The initial lines for every bowl game have been released, giving us a rough watchability index of sorts. Notre Dame opened as the biggest favorite among all bowl teams; the Irish are expected to dispatch Rutgers by at least three scores. And those two BCS bowl matchups you saw and figured will probably stink? Vegas agrees. Baylor is a 16.5-point favorite over UCF, while Alabama is favored by 16 over Oklahoma.
2013-2014 bowl game opening lines, ranked from biggest to closest
You do not have to watch the Pinstripe Bowl. Just keep telling yourself this. You do not have to watch the Pinstripe Bowl.
Here are the opening odds for each bowl game (courtesy of Odds Shark), ordered from largest to smallest spread:
- Pinstripe Bowl: Notre Dame (-17.5) vs. Rutgers
- Fiesta Bowl: Baylor (-16.5) vs. Central Florida
- Sugar Bowl: Alabama (-16) vs. Oklahoma
- Alamo Bowl: Oregon (-14) vs. Texas
- Chick-fil-A Bowl: Texas A&M (-13) vs. Duke
- Holiday Bowl: Arizona State (-13) vs. Texas Tech
- Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl: East Carolina (-13) vs. Ohio
- Gator Bowl: Georgia (-9.5) vs. Nebraska
- Outback Bowl: LSU (-7.5) vs. Iowa
- GoDaddy.com Bowl: Ball State (-7.5) vs. Arkansas State
- Liberty Bowl: Mississippi State (-7.5) vs. Rice
- AdvoCare V100 Bowl: Arizona (-7) vs. Boston College
- Sun Bowl: UCLA (-7) vs. Virginia Tech
- Armed Forces Bowl: Navy (-7) vs. Middle Tennessee
- BCS Championship: Florida State (-6.5) vs. Auburn
- Heart of Dallas Bowl: North Texas (-6.5) vs. UNLV
- Little Caesars Pizza Bowl: Bowling Green (-6) vs. Pittsburgh
- Las Vegas Bowl: USC (-6) vs. Fresno State
- Texas Bowl: Minnesota (-4.5) vs. Syracuse
- Hawaii Bowl: Boise State (-4.5) vs. Oregon State
- Orange Bowl: Ohio State (-4) vs. Clemson
- Music City Bowl: Ole Miss (-4) vs. Georgia Tech
- Rose Bowl: Stanford (-3.5) vs. Michigan State
- Russell Athletic Bowl: Louisville (-3) vs. Miami
- Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl: Kansas State (-3) vs. Michigan
- Fight Hunger Bowl: Washington (-3) vs. BYU
- Military Bowl: Marshall (-3) vs. Maryland
- New Mexico Bowl: Washington State (-3) vs. Colorado State
- Poinsettia Bowl: Northern Illinois (-2.5) vs. Utah State
- Capital One Bowl: Wisconsin (-2) vs. South Carolina
- Belk Bowl: North Carolina (-2) vs. Cincinnati
- Famous Idaho Potato Bowl: Buffalo (-2) vs. San Diego State
- Cotton Bowl: Missouri (-1.5) vs. Oklahoma State
- BBVA Compass Bowl: Vanderbilt (-1.5) vs. Houston
- New Orleans Bowl: Tulane (-1) vs. UL Lafayette
This being bowl season, though, some measure of zaniness is assured. Some teams come to play, while some are just here for the Belk gift card. Plus there is the coaching-change factor in some cases. Anything could happen. Well, Alabama is going to win by four touchdowns and Notre Dame will somehow lose, but other than that, anything could happen.
Vegas expects a lot of contests to be tight, including all of the games that kick off the bowl schedule on Dec. 21. The slimmest opening line belongs to the New Orleans Bowl, where Tulane is favored by just one point over UL Lafayette. So if you needed a reason to watch that game other than “this is the only college football there is right now,” there you go.
The Cotton Bowl between Missouri and Oklahoma State looks like it’s going to be a lot of fun, and the same goes for the Orange Bowl between Ohio State and Clemson. Florida State opened as a 6.5-point favorite over Auburn in the BCS Championship Game, though the Seminoles are already nine-point favorites in some places. FSU didn’t win a game all year by fewer than two touchdowns.
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