American football | Wednesday, December 21, 2022 9:16 AM

South Alabama Jaguars vs Western Kentucky Hilltoppers Best Bet: New Orleans Bowl Betting

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US Sports Expert

SOUTH ALABAMA JAGUARS VS WESTERN KENTUCKY HILLTOPPERS BEST BET: WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 21st

In what our resident college football expert Ej Garr believes, the Jaguars and Hilltoppers should be providing some fireworks when they contest the New Orleans Bowl on Wednesday. With points on his mind and money to be made, we can expect a high-scoring affair to take place in the Big Easy!

In this article:

South Alabama Jaguars vs Western Kentucky Hilltoppers Preview

December 22, 02:00 (UK time)

The Jags and Toppers will hit the Big Easy on Wednesday to compete for the New Orleans Bowl trophy, this being the only bowl game on this day to enjoy. Let me give you a spoiler and tell you now that I expect points to come early and often in this game, and that total is just low enough for us to fancy a wager.

The Jags are favoured by -4.5 points and a 56 is showing on the total, and while I respect the South Alabama defence they have not had to deal with Western Kentucky’s offence which is among the best in the Nation.

The Hilltoppers’ Austin reed put up a magical campaign tossing 36 touchdowns with only 10 interceptions against him. His ridiculous completion percentage sits at 64.5% and the 4250 yards has the Hilltoppers’ offence ranked 2nd in all of college football in passing. Reed also contributed 8 scores on the ground and is not scared to tuck in the ball and go move those chains to keep his team on the field.

Malachi Corley will likely see plenty of balls headed his way, as he led the receiving corps with 90 receptions, 1181 yards with 9 scoots into the end zone for the campaign. Daewood Davis only needs 118 yards to become the Hilltoppers’ second 1000,-yard receiver, so if the Jags think this is a one-trick pony they are in for a rude awakening. They only account for the top 2 of this receiver’s staff, and the next 5 dudes below them all expect the ball too. In fact, 35 of Reed’s TD passes are to the top 7 pass-catchers, so good luck trying to slow them down.

The Jaguars’ defence is more of a run-stopping machine, but that won’t get them far on Wednesday. South Alabama ranks 4th in the Nation against the run limiting teams to 87.6 YPG, but let’s talk about their opponents, shall we?

The Jags’ last 4 games saw them give up no less than 20 points, and the Over was a perfect 4 – 0 along the way. You might see that Hilltoppers’ number towards the total as a discouraging trend because they are 9 – 4 to the Under this campaign. Notice those numbers, however, are all inflated in the 70s and not the 56 we are facing today.

Jags QB Carter Bradley also threw 10 interceptions this year, but his 25 TD passes make up for that a bit. Bradley only needs 17 passing yards to topple the 3000-yard mark, but he only uses a trio of guys in the pattern. The top-3 pass-catchers for the Jaguars eat up all of the numbers, and the discrepancy from the rest of the staff is significant.

Jalen Wayne, Caullin Lacy, and Devin Voisin have accounted for 167 balls caught and 19 touchdowns. Dj Thomas Jones is the closest guy to the pack with 20 grabs and 3 scores, but Bradley has an issue spreading the ball around. He has no legs to add to the mix, so the Hilltopper defence will be able to blitz at will and put pressure on him all day.