The 2013 Liberty Bowl will pit the SEC's Mississippi State Bulldogs against Conference USA champion Rice. The two schools will meet at the Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis, Tennessee on Tuesday, December 31st; the game is scheduled to get underway at 4:00pm ET on ESPN. The latest 2013 Liberty Bowl Odds from offshore bookmaker 5Dimes have the Bulldogs listed as a -7 against the spread favorite and the Over/Under set at 50.5 points.
Rice is catching a touchdown here, but strength of schedule is, obviously, the big reason why as it enters this New Year's Eve contest having won nine of its last 10 games.
The Owls are also coming off an impressive 41-24 thrashing of a favored Marshall squad in the Conference USA Championship Game. Rice piled up 487 total yards and averaged 13.3 yards per pass while its defense limited the explosive Thundering Herd offense to 6.5 yards per pass and 2.9 yards per carry in the win.
Despite the Owls performance against Marshall and their impressive 9-1 run, the odds makers are not sold on their chances against the Bulldogs. Rice did fall to the other three winning teams in faced, losing to Texas A&M 31-52, Houston 26-31, and North Texas 16-28.
Mississippi State's 6-6 record will not turn many heads, but the Bulldogs are coming off back to back wins. Dan Mullen's crew closed out its schedule by dumping Arkansas 24-17 in Little Rock and it scored an upset 17-10 victory over Ole Miss in its regular season finale.
Mississippi State had lost three straight games prior to those two wins, but the three losses came against South Carolina, Texas A&M, and Alabama. The Bulldogs dropped all of them by double digits, but they proved competitive, for the most part, even in defeat, staying within 10 of the Aggies and 13 of the Crimson Tide.
Notable Trends: Mississippi State is 7-0 straight up and 5-2 against the spread in its last seven games as a favorite with a total between 47.5 and 51 points.
Rice vs Mississippi State 2013 Liberty Bowl Odds:
Rice Owls +7 (-115), Over 50.5 (-110), +240 (Moneyline)
Mississippi State Bulldogs -7 (-105), Under 50.5 (-110), -280 (Moneyline)
Handicapping Tips: College Bowl Games
Marco D'Angelo, Bryan Leonard and Ken Thomson give their tips for handicapping bowl games.
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