Welcome back, college football fans, after a much-needed day off. I know most companies have today as a holiday, but here at the GCR, we have 100% of the staff back on bowl duty. Ok, that’s me, but I’m 100% back on bowl duty. Before we get to today’s game, let’s look at a weird anomaly from the Hawaii Bowl. If you didn’t see it, San Diego St jumped to an early 14-0 lead, had 7 sacks, held Middle Tennessee to an all-time bowl record -66 (yes minus 66) yards rushing, outgained the Blue Raiders 364-170, and lost, 25-23. The Blue Raider QB got credit for 9 carries for -91 yards with a long of -2 but threw for 2 TDs in the comeback. In fact, the two teams combined for negative (-11) rushing yards and six turnovers, with the Aztecs giving possession away 5 times leading to the loss. Vegas and the GCR missed the winner, but the GCR did have MTSU to cover. That also finishes up Conference USA’s bowl season at a respectable 3-3. Here is the winners/losers list as it stands today:
| Conference | Winners | Losers | Remaining |
| American (7) | Houston | Cincinnati, SMU | Memphis, East Carolina, UCF, Tulane |
| ACC (9) | Louisville, Wake Forest | Duke, UNC, Syracuse, Florida St, NC St, Pittsburgh, Clemson | |
| Big 12 (8) | Baylor | Oklahoma St, Kansas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas St, TCU | |
| Big Ten (9) | Wisconsin, Minnesota, Maryland, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio St, Illinois, Purdue, Penn St | ||
| C-USA (6) | UAB, W Kentucky, Middle Tennessee | UTSA, Rice, North Texas | — |
| Indies (5) | BYU | UCONN, Liberty | New Mexico St, Notre Dame |
| MAC (6) | E Michigan, Toledo | Miami OH | Bowling Green, Buffalo, Ohio |
| MWC (7) | Fresno St, Boise St, Air Force | San Jose St, San Diego St | Utah St, Wyoming |
| Pac 12 (7) | Oregon St | Washington St | Oregon, Washington, UCLA, Southern Cal, Utah |
| SEC (11) | Florida, Missouri | Arkansas, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky, Georgia, Mississippi St, LSU | |
| Sun (7) | Troy, Southern Miss, Marshall | South Alabama, Louisiana | Ga Southern, Coastal Carolina |
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And the detail behind the summary:
| Conference | Record | Exp Rec | vs Power 5 | vs Group 5 | Favorite | Underdog | Vegas ATS | GCR S/U | GCR Cover |
| American (7) | 1-2 (.333) | 4-3 (.571) | 0-1 (.000) | 1-1 (.500) | 1-1 (.500) | 0-1 (.000) | 0-1-1 (.000) | 1-2 (.333) | 0-1 (.000) |
| ACC (9) | 2-0 (1.000) | 5-4 (.554) | 1-0 (1.000) | 1-0 (1.000) | 2-0 (1.000) | 0-0 | 2-0 (1.000) | 1-0 (1.000) | 1-0 (1.000) |
| Big 12 (8) | 0-1 (000) | 2-6 (.250) | 0-0 | 0-1 (000) | 0-1 (000) | 0-0 | 0-1 (000) | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| Big Ten (9) | 0-0 | 6-3 (.667) | 0-0 | — | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| C-USA (6) | 3-3 (.500) | 2-4 (.333) | — | 3-3 (.500) | 1-1 (.500) | 2-2 (.500) | 0-2 (.000) | 1-0 (1.000) | 1-1 (.500) |
| Indies (5) | 1-2 (.333) | 1-4 (.200) | 0-0 | 1-2 (.333) | 0-0 | 1-2 (.333) | 0-0 | 0-1 (.000) | 2-1 (.667) |
| MAC (6) | 2-1 (.667) | 2-4 (.333) | — | 2-1 (.667) | 1-0 (1.000) | 1-1 (.500) | 0-1 (.000) | 1-0 (1.000) | 2-0 (1.000) |
| MWC (7) | 3-2 (.600) | 5-2 (.714) | 2-0 (1.000) | 1-2 (.333) | 2-2 (.500) | 1-0 (1.000) | 1-3 (.2503) | 3-1 (.750) | 2-1 (.667) |
| Pac 12 (7) | 1-1 (.500) | 5-2 (.714) | 1-0 (1.000) | 0-1 (000) | 1-0 (1.000) | 0-1 (000) | 1-0 (1.000) | 1-0 (1.000) | 1-0 (1.000) |
| SEC (11) | 0-2 (000) | 5-6 (.455) | 0-2 (000) | — | 0-0 | 0-2 (000) | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| Sun (7) | 3-2 (.600) | 4-3 (.571) | — | 3-2 (.600) | 2-1 (.667) | 1-1 (.500) | 2-1 (.667) | 3-1 (.750) | 1-1-1 (.500) |
| Total | 16 | 41-41 | 3-4 (.429) | 13-12 (.520) | 10-6 (.625) | 6-10 (.375) | 6-9-1 (.400) | 11-5 (.688) | 10-5-1 (.667) |
…..
And that brings us to today’s Quick Lane Bowl held in Detroit with a 2:30 Eastern kickoff. We have New Mexico St (6-6/138) playing in just their 5th bowl game ever who is the lowest GCR-ranked bowl team taking on Bowling Green (6-6/99) of the MAC playing close to home. The independent Aggies started out 0-4 and 1-5 before reversing that record in the second half with only a loss to Missouri sullying the perfect mark. Two of those wins were against Lamar and Valparaiso, both FCS schools, which should have disqualified NMST, but the Valparaiso game was a makeup from a cancelled game against San Jose St, so the NCAA allowed it (Army and App St were 6-6 with 2 wins against FCS teams and did not qualify for bowls, but those games were part of their original schedule). Bowling Green started 0-2 and 2-4 including a loss to FCS school E Kentucky, before turning things around. This may not be the most polished bowl game, but both of these teams had to work hard to earn it, and I respect that a great deal. When the Aggies have the ball, they bring an OER of just 91, good for 162nd out of 261, meaning they only score 9.1 points for every 10 points their opponents normally allow. But they face a Bowling Green DER of just 85 (203rd), meaning the Falcons give up 10 points for every 8.5 their opponents normally score. On the flip side, the Falcons have an OER of just 89 (168th) but will face a below average DER of 88 (130th). Somebody in this game is going to step up and have a career game; it just feels that way. Vegas sees Bowling Green -3.5 as the winner and the GCR agrees 55.1% and to cover.
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That’s it for today, the 9th bowl day and last to only provide one game (at least until the championship games). The summary for today is below. Thanks for reading and sharing with others, as always. Your sharing this year means we’ve had steady growth all season, and I really appreciate it, G.
| Time | Away | Conf Rec | Home | Conf Rec | Vegas | GCR | To Cover |
| December 26, 2022 | Quick Lane Bowl | Detroit | |||||
| 2:30 | New Mexico St (6-6/138) | IND (2-0) | Bowling Green (6-6/99) | MAC (5-3) | BG -3.5 | BG 55.1% | BG |
