The college football regular season is over, and for many, that means the fun is just beginning. That means the 2022 bowl season is on tap and many college football bowl confidence pools will be popping up. This is when you assign a number to each of the bowl games, and the higher the number then the more confidence you have in the result of that game. The first bowl game kicks off Friday, Dec. 16, as the UAB Blazers will take on the Miami (OH) RedHawks in the 2022 Bahamas Bowl.
This is just one of 21 bowl games involving schools from outside of the Power 5 conferences. It can be difficult to evaluate these programs with lesser name recognition, but fortunately, there’s someone who specializes in knowing these lower-tier teams. Assigning the right values to these games could make or break your college football pick’em pools. Before entering any college football bowl confidence pools, be sure to see the college football picks from SportsLine’s Matt Severance.
Matt Severance is a well-connected writer and handicapper who has worked in the industry since 2005. He wrapped up the 2022 college football regular season as one of SportsLine’s top experts, ending the year on a 20-8 run on his college football picks, returning over $1,100 to $100 bettors during that span. Anybody who followed him saw some huge returns.
So before filling out your college football pool picks, you need to see Severance’s college football bowl picks. He has analyzed each bowl matchup and ordered every game by level of confidence. He’s only sharing his final picks over at SportsLine.
Top college football bowl confidence predictions
One of the top 2022-23 college football bowl confidence picks from Severance: He likes the No. 15Â Oregon Ducks to knock off the North Carolina Tar Heels in the 2022 Holiday Bowl on Dec. 28 at 8 p.m. ET.
Only two Power 5 quarterbacks have at least 3,000 passing yards and 500 rushing yards this season, and both will be playing in this game. Bo Nix played through pain down the stretch to power a Ducks offense that ranks ninth nationally in scoring and defeated Pac-12 champion Utah in the regular season. Oregon is also opportunistic on the other side of the ball as it tied for fifth in the country in interceptions per game.
That team balance is what Carolina lacks despite the presence of QB Drake Maye. His otherworldly talents had the Tar Heels at 9-1 after 10 games, but the defense did them in afterward. UNC gave up 21 points, then 30 and then 39 over its last three to close out the season. Maye and Nix may cancel each other out, and Oregon has the stronger team outside the QBs, so Severance is rolling with the Ducks.
“UNC quarterback Drake Maye is a stud and might be the first overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, but the Heels just don’t play any defense and enter on a three-game skid,” Severance told SportsLine.” See who else to pick here.
How to make college football bowl confidence picks Â
Severance also is extremely high on an extremely overlooked team that is set to knock off an SEC powerhouse. Picks like these could be the difference between winning your 2022 bowl confidence pool and going home empty-handed. You can see who it is, and get every pick, for every game at SportsLine.
So which teams should you rank in which order in your football confidence pools? And what team outside a Power 5 conference do you need to be all-in on? Visit SportsLine to see the full college football bowl confidence picks, and see what teams won’t disappoint, all from the No. 1 college football expert who crushed sportsbooks this season.
