Gildan New Mexico Bowl Prediction
The North Texas Mean Green are catching seven points as an underdog in today’s 2:00 p.m. ET Gildan New Mexico Bowl against Utah State. Will they cover or will the Aggies roll to their 11th victory of the season?
Game Snapshot
202 Utah State Aggies at 201 North Texas Mean Green
2:00 p.m. ET, Saturday, December 15, 2018
Dreamstyle Stadium, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Public Betting Trends
According to oddsmakers from online sports book BetNow.eu, the Aggies are 7-point favorites to beat the Mean Green. The total, meanwhile, sits at 68.5 points. As of this writing, 52% of the public betting tickets wagered on this matchup are on the Mean Green.
Utah State Aggies
Multiple outlets are reporting that Utah State will hire former Western Kentucky HC Mike Sanford to serve as offensive coordinator. Stanford was fired by the Hilltoppers following a lost 2018 campaign in which his team finished with a 3-9 record. He hasn’t had to wait long to land on his feet, though, now set to come over to HC Gary Andersen’s new Aggies staff. Sanford has had success as an offensive coordinator in the past — he previously put in stints with Boise State and Notre Dame — and makes for a serviceable enough hire despite his inabilities to handle head-coaching duties at WKU.
North Texas Mean Green
North Texas junior WR Rico Bussey (hamstring) is questionable for Saturday’s New Mexico Bowl date with Utah State. Mean Green HC Seth Littrell said that Bussey would likely be a game-time decision for Saturday’s bowl. It appears he’s still dealing with the hamstring issue which he sustained against UTSA in the regular-season finale. Should the 6-foot-2, 190-pound junior be unable to take the field against Utah State upcoming, that would represent a tangible blow to the UNT offense. During the regular season, Bussey caught 68 passes for 1,017 yards and 12 touchdowns.
Betting Trends
Utah State
The under is 6-0 in the Aggies’ last six bowl games and is 8-0-1 in their last nine games played in the month of December.
North Texas
The under is 12-3-1 in the Mean Green’s last 16 games overall and is 4-0 in their last four non-conference games.
Prediction
The under is has covered the spread in five of the past seven meetings between these two teams and the Mean Green are 10-3 against the number in their last 13 non-conference games. The Aggies will not have head coach Matt Wells patrolling the sidelines after he accepted a new job at Texas Tech. North Texas checks in with the better defense and motivation could be an issue with Utah State. I think this is too many points and I’m backing the dog.
Gildan New Mexico Bowl Prediction: North Texas Mean Green +7