After the pandemic forced a shortened postseason last year, the 2021-22 college football bowl schedule is back to full strength. And with a couple weeks of turnaround time between bowl announcements and the first kickoff on Dec. 17, college football bowl confidence pools are back in full swing. These are the contests that have players pick the outright winner in each bowl game and assign a confidence number to each pick. The higher the number, the more confidence in that team winning.
You might have seen teams like Alabama, Georgia, Michigan and Notre Dame play this season. But how will they fare in the postseason, and what about the Group of Five teams you might not be as familiar with? Before making your college football predictions for bowl season, be sure to see the bowl confidence pool picks from SportsLine’s proven computer model.
The SportsLine Projection Model simulates every FBS college football game 10,000 times. Over the past five-plus years, the proprietary computer model has generated a stunning profit of almost $3,700 for $100 players on its top-rated college football picks against the spread. It also enters the 2021-22 college football bowl season on a 43-29 run on all top-rated college football side picks. Anyone who has followed it has seen huge returns.
Now it has simulated each matchup on the 2021-22 college football bowl schedule 10,000 times and assigned a confidence rating to each game. You can only see all the college football bowl picks over at SportsLine.
Top college football bowl confidence predictions
One of the top 2021-22 college football bowl confidence picks from the model: No. 25 Texas A&M beats No. 17 Wake Forest in the Gator Bowl at 11 a.m. ET on Dec. 31. The Aggies fell short of some lofty preseason expectations, but they still pieced together a solid 8-4 season with a 4-4 mark in the rugged SEC West. They won five of their last seven games, a run that included a victory over top-ranked Alabama.
Wake Forest had an impressive season-long profile that included a 10-3 record and an ACC Atlantic Division title. But the Demon Deacons lost three of their last five games, including 20-plus points setbacks against Clemson and Pittsburgh. Texas A&M’s defense gave up just 15.9 points per game this season, and SportsLine’s model is projecting that it does a great job limiting Wake Forest’s high-powered offense attack. Texas A&M wins in 70.4 percent of simulations, making it the computer’s ninth-most confident pick.
Another one of the bowl confidence predictions the model is high on: Hugh Freeze’s Liberty Flames beat the Eastern Michigan Eagles in the LendingTree Bowl at 5:45 p.m. ET on Dec. 18. Liberty struggled down the stretch, losing its final three games. Level of competition needs to be considered, however. Those three losses came against Ole Miss, Louisiana and Army, and those teams lost six games combined this season.
The Flames have an NFL-caliber quarterback in Malik Willis who will be motivated to put on a show for scouts. Eastern Michigan, meanwhile, went just 7-5 against a weaker schedule than what Liberty faced. Liberty wins in almost 70 percent of simulations, making it a strong choice for college football bowl pool picks.
How to make college football bowl confidence picks
The model has also made the call on who wins every other bowl game. There are four teams that win at least 75 percent of the time, so you need to go big on these matchups, as well as multiple underdogs that win outright. You can get all the model’s picks over at SportsLine.
So who wins every college football bowl game? And which matchups should you assign the most confidence points to? Visit SportsLine to see the full college football bowl confidence picks, all from the model that is up almost $3,700 for $100 players on its top-rated college football spread picks over the past five-plus season, and find out.