The College Football Playoff semifinals are wrapped up, and the championship game is still a week away, but there are still college football bowl games to hold you down in the meantime. Monday's college football bowl schedule features four contests -- highlighted by two New Year's Six games as USC vs. Tulane takes place in the Cotton Bowl Classic before Penn State vs. Utah occurs at the Rose Bowl. The two Pac-12 teams are the respective favorites as USC is a 2-point favorite, per Caesars Sportsbook, while Utah is 1.5-point favorite in the latest college football odds.
Elsewhere on Monday's slate is a pair of SEC vs. Big Ten contests. Mississippi State (-2.5) will be playing in the memory of Mike Leach as it takes on Illinois in the ReliaQuest Bowl, which was formerly known as the Outback Bowl. Additionally, LSU (-13.5) will take on Purdue, and that large spread is sure to attract plenty of college football bets. Before locking in any college football picks for Monday's action, be sure to see the college football bowl predictions and best bets for Jan. 2 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 over the past three-plus years, he is 127-124 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 Monday 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 Jan. 2, 2023
One of Sallee's top college football picks for bowl action on Monday: He's backing No. 7 Utah as 1.5-point favorites versus No. 9 Penn State in the 2023 Rose Bowl at 5 p.m. ET.
The Nittany Lions played just two ranked teams all year and they lost both of those games by double-digits. Meanwhile, the Utes are much more battle-tested, going 2-2 versus their ranked opponents including a dominant Pac-12 Championship Game win over a highly-motivated USC squad.
Utah has a decided advantage in the run game as the team ranked in the top 10 nationally in both rushing yards per game (220.2) and yards per carry (5.5). Five different players rushed for at least 360 yards and four touchdowns, so it has a multitude of options to throw at PSU. Meanwhile, Penn State allowed 258 rushing yards per game in its losses, compared to 74.5 yards in its wins, so ground-and-pound is the key to success versus the Nittany Lions, and Sallee sees that as the path for Utah to cover.
"This one will come down to the trenches, and that's Utah's music -- especially after a month to recover from the regular season," Sallee told SportsLine. "What's more, the Utes will be extremely motivated to get their Rose Bowl win after last season's heartbreaker. The Utes have covered in four of their last five games, and that will continue against a Penn State team that isn't capable of matching up in the trenches or on the outside." See who else to back at SportsLine.
How to make college football picks for Jan. 2, 2023
Sallee has also found two other college football picks he's high on, including one in a game with a "deflated" line. You can only see his CFB picks at SportsLine.
What are the best bets for college football bowl action on Monday? 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.
