2018 College Football Playoff, bowl game predictions with confidence picks
New Mexico Bowl
North Texas (9-3) vs Utah St (10-2)
Albuquerque, New Mexico
December 15 – 2 p.m. ET
TV: ESPN
With Matt Wells off to Texas Tech, Utah State will be dealing with the distraction of an interim coach. Seth Littrell has taken his name out of consideration for the Kansas State job, pointing toward him returning to Denton for the 2019 season, which provides a big boost for North Texas.
The Mean Green won nine games, but didn’t earn a single win over a team that made a bowl game, their record being inflated by the weak Conference-USA. Utah State went 10-2, and earned wins over bowl teams in BYU and Hawai’i, as well as coming close in games against Michigan State and Boise State.
The Aggies played in a tougher conference, and are more battle-tested coming into this game. There should be points galore as two of the premier quarterbacks from the group-of-five go head-to-head in New Mexico.
Utah State’s Jordan Love and North Texas’ Mason Fine both efficiently threw for over 3000 yards, while consistently taking care of the football. They’ll duel it out in what could be one of the most fun matchups of the bowl season.
I don’t trust the hefty spread that Vegas has laid on Utah State enough to be too confident with this pick, but I do like the Aggies to come out on top.