Sugar Bowl Betting on New Years Day – #3 Cincinnati vs. #5 Florida

The Florida Gators were smacked in the teeth in the SEC Championship and just when they were starting to get over the loss, the health of their beloved coach, Urban Meyer, is in enough jeopardy that he may never coach again.

For Tim Tebow’s college swan song and the final game that Meyer will coach for the meantime, the Gators will play with hearts on sleeves in the name of their respected and admired coach. It’s a far cry from where the Bearcats stand, playing in spite of their former head coach who bolted from Cincinnati to take up residence in Notre Dame before they could even celebrate an undefeated regular season.

This game comes down to a number of mitigating factors, but the hardest one to measure is how the pain staking Gators will respond to the news of Meyer’s health and how the Bearcats will react to being jilted by their former coach, Brian Kelly who this bowl betting expert deems a coward and a rat for abandoning his team on the eve of the school’s greatest accomplishment.

Florida -12.5 vs Cincinnati >> Join to Bet Now

Cincinnati has gone just 2-3 ATS in their last 5 games and their sixth ranked offense (39.8 points per game) may suffer with the absence of the type of genius that Kelly brought to the table.

Florida, who is also 2-3 ATS in their last 5 games, will play invigorated after getting blasted by Alabama and dropping to fifth in the BCS standings. This was a team that largely expected to be in the national title game and getting an overrated Cincinnati team on the docket has to be appealing despite a huge spread against the Gators. For Meyer, this game will be a labor of love as his health is dwindling and the Gators will want to give him and Tebow a proper send-off.

Cincinnati Bearcats (12-0) vs. Florida Gators (12-1)

Friday, January 1st
Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans — 8:30pm EST

NCAAF Betting Line: Florida -12.5 (57)

The Bearcats will have to overcome their seething disdain for their former coach, and they won’t be alone. Kelly may be gone but the remainder of the coaching staff remains intact and if the Bearcats can beat Florida, it will stand as the greatest victory in Cincinnati’s history and will end their best season with a serious attention grabber to give them a tougher schedule next season.

However, there’s a reason this spread is so big. The Bearcats toughest opponent was Pittsburgh, and they allowed 44-points against which is more than double what they give on average (20.8 against per game).

Florida’s stiff defense gives up just 11.5 points per game, and their secondary is amongst the best in the league. The pass-heavy offense of the Bearcats will have a tough time scoring on the truckload’s that they have against mid-card level teams.

This is the Gators game to lose and this team is peaking around Tebow’s all-world efforts. I have yet to be thoroughly convinced that Tebow can be a serious threat in the pro ranks, but at the college level he’s made a habit of decimating teams like Cincinnati. It’s been a remarkable season for the Bearcats, but with a deserting coach and the most impossible BCS matchup amongst all of the bowl games, Cincinnati will be sent to the drawing board in the most humiliating way possible.

The Gators will show how to truly play for a coach, while Cincinnati will be sent reeling in the wake of Brain Kelly’s selfish timing.

Furious Free Pick: Florida -12.5 (OVER)