The 2022-23 college football bowl season continues with three more games on Thursday. Syracuse will take on Minnesota in the 2022 Pinstripe Bowl at 2 p.m. ET, Oklahoma will take on No. 13 Florida State in the 2022 Cheez-It Bowl at 5:30 p.m. ET and No. 20 Texas will take on No. 12 Washington in the 2022 Alamo Bowl at 9 p.m. ET. All six programs are from Power Five conferences with three teams ranked inside the top 20, but which sides should you be backing as you place your college football bets for Thursday?
The latest college football bowl odds from Caesars Sportsbook list Minnesota (-10), Florida State (-9.5) and Texas (-3) as the favorites but underdogs are 13-12 against the spread this bowl season. Meanwhile, Unders are 16-8-1 but does that mean that it's time to hammer the Over and expect correction as you make your college football bowl predictions? Before locking in any college football picks for Thursday's action, be sure to see the college football bowl predictions and best bets for Dec. 29 from Barrett Sallee.
Sallee is a true insider -- a CBS Sports analyst, SiriusXM host, Heisman voter and consistently one of the top CBS Sports experts picking games against the spread -- and his best bets have helped bring in huge returns. He debuted with SportsLine in 2017 and has delivered a profitable record on his college football picks. Over the past three-plus years, he is 124-118 in his popular best bets column at SportsLine.
Now, Sallee has turned his attention to the college football odds from Caesars for bowl action on Thursday and locked in his top three best bets over at SportsLine. If you parlay them together, you could be looking at a return of around 6-1. Get his top college football picks right here.
Top college football expert predictions for Dec. 29, 2022
One of Sallee's top college football picks for bowl action on Thursday: Washington (+3) covers against Texas in the 2022 Alamo Bowl at 9 p.m. ET.
Texas will have the advantage of playing roughly 90 minutes from campus in San Antonio and it will largely play as a home game, but this is a bad matchup stylistically for the Longhorns. Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. led the nation in passing this year, throwing for 4,354 yards and 29 touchdowns with just seven interceptions. He threw for at least 300 yards in all but two games this season.
Meanwhile, the Longhorns allowed four different opponents to throw for at least 300 yards against them and the dynamic passing offenses of Texas Tech and Oklahoma State gave them particular difficulty. Texas has also thrown for 200 yards or less in five of its last six games and, without Bijan Robinson (opt-out), it might not have the offensive arsenal to go blow-for-blow with the Huskies.
"This spread has shot down since the moment that this game was announced and it's because the world finally woke up and realized just how dangerous this Huskies offense is. (Penix) led the nation in passing and Longhorns quarterback Quinn Ewers, while talented, hasn't topped the 200-yard mark since Oct. 22," Sallee told SportsLine. "Penix will force Ewers into a shootout and Ewers won't be up for the challenge. Take the points but consider a money line sprinkle on this one." See who else to back at SportsLine.
How to make college football picks for Dec. 29, 2022
Sallee has also found two other college football picks he's high on, including one where he is expecting a coming-out party for a 2023 Heisman Trophy candidate. You can only see his CFB picks at SportsLine.
What are the best bets for college football bowl action on Thursday? And which college football picks need to be part of your parlays? Visit SportsLine now to see Barrett Sallee's college football best bets, all from one of the top analysts in the nation who has crushed his picks for SportsLine, and find out.
