3 takeaways from first week of college football bowl games

Upset galore

There’s a reason that betting on college football bowl games can be difficult. There are opt-outs, head-coaching changes and frankly, every program has different motivations.

Some teams might be disappointed about playing in a certain game while playing in that same bowl game is the highlight of the season for another program.

That difference in motivation can cause things to get wacky and that’s certainly what happened this weekend as three teams favored by a touchdown or more were defeated, as well as App State which was a 3-point favorite over Western Kentucky.

Middle Tennessee State upset Toledo as a 10.5-point underdog on Friday, while UAB and Utah State beat 13th-ranked BYU and Oregon State, each as touchdown underdogs.

And later in the day, in the New Orleans Bowl, Louisiana had to rally to avoid an upset at the hands of Marshall, which would have meant both top-25 teams playing during the first week of bowl games lost. But the Rajun Cajun rallied to finish 13-1.

Still, it was a wacky start, and expect plenty of upsets during the bowl season.