Picking Every Bowl: Gator Bowl, Wake Forest vs. Rutgers

TaxSlayer Gator Bowl
December 31
Wake Forest (10-3) vs. Rutgers (5-7), TIAA Bank Field, Jacksonville, Fla., 11 a.m., ESPN
Wake Forest -16.5 – O/U 63

This is one of two games that almost wasn’t (the other being today’s Sun Bowl). After Texas A&M pulled out of the game with COVID-19 issues, Rutgers was hurriedly lined up to take the Aggies’ place. The difference should be glaring. A&M was a favorite in this game, while Rutgers enters as a 16.5-point underdog, and rightfully so. Good teams both ran the score up on the Scarlet Knights AND shut down their offense. The latter won’t be a problem today, because Wake Forest lacks any semblance of a defense. The Demon Deacons gave up 34 or more points seven times this year, including in all three of their losses. That said, Rutgers may have theworst offense Wake Forest has seen all year (and that includes FCS cannon fodder Norfolk State). And the Deacons have the second-best offense Rutgers has seen all year (the other being Ohio State). If Wisconsin can put up 52 on the Knights, you can bet that Wake Forest will be on the march all day. Rutgers will be motivated to be in the game, and that may keep them close for a while, but this will be the Deacons’ day.
Prediction: Wake Forest 48-24
Result: Wake Forest 38-10

Record:
Bowl season: SU – 19-10; ATS – 16-13-0; O/U – 13-16-0
Overall: SU – 611-191; ATS – 383-333-6; O/U – 344-366-12

About Douglas Blaine

Capnpen is a writer who was a newspaper and magazine journalist in a previous life. A college journalism major, he now works as an English teacher, but gets his writing fix by blogging about a variety of topics, including politics, religion, movies and television. When he's not working or blogging, Capnpen spends time with his family, plays a little golf (badly) and loves to learn about virtually anything.

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