Music City Bowl Prediction
The Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl kicks off at 1:30 p.m. ET on Friday as the Purdue Boilermakers take on the Auburn Tigers. With Auburn only laying 3.5, are the Tigers a good play for bettors?
Game Snapshot
242 Purdue Boilermakers vs. 241 Auburn Tigers
1:30 p.m. ET, Friday, December 28, 2018
Nissan Stadium, Nashville, Tennessee
Public Betting Trends
According to oddsmakers from online sports book BetNow.eu, the Tigers are 3.5-point favorites to beat the Boilermakers. The total, meanwhile, sits at 57 points. As of this writing, 60% of the public betting tickets wagered on this matchup are on the Tigers.
Purdue Boilermakers
Purdue HC Jeff Brohm will remain with the school for the 2019 season. “This has been a very difficult and emotional decision for me and my family. We are extremely happy at Purdue and thankful for the opportunity to lead this program,” Brohm said. “After intense and thorough discussion, I believe it is important to finish the building process we have begun and honor the commitment I made to our football program, players, and recruits.” It’s huge news for the Boilermakers, and obviously a blow for Louisville, who viewed Brohm as the top — and maybe only — target to replace Bobby Petrino. It’ll be interesting to see who the Cardinals go after next, getting a big name to replace Petrino may not be easy considering the mess the coach will be inheriting.
Auburn Tigers
HC Gus Malzhan said Auburn redshirt junior QB Jarrett Stidham will be “our guy” for the upcoming bowl game with Auburn “here to win the game.” There’s always some worry that some of the star players won’t play a full compliment of snaps in bowl games with the incentives to play younger guys to build for the future, but that won’t be the case with Auburn this year. In fact, Stidham will be Auburn’s “guy” despite declaring for the 2019 NFL Draft. Malzahn continued to say that Purdue is a “very good opponent” and the Tigers need to get all their guys out there to win the game. For a deeper dive into the Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl, read Thor Nystrom’s ATS Bowl Picks column, which is linked below.
Betting Trends
Purdue
The over is 4-0 in the Boilermakers’ last four bowl games.
Auburn
The under is 4-0-1 in the Tigers’ last five bowl games.
Prediction
It’s difficult to tell how motivated Auburn will be today. This isn’t exactly a great draw and Purdue has enough scoring power to give the Tigers a game if they’re not up for playing. That said, if Auburn is playing it’s A game the Tigers could shut down the Boilermakers’ passing attack with their stout defense. And if the three-and-outs pile up for Purdue, the game could get out of hand quickly. The Tigers are 5-1 against the spread in their last six games in December while the Boilermakers are just 2-5 ATS in their last seven bowl games.
Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl: Auburn Tigers -3.5