Kansas State at Syracuse

Syracuse used to be a Bowl mainstay but the program had recently done a belly-flop. Now the Orangemen appear to be heading back into a relevant program. The Cuse used a #5 ranked defense to supply most of their wins this season as their offense struggled all season, most notably down the stretch. The Cuse offense has been pathetic as they managed 14 or less points in five of their 12 games. Their offense is ranked #106 in the nation. Over the last two games they tallied a grand total of 13 points, and over the last three, just 26. That is under 9 points per game, so no matter how good the defense is, they are very likely to struggle here. Not many teams make it to a Bowl game scoring 7 or less in their previous two games, and the ones that have cover the pointspread just 30% of the time. Kansas State has a big weapon in Daniel Thomas who rushed for just shy of 1,500 yards on the season (9th in the nation). The Wildcats have gone 12-5 ATS in the game following a 200+ rushing yards performance. They are also 5-1 ATS after scoring 40+ in their last game. My computer matchup likes Kansas State to win here and I agree. Play the Wildcats.