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A Look at the Odds for Delaware’s Bowl Game and Villanova’s FCS Semifinal
By Joe Tansey
Published:
The Villanova Wildcats are one win away from the FCS National Championship Game.
Nova sprung a pair of upsets in a wide-open top half of the FCS bracket to earn a home game as the No. 12 seed. That doesn’t happen often in a division of the NCAA where the top teams typically dominate.
But wait! There’s more!
Delaware is participating in its first FBS bowl game on Wednesday night. The Blue Hens went 6-6 in their first season in Conference USA to land a spot in the 68 Ventures Bowl against Louisiana.
Illinois State at Villanova (-1.5) (Over/Under 52.5- BetMGM) (Saturday, 7 p.m. ET)
Villanova’s path to the FCS semifinals is remarkable.
The ‘Cats went on the road to beat No. 5 Lehigh and No. 4 Tarleton State, but that actually pales in comparison to Illinois State’s journey as an unseeded team. The Redbirds upset top seed North Dakota State and then followed it up with a win over No. 8 UC Davis.
The last two Illinois State games finished 29-28 and 42-31, so Villanova has a clear path to points. The ‘Cats defense allowed 35 points over their three FCS playoff games. They gave up a single touchdown in two of their three postseason contests.
Obviously, you’d lean toward the home team in this scenario. Nova hasn’t lost at home this season, and in those games, it allowed over 20 points on two occasions.
Nova and the Under 52.5 seem to be the plays here.
68 Ventures Bowl: Louisiana (-2.5) vs. Delaware (O/U: 61.5) (Wednesday, 8:30 p.m. ET)
Delaware plays its first FBS bowl game in beautiful Mobile on Wednesday night against the Ragin’ Cajuns.
The Blue Hens scored 61 points in their regular-season finale against UTEP to confirm eligibility. Louisiana comes into Mobile on a four-game winning streak.
There are a whole crap ton of factors when it comes to betting on bowl games. In this case, I think it’s worth taking a flyer on Delaware solely from a motivational standpoint. It’s the program’s first bowl game, while a 6-6 season with a pre-Christmas bowl appearance are far from the standard at Louisiana.
Points should come easy to both sides. Louisiana is 8-4 to the over this season and it hit five consecutive overs to end the regular season. Delaware is 6-5-1 to the over and closed the regular season with a 5-2 mark to the over.
I’d say take the Hens, the Over, or both and just enjoy some midweek mid-December football. Make sure to grab a DraftKings promo code before you go.
Joe Tansey writes sports betting posts for Crossing Broad and also covers the Philadelphia Union for his Substack site, Union Soccer Blog.