With the 2009 college football bowl games set to begin this upcoming weekend, SBR.tv's Peter Loshak and SBR moderator and stat modeling expert Justin7 discussed some of the unique handicapping factors and betting strategies associated with bowl games.
The long break between the last week of regular season games and the bowl games is of course a key factor which introduces a host of issues to consider. Injury-plagued teams can regain health, coaching staffs can fine tune their preparations, and even the length of time that the lines are available for betting can affect the search for value.
A number of intangible factors can also come into play, such as the relative "satisfaction" each team has with its season and bowl assignment.
And there is also of course the usual assortment of platitudinous betting systems and nuggets of conventional wisdom surrounding bowls, such as betting on big dogs in pre-New Year’s Day games, fading teams with relatively weak regular season strength of schedule ratings, and leaning to the over in all bowls in general.
Justin and Loshak touch on most of these subjects, and address a specific thread of interest from the forum at SBR as well.