College football bowl and playoff picks: Legendary Vegas expert reveals best bets

Legendary Vegas handicapper Bruce Marshall reveals the best betting values for the 2025-26 bowl and College Football Playoff schedule

By Daniel Lewis

Dec 15, 2025 at 1:18 pm ET • 3 min read

Imagn Images

The FBS bowl season got started a bit earlier this year with the LA Bowl unfolding this past Saturday. Most of the action is still ahead, however, with at least one bowl on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of this week, leading into first-round College Football Playoff action that begins on Friday. That's when No. 9 Alabama heads to No. 8 Oklahoma in a game where the Tide are 1-point favorites, according to the latest college football odds.

Saturday brings a CFP tripleheader with the latest lines showing No. 7 Texas A&M (-3.5) vs. No. 10 Miami, No. 6 Ole Miss (-17.5) vs. No. 11 Tulane and No. 5 Oregon (-21.5) vs. No. 12 James Madison. Before locking in any college football picks on those games or any others during bowl season, be sure to see the college football betting guide from legendary Vegas handicapper Bruce Marshall.

iNew users can also target the latest Underdog promo code, good for $75 in site credits when you play $5 with the promo code CBSSPORTS2 in select states.

For years Vegas-based Marshall was synonymous with The Gold Sheet, the famous sports betting newsletter. He has also won various handicapping titles and also is working on several book projects. Marshall crushed his 2024 college football betting picks, going 64-43 and returning more than 16 units, finishing the season as SportsLine's top expert. He enters this week on a 8-3 run on his official SportsLine college football over/under picks as well. Anyone following could have seen strong returns.

Now, using his Tech Corner technique that evaluates all the trends, Marshall has turned his attention to the latest college football odds for every bowl and CFP game and evaluated each matchup. You can head to SportsLine to see every pick.

New users can target the DraftKings promo code, which offers $200 in bonus bets if your bet wins:

Top college football bowl predictions

One of the top college football picks Marshall is recommending for the remaining 2025-26 bowl schedule: He is backing Memphis (+5.5) to cover against NC State in the Gasparilla Bowl on Friday, Dec. 19 at 2:30 p.m. ET. Memphis will be without coach Ryan Silverfield, who took the Arkansas job. NC State, however, has more potential opt-outs in this game.

The Tigers struggled down the stretch, but they beat their only Power 4 opponent -- Arkansas -- this season and also have a win over a USF squad that was ranked at the time. The Tigers only had one loss that was by more than one score, so Marshall likes their chances of keeping this one within the number against an NC State squad that hasn't been great in the postseason.

"NC State coach Dave Doeren is 3-6 SU and 4-5 vs. the spread in bowls for NC State, losing last five outright and just 1-4 vs. spread in those five," Marshall told SportsLine. Go to SportsLine to see all of Marshall's picks, and bet that pick right here:

How to make college football conference championship picks

Marshall has evaluated every other matchup, and he's backing a team on an 8-2 spread run. Get betting analysis for each matchup at SportsLine, and use promo code CHAMPIONSHIP to get your first month at SportsLine for $1.

So what college football picks can you make with confidence, and what alarming trends do you need to know about this week? Check out the latest college football odds below, then visit SportsLine to see which teams to back, all from the legendary Vegas expert who has won multiple handicapping titles, and find out.