I'm down 1-3 in my picks so far this season so it's time to move on from all those Sun Belt and Conference USA teams and start playing some real games that people actually care about. But what the hell is this? The Xbox Bowl, a new bowl, is pitting another Sun Belt team (Arkansas State) against CUSA (Missouri State) tonight. Does it ever end? How many schools are in these godforsaken conferences?
The Xbox Bowl was invented as a replacement for the Bahamas Bowl (RIP) and is the first new bowl introduced since the Fenway Bowl in 2022. It's played in Frisco, Texas, and at first I thought this was just the Frisco Bowl with new sponsorship, but no, the Frisco Bowl will be played in this same stadium next week.
So tonight we have the Arkansas State Red Wolves (6-6) against the Missouri State Bears (7-5). The Red Wolves are 1½ point favorites and I picked them to cover the spread this evening. I won with them as 6½-point underdogs to Bowling Green in last year's '68 Ventures Bowl (they won by 7), although I lost with them two years ago as a 1-point favorite over Northern Illinois in the 2023 Camelia Bowl (now ISIS Salute to Veterans or whatever); they lost that one by 2.
On the other hand, this is the Bears' first-ever bowl appearance, so why would I risk a pick on them? Further, Missouri State head coach Ryan Beard left the team for the Coastal Carolina head-coaching job, and look what the loss of a coach did to South Florida last night. These two teams are both relatively healthy. but Missouri State has four players in the transfer portal.
Kick-off is at 9:00 pm Eastern time (7:00, Texas time). C'mon Red Wolves, Daddy needs some marks in the Win column!
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