The 2021-22 college football bowl schedule kicks off on Friday and fans everywhere are deciding how to fill out their college football bowl confidence pools. College football bowl confidence pools are extremely popular this time of year, and picking a winner in matchups like Georgia vs. Michigan, Iowa State vs. Clemson or Ole Miss vs. Baylor will certainly be a difficult task. The latest college football lines from Caesars Sportsbook show just four matchups with a double-digit spread, which means there will be plenty of tough calls to make.
The top-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide are laying 13.5 points against the Cincinnati Bearcats in the College Football Playoff, which is the largest spread on the CFB odds board. Should Alabama be your top choice in your college football bowl confidence picks, or should you look at another large favorite like Fresno State (-11.5 vs. UTEP) or Coastal Carolina (-10.5 vs. Northern Illinois)? Before making any college football predictions for bowl season, don't miss the bowl confidence pool picks from SportsLine's proven computer model.
The SportsLine Projection Model simulates every FBS college football game 10,000 times. Over the past five-plus years, the proprietary computer model has generated a stunning profit of almost $3,700 for $100 players on its top-rated college football picks against the spread. It also enters the 2021-22 college football bowl season on a 43-29 run on all top-rated college football side picks. Anyone who has followed it has seen huge returns.
Now it has simulated each matchup on the 2021-22 college football bowl schedule 10,000 times and assigned a confidence rating to each game. You can only see all the college football bowl picks over at SportsLine.
Top college football bowl confidence predictions
One of the top 2021-22 college football bowl confidence picks from the model: No. 6 Ohio State gets a comfortable win over No. 11 Utah in the 2022 Rose Bowl on Jan. 1 in Pasadena. The Buckeyes are clearly one of the most talented teams in the country, but slip-ups against Oregon early in the season and Michigan in their final game of the year left them on the outside looking in for the College Football Playoff.
And while we'll have to keep close tabs on which players might choose to opt out for Ohio State, the strength of the program's underclassmen ensures that the Buckeyes will have plenty of talent on the field. C.J. Stroud is only a redshirt freshman, so we know that he'll be playing, and the Heisman Trophy finalist is coming off a season where he threw for 3,862 yards and 38 touchdowns with just five interceptions.
Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson's futures are up in the air, but Jaxon Smith-Njigba won't be eligible for the NFL until next season and Utah could have a tough time dealing with the sensational pair of second-year players. The model predicts that Stroud throws for nearly 300 yards and three touchdowns, and that's a big reason why Ohio State wins in well over 70 percent of its simulations, making it the model's fifth-most confident selection.
Another one of the bowl confidence predictions the model is high on: Virginia Tech beats Maryland in the Pinstripe Bowl on Dec. 29 at Yankee Stadium in New York. The Hokies have won four of their last five meetings against the Terrapins and Maryland limps into this contest having lost three of its last four games.
The Terrapins scored 21 points or fewer in those three losses and now they'll square off against a Virginia Tech defense that gave up just 22.92 points per game this season. SportsLine's model predicts the Hokies hold Maryland to just 24 points as Virginia Tech wins outright over 60 percent of the time. The model recommends 22 confidence points for this selection.
How to make college football bowl confidence picks
The model has also made the call on who wins every other bowl game. There are three teams that win at least 78 percent of the time, so you need to go big on those matchups, as well as multiple underdogs that win outright. You can get all the model's picks over at SportsLine.
So who wins every college football bowl game? And which matchups should you assign the most confidence points to? Visit SportsLine to see the full college football bowl confidence picks, all from the model that is up almost $3,700 for $100 players on its top-rated college football spread picks over the past five-plus season, and find out.
