS in their last 7 games.
• LSU is 6-0 ATS in their last 6 games when playing as the favorite.

Iowa Hawkeyes vs Tennessee Volunteers

The Hawkeyes finished 17^th in the country with a 10-3 record. They were shut out by Michigan in the Big 10 title game 26-0 but they were never given a real shot from anyone anyway. It has been the defense that has led this Iowa team to solid records over the recent years.

That has offset the fact that they scored an average of only 16.6ppg which was 259^th in the country. They will need to be great on defense against these Vols who have a good offense. The great news for the Hawkeyes, not 1 defensive player has opted out or entered the portal. They have lost some offensive weapons but they were not much help anyways.

#21 Tennessee was 8-4 on the year but lost 2 of their last 3 to Missouri and Georgia. Leading passer, Joe Milton and leading rusher, Jaylen Wright are both opting out of this game. They will also be without a majority of their secondary as they have almost all entered the transfer portal.

Replacing Milton will be 5-star recruit, Nico Iamavella will get the chance to run the show. He will have weapons at his disposal but will need to score with their defense being decimated.

Best Bet: Iowa +6.5 (BetMGM)

This Iowa defense has made top-notch veteran QBs look bad, now they will be fed a true freshman making his 1^st career start. That just seems like a recipe for a disaster for this Vols team.

While Iowa may not put up strong offensive numbers, they may not need to if the defense can bottle up the Vols like we expect here.

Key Trends:

• Iowa is 2-1 ATS as an underdog in their last 3 games.
• Tenn is 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games played on a Monday.
• Tenn is 2-4 ATS in their last 6 games.