Liberty Bowl Betting – Liberty Bowl Matches Former Coaching Foes
The Georgia Bulldogs are playing the Central Florida Golden Knights in the Liberty Bowl, but they’re also competing against the former coach of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets as well.
NCAA football betting: Central Florida Golden Knights vs. Georgia Bulldogs
Online Betting Odds: Georgia -6.5
Why To Bet On Central Florida
Central Florida earned its spot in the Liberty Bowl by winning the Conference USA championship. The Golden Knights punched their ticket with a 17-7 triumph over Southern Methodist in the C-USA title game on Dec. 4 at home in Orlando. The Golden Knights thwarted a potent Mustang passing game with rugged, fearless and relentlessly physical defensive play. UCFs corners and safeties were brilliant against a set of SMU receivers that produced three separate workhorses in 2010. SMU entered the C-USA title game with three men who had caught at least 57 passes.
UCF shut down all three men and allowed just one touchdown to SMU. The Golden Knights’ secondary starred from start to finish, closing on passes with levels of decisiveness and instinctual brilliance that weren’t witnessed in many of college football’s upper-tier conference rosters. Central Florida lost just one game in C-USA during the regular season and enjoyed sustained success under the guidance of freshman quarterback Jeff Godfrey, a superb dual-threat player who smoked defenses in 2010 with his legs and his underrated passing ability.
Why To Bet On Georgia
Central Florida’s offense, led by Jeff Godfrey’s considerable talents, will legitimately test Georgia’s shaky defense. It’s on the other side of the ball that UCF will have a lot of problems. The Golden Knights’ secondary is good, but it’s never played receivers as good as A.J. Green, who is quite likely playing his very last game in a Georgia uniform and will want to make a big statement to NFL scouts and draft evaluators who will be watching him closely in Memphis. Moreover, Central Florida – while excellent against SMU – has never faced a quarterback as talented as Georgia’s Aaron Murray, who found himself midway through the season and was good enough to steer the Bulldogs to a bowl game despite the team’s many woes and setbacks in other phases of competition.
Central Florida will have to score in big bunches in order to prevail. That’s going to be a tall order, no matter how you look at this tilt in the state of Tennessee. Georgia has more NFL-level athletes in this game, especially on the perimeter. As long as the Bulldogs can get solid pass protection and not get completely eviscerated on defense, they should win. One thing that has to be added to Georgia’s side of the ledger is that the Bulldogs have had a full month to work out the kinks on defense. First-year defensive coordinator Todd Grantham could finally make an imprint on a defensive unit that’s been slow to pick up his system.
How The Game Will Play Out
Georgia’s defense won’t fully ripen into maturity in this game, and UCF will score at least 30 points. Georgia could very well hit 40, but while the Bulldogs seem likely to win this game straight up, UCF is a good bet to keep this game under the number. This contest feels like a 38-35 game in favor of Georgia.
Liberty Bowl Betting Pick: Central Florida
