College Football Bowl Game Anytime Touchdown Scorer Picks: Saturday (12/23)

by Austin MacMillan |
Dec 23, 2023

For all you bowl season enthusiasts out there, Christmas comes a little bit early on Saturday with a full slate of 7 bowl games spanning from noon to the nightcap in Hawai'i at 10:30PM. As always, bowl season is full of opt-outs and question marks, but I've leveraged several of those missing pieces to take advantage of some guys that should see an increased work load in today's games. All but one of my plays today are centered around the running game, with the only receiver prop coming against an atrocious Georgia State passing defense. Happy holidays to everyone, and hopefully we all have some extra cash at the end of the day to fund a last-minute gift.

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College Football Bowl Game Same Game Parlay Picks

Northern Illinois vs. Arkansas State - Camellia Bowl - 12:00 P.M. EST

Arkansas State RB Ja'Quez Cross Anytime TD (-108 via FanDuel)

The Red Wolves featured a relatively split backfield this season between Ja'Quez Cross and Zak Wallace, both of whom ended the year with very comparable carries, yards and touchdowns. Wallace missed the regular season finale though and is not listed on any of the odds boards, so I am relatively confident that he will not play in this one.

That leaves Cross as the prominent option in the backfield for Arkansas State, and he's coming off of a very productive season, leading the team with seven rushing touchdowns and averaging just shy of six yards per carry on 120 carries. While my initial look was to wide receiver Courtney Jackson, Northern Illinois was the top team in the MAC at defending the pass and is much more susceptible to the run, surrendering over 150 yards per game on the ground. I'll plant my flag on Cross to reach the end zone in this game as the lead back against a soft run defense in a game that features one of the higher totals on the board on Saturday.

Duke vs. Troy - 76 Birmingham Bowl - 12:00 P.M. EST

Duke RB Jaquez Moore Anytime TD (+165 via FanDuel)

Jaquez Moore was the RB2 for the Blue Devils during the 2023 regular season and actually entered the transfer portal but has since come out of the portal and is expected to suit up in this game. That's big for him and for Duke, as their RB1 Jordan Waters has entered the portal and will not play, so Moore should dominate the backfield in this game.

During the season, he was still able to rack up six rushing touchdowns and 601 yards on 5.9 YPC, which was actually better than that of Waters. Starting quarterback Riley Leonard will also be absent for this game, which eliminates another potential threat to steal a rushing touchdown from Moore. Although the Blue Devils have been slightly more pass happy under backup quarterback Grayson Loftis, the Trojans led the Sun Belt at defending the pass this season and I think this is a great price to take Moore to score as the primary ball carrier in Duke's offense.

Air Force vs. James Madison - Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl - 3:30 P.M. EST

Air Force QB Zac Larrier Anytime TD (+225 via BetMGM) OR Air Force FB Emmanuel Michel Anytime TD (+140 via BetMGM)

This play has a little bit of a caveat, because it's unclear if Larrier will suit up for this one as he was banged up down the stretch during the regular season. I do think that Air Force really cares about this bowl game and will give it their best effort (evident by their 15 point drubbing of Baylor in this same bowl last year), so I expect Larrier to give it a go if he's able. As is the case with all the military academies, the Falcons have an extremely run-heavy offense with the quarterback being a major factor in the running game. On the season, Larrier was the Falcons second leading rusher with 579 yards on 4.4 YPC for 5 TDs. I love his price to score here at over 2/1, so that's my best bet for this game.

If he does not play, I will pivot to Emmanuel Michel to score instead. Michel was the leading ball carrier for the Falcons in 2023, with 60-plus more carries than Larrier for 747 yards and nine rushing touchdowns. He lines up in the fullback position in this option-based offense, and he should get the lion's share of the work around the goal line whether or not Larrier actually plays. JMU is also dealing with a lot of players entering the transfer portal on the defensive side of the ball, though it should be noted that they still might suit up to play this game. They will definitely be without their star defensive end Jalen Green due to injury though, which could spell trouble against the option attack of the Falcons.

Utah State vs. Georgia State - Famous Idaho Potato Bowl - 3:30 P.M. EST

WR Terrell Vaughn Anytime TD (+115 via BetMGM)

It should be noted that the Aggies will be down their top two quarterbacks in this matchup, with quarterbacks Levi Williams getting the start in this game. Williams did get work in the regular season and played much better than their second-string quarterback in my opinion, so I don't see that as a detriment for Vaughn's chances to score. It also helps that they'll be up against the worst passing defense in the Sun Belt, as the Panthers allow more 280 passing yards per game and concede more than 30 points per game to their opponents.

Vaughn was the leading receiver for the Aggies in terms of receptions in 2023, reeling in 81 passes for 10 touchdowns on the year. The only reason that his odds are plus-money to score in this matchup is because his counterpart, wide receiver Jalen Royals, was extremely explosive and netted more receiving yards and touchdowns than Vaughn due to an absurd 15 yards per reception. I expect for Vaughn to lead the Aggies in targets today, and I think taking him at plus money to score against this horrendous Georgia State defense is a great way to play the anytime touchdown market in this game.

San Jose State vs Coastal Carolina - EasyPost Hawai'i Bowl - 10:30 P.M. EST

San Jose State RB Kairee Robinson 2+ TDs (+190 via BetMGM)

Similar to this past week, I'm taking a shot on a workhorse running back to score twice in the late window. Kairee Robinson was nothing short of phenomenal this season, racking up over 1,100 yards on 7.1 YPC for 18 touchdowns on the ground while adding another 2 in the passing game. He has a pretty favorable matchup against this Coastal Carolina defense that saw some regression from previous years, ranking in the bottom half of the Sun Belt in defending the rush. As a 10 point favorite, I expect for the Spartans to grab an early lead and control the pace and style of this game, which means feeding Robinson. His Anytime TD prop is sitting around an egregious -400, so I'll roll the dice on him to find paydirt twice and cap off his phenomenal 2023 campaign.

Make sure to check out our other best bets for Saturday:

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