The college bowl season officially gets underway in just a few hours as the New Mexico Bowl, which features a match-up between Nevada and Arizona, has a scheduled start time of 1:00pm ET. The game will be played at University Stadium in Albuquerque and broadcast live on ESPN. The latest New Mexico Bowl Odds are favoring the Arizona Wildcats at -8 against the spread and -320 on the moneyline ($320 wins $100). Today’s game total is set at 79 points.
Nevada comes into this game a wounded animal as its 6-1 start turned into a 7-5 finish. The Wolf Pack dropped four of their last five games, which was no coincidence with their schedule getting decidedly more difficult over the last half of the season.
Nevada had its way with teams like Northwestern State, Hawaii, California, and Texas State, but when the bowls teams started showing up, it folded like a cheap suitcase. Chris Ault’s troops went 0-4 against schools that qualified for postseason play(San Diego State, Air Force, Fresno State, and Boise State), losing by an average of 10 points per game.
Those numbers would indicate Nevada’s mostly losing bowl ways will continue this afternoon (Wolf Pack are 1-4 in their last five bowl appearances). What also points to a Wolf Pack loss is Arizona’s high powered offensive attack.
New head coach Rich Rodriguez revised the ‘Desert Swarm’ at Arizona, but the moniker now applies to the team’s offense rather than its defense. The Wildcats turned in some brilliant offensive performances and they usually had their way against lesser defensive teams (Nevada qualifies, ranking 95th in points per game allowed), scoring 56 against South Carolina State, 39 against USC, and 56 against Colorado. Arizona even made some good defensive teams look shoddy, averaging 45 points per game against the usually stout trio of Oregon State, Washington, and Stanford.
Nevada should find its way to some points today too given the struggles of the Wildcats defense. Arizona gave up more points and yards per game on the season than the Wolf Pack, which is hardly shocking given Rodriguez emphasis on outscoring teams rather than slowing them down.
New Mexico Bowl Odds: Nevada Wolf Pack vs Arizona Wildcats
Nevada Wolf Pack +8 (-110), Over 79 (-110), +260 (Moneyline)
Arizona Wildcats -8 (-110), Under 79 (-110), -320 (Moneyline)
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