Nevada vs. Southern Miss

The Sheraton Hawaii Bowl sends Nevada and Southern Mississippi off the mainland to clash on Christmas Eve. Southern Miss did the unthinkable in the Conference USA Championship game, taking down then unbeaten Houston on the road by three TDs. That game could leave them a bit flat here as the Golden Eagles have already laid a couple of eggs this season vs. UAB and Marshall, and narrowly got by Central Florida by 1 point and Louisiana Tech by 2 points. Many thought that the Wolfpack offense would take a giant step backward this season because of graduation and the departure of Colin Kaepernick, but that wasn't the case at all. While Houston was a pass-first offense, the Wolfpack have been very balanced once again, generating over 3,000 yards in the air and over 2,800 on the ground. Their 7-5 record does not look threatening until you consider that three of the losses were to Boise State, Oregon and Texas Tech by a single point. If you reversed the schedules you might see reverse records here as well for these teams. I think this one is a dead heat and going to the wire, so that makes the points extremely valuable. The Wolfpack are 8-3 ATS following a 20+ point win in their previous game, while the Golden Eagles have struck out in their last four vs. the WAC at 0-4 ATS. Under Chris Ault, NEvada is 12-3 ATS follwoing a game in which they scored 50+ points. Play on Nevada in this one.