College Football Best Bets, Odds, Picks, & Player Props for Dec. 30
It's almost New Year's Day, which means we're gearing towards the end of bowl season and about to jump into the quarterfinals of the College Football Playoff. But, as Lee Corso would say, "Not so fast!" as we have three college football bowl games on tap tonight.
The action starts with the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl, with Louisiana Tech playing at their home stadium against Coastal Carolina. Then, we have another big school playing close to home as Illinois and Tennessee face off in the Liberty Mutual Music City Bowl at Nissan Stadium, home of the Tennessee Titans.
Finally, it's a trip to the famous Alamodome for the Valero Alamo Bowl between #16 USC and TCU.
With all this high-flying college football action on tap, make sure you head over to our favorite college football betting sites to lock in the best prices before you finalize your wagers.
Without further ado, let's talk about our college football best bets for today, December 30.
Game Lines
Coastal Carolina vs. Louisiana Tech -10.5 (-106)
🏈Odds via FanDuel📈
Remarkably, they allow teams like Coastal Carolina to participate in bowl games. While the Chanticleers finished the regular season at 6-6, making themselves bowl eligible, five of their losses were by 38 points or more. In fact, they allowed an average of about 52 points per game in their final three losses of the season. I mean, this team barely beat Charleston Southern, an FCS school that finished 5-7.
If that weren't bad enough, two of their starting offensive lineman entered the transfer portal, and a third starting offensive lineman was injured in the season finale.
Sure, Louisiana Tech aren't the best school in the world, and their top two quarterbacks have been injured for some time. Yes, they'll be without four of their defensive starters due to the transfer portal. However, they're still plenty good offensively and should run the ball down Coastal Carolina's throat all day. Plus, they're at home. Slam this one.
Bet $5 Get $300 in Bonus Bets If Your Bet Wins! Tennessee -3.5 vs. Illinois (-105)
🏈Odds via DraftKings 📈
Though Tennessee has already seen three of its players opt out, declaring for the NFL draft, they'll still be more than up for this game. In fact, none of the Volunteers have entered the transfer portal, suggesting that they'll be taking this game extremely seriously in front of their own home fans.
Illinois, meanwhile, hardly looked impressive this season, getting blown out by virtually any better team and even losing by 17 to 4-8 Wisconsin. They've seen one of their starting offensive lineman opt out, as well as Gabe Jacas, who had 11 of Illinois' 25 sacks.
The line has already shifted massively in Tennessee's favor, and we expect it to rise to as much as 5 by gametime. We think that they'll smoke Illinois.
#16 USC -6 vs TCU (-112); Under 56.5 (-112)
🏈Odds via Caesars Sportsbook📈
TCU had a very disappointing year after bringing back 15 starters and failing to improve on their record from a season ago. Starting quarterback Josh Hoover has left the program and is rumored to be Indiana's next starting quarterback. Meanwhile, USC starting quarterback Jayden Maiava has decided to run it back next season and will play today, though he'll be missing his top-three pass catchers.
TCU doesn't think they'll lose too much with Ken Seals under center. TCU tight ends coach Mitch Kirsch claims that Seals is "the best backup quarterback in the country."
However, the stats will tell you differently, as Seals put up a career 2-20 record as Vanderbilt's starting quarterback and hasn't started a game since 2023. While it'd be poetic for Seals to ride off into the sunset, we just don't see that happening. Take USC and the under.
Anytime Touchdown Scorers
Trey Kukuk Anytime Touchdown Scorer (-210)
🏈Odds via DraftKings 📈
Over the last two games of the season, Louisiana Tech quarterback Trey Kukuk has been encouraged to use his legs a lot more. The result? 315 yards and five touchdowns on the ground alone in wins over Liberty and Missouri State. Against an incredibly porous Coastal Carolina defense, we expect more of the same. Slam 2+ touchdowns at +255.
Tanook Hines Anytime Touchdown Scorer (-121)
🏈Odds via Caesars Sportsbook📈
We all know that Hines has the ability to ball out, evident by his six-catch, 141-yard performance that saw him score a touchdown against Oregon last month. With USC's top-three receiving options out, Hines becomes the pure number-one receiver today. We fully expect Jayden Maiava to target him early and often today.
Player Props
Tanook Hines Over 80.5 Receiving Yards
🏈Odds via Caesars Sportsbook📈
Hines should be the focal point of the Trojans' offense today. We love some of his alt-lines that you can find via DraftKings, feel free to go as high as you want.
Trey Kukuk Under 149.5 Passing Yards
🏈Odds via Caesars Sportsbook📈
This one feels like our free money bet of the day. Louisiana Tech has shifted their focus and allowed Kukuk to become the natural downhill runner that he is. He finishes his runs with force and has left many wondering why he even bothers throwing the ball at all.
He has over 300 yards and five touchdowns on the ground over his last two games. We think Louisiana Tech will blow Coastal Carolina out, so he may hit this under by coming out of the game early.
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All Odds as of 9:00 a.m. ET on Dec. 30
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