Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl Pick
Laying less than a field goal, are the Marshall Thundering Herd worth a play for bettors in Thursday night’s matchup with South Florida in the Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl? Or are the underdog Bulls primed to pull off the upset?
Game Snapshot
215 Marshall Thundering Herd vs. 216 South Florida Bulls
8:00 p.m. ET, Thursday, December 20, 2018
Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, Florida
Public Betting Trends
According to oddsmakers from online sports book BetNow.eu, the Thundering Herd are 2.5-point favorites to beat the Bulls. The total, meanwhile, sits at 52.5 points. As of this writing, 53% of the public betting tickets wagered on this matchup are on the Bulls.
Marshall Thundering Herd
Marshall redshirt freshman QB Isaiah Green completed 19-of-34 passes for 220 yards, a touchdown and an interception in Saturday’s 41-20 loss to Virginia Tech. Green hit on a 34-yard touchdown pass to Xavier Gaines to open the fourth quarter, but that score merely drew the Thundering Herd to within 34-12 on the scoreboard. No miracle comeback would coalesce before the end of the game. Green closes out the regular season having thrown for 2,060 yards with a 15/10 TD/INT ratio in nine games played.
South Florida Bulls
USF redshirt junior QB Black Barnett (shoulder/lower body) has shed his walking boot. Barnett is dealing with shoulder and lower body injuries, but it appears that his lower body injury is improving since he was spotted in sandals on Sunday. The Bulls play in the Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl on Thursday, and this update at least gives him a chance at playing, but it’s still up in the air. USF’s chances of beating Marshall improve with Barnett at quarterback, so it’s a situation worth monitoring.
Betting Trends
Marshall
The over is 4-1 in the Thundering Herd’s last five games overall and is 4-0 in their last four road games.
South Florida
The over is 4-0 in the Bulls’ last four bowl games and 14-5 in their last 19 games when facing a team with a winning record.
Prediction
The Thundering Herd have been a great bowl play in recent years, covering six straight bowl games and going 21-8-1 against the number in their last 30 non-conference games. The Bulls, meanwhile, are just 1-5 at the betting window in their last six games played in the month of December and are 2-5 against the spread in their last seven games overall. The Bulls ruined a 7-0 start by dropping their last five games and went 1-5 ATS at home so homefield advantage was anything but for USF this year. With Barnett banged-up and motivation not exactly at a high for the Bulls, I’m fading USF.
Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl Prediction: Marshall Thundering Herd -2.5