Quick Lane Bowl Game Prediction
The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets are laying a full touchdown in Wednesday’s Quick Lane Bowl versus the Minnesota Golden Gophers at 5:15 p.m. ET. Given the Gophers’ struggles in 2018, are the Yellow Jackets a good play for bettors this evening?
Game Snapshot
231 Minnesota Golden Gophers vs. 232 Georgia Yellow Jackets
5:15 p.m. ET, Wednesday, December 26, 2018
Ford Field, Detroit, Michigan
Public Betting Trends
According to oddsmakers from online sports book BetNow.eu, the Yellow Jackets are 6-point favorites to beat the Golden Gophers. The total, meanwhile, sits at 57.5 points. As of this writing, 69% of the public betting tickets wagered on this matchup are on the Yellow Jacket.
Minnesota Golden Gophers
The Twin Cities Pioneer Press’ Andy Greder reports that Minnesota HC P.J. Fleck will receive a one-year contract extension through the 2023 season. Fleck initially agreed to a five-year deal when he initially joined the program in the winter of 2017 and likewise received a one-year extension a year ago. These kinds of little rollovers are not uncommon. Somewhat humorously, Greder relays that during Thursday’s finance and operations meeting, school president Eric Kaler cited Fleck’s “recent acquisition of the axe” as part of the reason he was deserving of an extension. The axe being referenced is The Paul Bunyan Axe, which Minnesota took home when they beat Wisconsin to end the regular season.
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
Georgia Tech HC Paul Johnson will retire. Ostensibly, Johnson will coach his final game in Georgia Tech’s bowl. The 61-year-old triple-option guru went 82-59 across 11 seasons with the Yellow Jackets, an average of about 7.5 wins a season (the Jackets are currently 7-5 with the bowl game pending). He won the 2009 ACC championship and reached two other ACC title games. It’ll be fascinating to see what Georgia Tech does now. The administration was a pioneer in bringing Johnson’s triple-option offense back to the Power 5. Do the Yellow Jackets go after one of Johnson’s former assistants, a triple-option success story like Jeff Monken or Ken Niumatalolo? Or will they flip the script and overhaul the program’s offensive philosophy by bringing in a branch of the Air Raid or old Baylor offense tree? We’ll soon find out.
Betting Trends
Minnesota
The under is 6-2 in the Golden Gophers’ last eight non-conference games and is 5-2 in their last seven games coming off a win.
Georgia Tech
The over is 6-2-1 in the Yellow Jackets’ last nine games overall but the under is 6-2 in their last eight bowl games.
Prediction
I don’t see the Yellow Jackets losing in Johnson’s final game and if I’m playing them to win, I’ll back them at the betting window, too. Georgia Tech is 4-0-1 against the spread in its last five neutral site games, is 5-1 against the number in its last six games played in December and is 25-11-1 ATS in its last 37 games after allowing less than 170 yards passing in its previous game. On the other side, the Golden Gophers are just 2-5-1 against the spread in their last eight games coming off a win and are 2-8 at the window in their last 10 games coming off a win of more than 20 points.
Quick Lane Bowl Prediction: Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets -6