Mike Kern's Monday College Bowl Picks: W. Michigan vs W. Kentucky, Illinois vs Cal, Mississippi St. vs Louisville

There are four bowl games on Monday. We’re going to dip into three of them, but lightly. We’re off to a really good start to the postseason, and don’t want to throw a crimp into it in one day. Especially when we’ve still got so many more opportunities to come.

That being said, let’s look at …

Western Michigan and Western Kentucky to go under 54

Both these teams can play defense. So if the game doesn’t get past the mid 20s we should have a decent chance to make it work. Other than that I probably couldn’t name two players on either team (or the coaches, for that matter). That’s why I said in the beginning to not get too carried away. It’s just something to help keep you occupied before New Year’s.

Illinois (+6.5) over Cal

Again, both these teams can stop their opponents. So if it’s a low-scoring matchup, taking almost a touchdown might not be such a bad thing. Illinois won eight times, which was pretty good for a team that wasn’t supposed to do much. And Cal had some moments, both ways. I just think this could be a somewhat ugly one, and hopefully a close one.

Mississippi State (-4.5) over Louisville

The Bulldogs can run the ball, and the Cards have had trouble stopping the other guys from doing so. Mostly on that, I’ll take a shot that former Penn State offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead can score enough to get the job done against a Louisville team that was better than most anticipated this year.

I don’t have a strong opinion on the Florida-Virginia Orange Bowl, since I don’t think Virginia has a real shot at winning. And I have no idea how the Gators are going to feel about being in this game, even though it is an in-stater. The Cavs got killed by Clemson in the ACC final, and who knows how they’ll come back off of that. If you put a gun to my head I would probably take UVA to stay just close enough. Maybe even get one of those backdoor covers. But I’m not in love with this.

See you soon with the New Year’s Eve and Jan. 1 card.

And would somebody please tell me where that decade went? Just saying.

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