Papajohns.com Bowl - South Carolina Gamecocks vs. UConn Huskies

Connecticut Huskies (7-5) vs. South Carolina Gamecocks (7-5)

Saturday, January 2nd--- Legion Field, Birmingham Ala. --- 2:00pm EST

NCAAF Betting Line: South Carolina -4.5 (51.5)

The UCONN Huskies hope to continue their turnaround season as they travel to Alabama in the heart of SEC country to face the South Carolina Gamecocks in the Papajohns.com Bowl. The January 2 bowl is the second Pizza related bowl, along with the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl, the NCAA has given ups this season, and hopefully hungry college bowl betting fans can turn their dough into some cheddar on thePapajohn.com Bowl.

After Jasper Howard was tragically murdered, the UCONN Huskies could have gone in the tank the rest of the season. However, after losing three straight following Howards murder, the Huskies regained their early season form and closed the season with three in the win column, including a 33-30 win at Notre Dame.

Offensively the Huskies were one of the best in the nation, ranking 20th, and scoring 32.1 a game. They didn’t just run up the scores on weaker opponents, they scored 45 losing to No. 5 Cincinnati, 56 winning over Syracuse and 33 points in an overtime-win over Notre Dame.

They only ranked 40th rushing the ball but tailbacks Jordan Todman and Andre Dixon combined to rush for over 2000 yards on the season and the pair scored 27 touchdowns. Either or both are looking to have a huge game against the Gamecocks.

Connecticut Huskies vs. South Carolina Gamecocks (-4.5) >> Join to Bet Now

Steve Spurrier’s teams are usually offensive masterpieces but the 2009 Gamecocks struggled to score points. South Carolina is a solid passing team but have trouble finding the end zone, managing only 21.8 points a game, ranking them near the bottom of college football. Although they managed to hang 34 on Music City Bowl winner Clemson in the final game of the regular season so there is potential.

On the bright side, defensively South Carolina limited opponents to 20.4 points a game, due in large part to their pass defense which ranked 12th in the nation.

UCONN has a balanced attack but can lean on the run to put points on the board. I don’t know how much of an advantage this will be for the Gamecocks.  Their run defense is average and will have to step it up to limit the damage UCONN’s Todman and Dixon can do but they are capable as they held Alabama to 20 and Florida to 24 points.

UCONN has become a sentimental favorite around the nation because of the Howard tragedy and they have become a college bowl betting fan's favorite after going an incredible 10-2 against the spread this season.  Because the game is an SEC stadium, you could consider a South Carolina home game; at home, the Gamecocks went 6-1.

I think that even if South Carolina can shut down the Huskies high-scoring offense, UCONN should be able to keep the game within a field goal.

BetUS.com Papajohns.com Bowl: UCONN Huskies +4½

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