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Sports Interaction betting analyst Frank Doyle considers two teams coming into form at the right time for the Gator Bowl on New Year's Day in his Gambling911.com 2009 Gator Bowl betting preview. Be sure to bet this game at Sportsinteraction.com - Receive a free cash bonus when opening an account online today.
You would have got a big fat price on either Nebraska or Clemson suiting up on New Year's Day if you had looked back on the first of November. Nebraska was 5-4, and on its way back to Lincoln after getting smashed 62-28 by Oklahoma in Norman; Clemson was 4-4, having just stopped a three game losing streak with a win at Boston College.
That win over Boston College was head coach Dabo Swinney's first game in charge. A lot was expected of then head coach Tommy Bowden at the start of the year, but Bowden was immediately put under pressure by an opening home loss to Alabama, 34-10. Clemson won the next three but when the Tigers then lost three straight, to Maryland, Wake Forest and Georgia Tech, Bowden's doom was sealed after ten years in charge, with his own brother even going on the record as saying that resignation was Bowden's only option.
The Tigers are 4-1 so far in the Swinney era, enough for Swinney to be offered the job full time, but in Nebraska Clemson faces college football royalty at the Gator bowl. The Cornhuskers are kings who are eager to regain their throne.
Nebraska has been to forty-four Bowl games since it lost the 1941 Rose Bowl to Stanford. The Huskers feel they belong. Bill Callahan was replaced this year as head coach by Bo Pelini, the former LSU defensive co-ordinator, and Pelini has already brought visible results. Nebraska finished 8-4 for the year, 5-3 in the Big 12 and are ranked 11th in the nation in passing yards. The only reason that quarterback Joe Ganz doesn't have a bigger national profile is because when you play in the same conference as Sam Bradford, Colt McCoy, Chase Daniel and Graham Harrell, Heisman candidates all, it can be hard to find the airtime.
Both schools are going to Jacksonville with their tails up after each winning their last three games. Nebraska has the greater tradition, but Clemson may have the greater momentum, as Dabo Swinney has really inspired the student athletes in his care. But Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini has athletic director Tom Osborne in his corner, and Osborne knows a bit about football too. If Nebraska can protect Joe Ganz from the Clemson rush, Ganz can get it done for the Huskers. Nebraska +2.5 with Sports Interaction is the pick.
Frank Doyle, Gambling911.com
