Lock In A Team Total Bet For Trust & Will Bowl

Arizona vs. SMU, 8:00 ET

There were three college football games yesterday, and they were all part of the College Football Playoffs. Now we have to wait another week before we get those truly meaningful games. That isn't to be dismissive of anyone who takes the field today, but the reality is that winning the Trust & Will Holiday Bowl is significantly less impactful than, say, winning the Rose Bowl and going on to the Final Four of the Playoffs. Either way, the Trust & Will Bowl is what we get today as Arizona takes on SMU, and it could be just as entertaining or more than what we got out of the Playoffs yesterday.

Arizona enters the game with a 9-3 record from the regular season, and they even finished the year as the 17th-ranked team in the nation. I won't try and sell you that this was an amazing team, but they did come together at the end of the year to get them in this position. For their three losses on the season, they dropped the first game on the road against Iowa State, getting trounced 39-14. Their next two losses were much closer and probably a bit more understandable. They lost to BYU in a double-overtime home game where they just couldn't get the stop needed in overtime. Keep in mind, BYU lost to just one team this year (that team, Texas Tech, was embarrassed yesterday in the playoffs). The other loss was the following week against Houston on the road, and they fell 31-28. After that, it was pretty smooth sailing as they won their final five games of the year, and three of them were by multiple scores. Most impressive was beating Cincinnati and Arizona State on the road. 

 (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)

SMU had a strong campaign as well, as you'd probably expect from a team playing in a later bowl game. They finished the year at 8-4, but they certainly had some impressive wins. The Mustangs lost two of their first four games this year, dropping a tough one in double overtime to Baylor, and then also losing on the road to TCU. After that, they were able to run off three straight wins. Then they lost on the road by one point to Wake Forest. Their best game of the season came following that loss as they beat Miami 26-20 in overtime. That's a big win for any program, but it almost kept the Hurricanes out of the College Football Playoffs as well. They also beat Louisville a couple of weeks later. This was a very convincing victory, taking down the Cardinals 38-6. The last game of the season saw them take to the road and drop a close game to Cal. 

As with every Bowl Game, it is imperative that you check who is sitting for it. I suppose any game you need to know that information, but with so many people in the transfer portal and opting out, it's even more important for these. The good news is that neither team seems to have too many guys sitting out. The bad news is that the head coach for Arizona stated that there are some players who are going to opt-out but he wouldn't disclose that information because he didn't want to give SMU an advantage. I think both quarterbacks are going to play, and I know at least one cornerback for Arizona will be out, so I want to focus on the SMU total. They should have a good opportunity to move the ball, so I like the over 25.5 in this one. Take SMU's team total over. 

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