2026 Senior Bowl: Predictions, & Best Bets for the Annual NFL Draft Audition
Today is the 77th annual Senior Bowl, which will officially wrap up the 2025 college football season. This game features prospects for the upcoming 2026 NFL Draft and is a virtual audition for all of the scouts in attendance.
The National Team will be coached by Philadelphia Eagles assistant coach Clint Hurtt, and the American Team will be coached by New Orleans Saints assistant coach Joel Thomas. The Senior Bowl, hosted at Hancock Whitney Stadium in Mobile, Alabama, will be broadcast on NFL Network.
The South/National team have won seven of the last 10 games, with the American team breaking their four-game winning run last season, taking it down 22-19.
2026 Senior Bowl Game Preview
The Senior Bowl is not about the final score, it's about showcasing prospective talent for the upcoming 2026 NFL Draft. Last season, an incredible 50 players from the Senior Bowl were chosen in the first three rounds of the 2025 NFL Draft, which shows just how much talent is on the field.
It's generally an event where players can see their draft stock massively go up and down as they are in direct competition with their fellow NFL hopefuls throughout an entire week of camp. Last season, North Dakota State's Grey Zabel, an offensive lineman, had such an incredible week that the FCS talent shot up all the way to the first round with the Seattle Seahawks. Zabel, as he has all season, will start for Seattle in the Super Bowl next week.
There's already been plenty of talk around the Senior Bowl, especially when it comes to Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia. He was measured at under five-foot-ten-inches tall, shockingly short for a quarterback, after being listed at six-foot tall at Vanderbilt. Although it's just a couple of inches, that could see Pavia's stock plummet to the point where he may not be drafted at all.
Many notable NFL stars have won Senior Bowl MVP since 2000, including Dak Prescott, Justin Herbert, Brandon Graham, Matt Forte, Philip Rivers, and LaDainian Tomlinson. All 139 players on both teams will be fighting for that prestigious honor.
Betting Odds for the 2026 Senior Bowl via DraftKings
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Spread: American +1.5 (-112) / National -1.5 (-110)
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Moneyline: American -104 / National -120
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Over/Under: 39.5
Odds accurate as of Jan. 31 at 8:00 AM, ET
Game Predictions
It's college football, so while three of the last four Senior Bowls have hit under 40 points, we simply cannot go with the under, even though both the offensive and defensive lines for both sides have been undisputably strong throughout this week of practice.
It's an All-Star game, so betting on the result itself is extremely difficult, as we don't know who is going to be motivated and who is going to stroll through the game. However, in this case, we're going to go with the team that has the better quarterback group. That belongs to the American Roster, who have LSU QB Garrett Nussmeier, along with Arkansas QB Taylen Green, who's obviously the most athletic of the bunch. Illinois QB Luke Altmyer has also looked really impressive during practice this week.
We're not going to pretend like we know what's going to happen, but we're going to give the edge to the American side. We expect very little in the kicking department, as both sides have nothing to lose.
Final Score: American 24 National 21
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