The Minnesota Golden Gophers barely slipped into the Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas this season, and they're listed as big underdogs on the college football betting odds for the December 28 game against the Texas Tech Red Raiders.
For updated lines and totals on all of this year's bowl games head over to the college football betting boards at 5Dimes, , and BetOnline today.
Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas
Friday, December 28 @ 9:00pm ET
Reliant Stadium, Houston, Texas
Team: Minnesota Golden Gophers
Conference: Big Ten
Records: 6-6 SU, 5-7 ATS, 4-6-1 OU
Team: Texas Tech Red Raiders
Conference: Big 12
Records: 7-5 SU, 6-6 ATS, 7-4 OU
Opening Spread / Total (from BetOnline)
Texas Tech -13 / 57 Points
[Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas Matchup Stats]
Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas Betting Trends: Favorites are 8-1-2 ATS in past 11 Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas . . . Texas Tech is 1-5 ATS in past six bowl games.
Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas History
Data includes original name of bowl, current name, teams, point spread of the second listed team, SU winner and ATS winner.
| 2000 | GalleryFurniture.com Bowl | East Carolina | 40 | Texas Tech | 27 | -1 | E.CAR | E.CAR |
| 2001 | GalleryFurniture.com Bowl | TCU | 9 | Texas A&M | 28 | -4.5 | TEXA&M | TEXA&M |
| 2002 | Houston Bowl | Southern Miss | 23 | Oklahoma State | 33 | -10 | Push | OKLAST |
| 2003 | Houston Bowl | Navy | 14 | Texas Tech | 38 | -10.5 | TXTECH | TXTECH |
| 2004 | Houston Bowl | Colorado | 33 | Texas El Paso | 28 | 2 | COLO | COLO |
| 2005 | Houston Bowl | Iowa State | 24 | TCU | 27 | 0 | TCU | TCU |
| 2006 | Texas Bowl | Kansas State | 10 | Rutgers | 37 | -9 | RUTGER | RUTGER |
| 2007 | Texas Bowl | TCU | 20 | Houston | 13 | 7 | Push | TCU |
| 2008 | Texas Bowl | Western Michigan | 14 | Rice | 38 | -2 | RICE | RICE |
| 2009 | Texas Bowl | Navy | 35 | Missouri | 13 | -6 | NAVY | NAVY |
| 2010 | Texas Bowl | Illinois | 38 | Baylor | 14 | 2 | ILLINO | ILLINO |
| 2011 | Texas Bowl | Texas A&M | 33 | Northwestern | 22 | 9.5 | TEXAM | TEXAM |
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The Northwestern Wildcats haven’t won a bowl game since 1948, having lost in each of their last eight appearances since 1995.
They try to turn that around against Texas A&M in Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas odds action.
For lines and totals on all of this year's bowl games head over to the college football betting board at 5Dimes today.
Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas
Saturday, December 31 @ 12:00pm ET
Reliant Stadium, Houston, Texas
Team: Texas A&M Aggies
Conference: Big 12
Records: 6-6 SU, 3-9 ATS, 7-5 OU
Team: Northwestern Wildcats
Conference: Big Ten
Records: 6-6 SU, 5-7 ATS, 6-6 OU
Spread / Total (from )
Texas A&M -10.0 / 66 Points
[Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas Matchup Stats]
The Texas A&M Aggies and the Northwestern Wildcats both hope to break long bowl droughts in this year’s Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas. Texas A&M has lost five straight bowl games and nine of its last 10, while Northwestern has lost in eight straight bowl games.
Texas A&M fell well-short of expectations in its final season in the Big 12, losing its backers money every step of the way with an abysmal 3-9 ATS record. Northwestern clawed back from a 2-5 SU and ATS start to earn bowl eligibility with a 4-1 SU (3-2 ATS) finish, including a huge upset on the road against Nebraska. Despite the identical records, Texas A&M was considerably better statistically, finishing 11th in the nation in scoring with 39.6 points per game.
Senior quarterback Ryan Tannehill hit a few rough spots with interceptions, but had a good season overall. Tannehill finished with 3,415 passing yards and 28 touchdowns with 14 interceptions.
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Baylor will be appearing in its first bowl game in well over a decade and they face an Illinois team that struggled to get into the postseason, but the lack of superiority by either school has most books giving the Bears a slight 1.5-point spread on the Texas Bowl odds.
Texas Bowl
Wednesday, December 29 @ 6:00pm ET
Reliant Stadium, Houston, Texas
Team: Baylor Bears
Conference: Big 12 Conference
Records: 7-5 SU, 5-6 ATS, 7-4 OU
Team: Illinois Fighting Illini
Conference: Big Ten Conference
Records: 6-6 SU, 7-4 ATS, 7-4 OU
Spread / Total (from )
Baylor -1.5 / 62 Points
Baylor had its first winning season since 1995 and needs quarterback Robert Griffin III to regain his hot hand in this bowl game, after throwing just one TD and three interceptions over three straight losses to end the Bears' season.
Griffin was among the nation's best, and has a couple of targets he can point the trigger at - with four receivers netting at least 40 catches. But Kendall Wright will be the primary focus; Wright scooped up 66 catches for 825 yards to lead the receiving corps.
If Griffin goes, so do the Bears, but if he falters, the load could fall back on senior running back Jay Finley. Finley had 1,155 yards rushing to rank second in the school's single-season rushing list.
ADVERTISEMENT: Bet this game with a free $25 when you check out the Texas Bowl odds and wagering menu at today.
Baylor may have a slight edge in the NCAAF odds, but expect a lot of lines to favor an Illinois team that has covered the spread better than this Bears team. Baylor might win straight up, but they have a less than spectacular record against the spread in college football betting.
Illinois is back in a bowl game after missing the past two postseasons, but they will need to win this game to consider the season a success. The team was well back of the leaders in the Big Ten Conference, finishing ahead of only three teams in an 11-team division.
The Fighting Illini need to get the best out of All-American running back Mikel Leshoure, who may opt out of college for the NFL draft. He led all Big Ten backs with 1,513 yards off the ground with an astonishing 14 touchdowns.
College football betting could see plenty of action for an upset from Illinois - especially with what’s at stake - and the strong running game could be the difference-maker.
