The college football bowl season gets underway this Friday, and in the second of a two-game card, we’ve got the UTSA Roadrunners (11-2, 8-0 C-USA) battling the Troy Trojans (11-2, 7-1 Sun Belt) in the Duluth Trading Cure Bowl.
Kickoff from Exploria Stadium in Orlando, Florida, is scheduled for 3:00 pm EST and will be broadcast on ESPN immediately following the HomeTown Lenders Bahamas Bowl.
This will mark the first-ever meeting on the gridiron between these two programs, both of whom finished in the Top-25 of the College Football Playoff Rankings.
Let’s dive into this matchup and reveal our UTSA vs Troy best bets.
UTSA Roadrunners vs. Troy Trojans
- Date: Friday, December 16, 2022
- Time: 3:00 p.m.
- Venue: Exploria Stadium
- Location: Orlando, Florida
How to Watch: ESPN
Last Game Records
UTSA capped off a perfect conference slate with a 21-point victory over North Texas in the Conference USA Championship back on December 2. It gave the Roadrunners their second straight 11+ win season and second consecutive conference crown.
Frank Harris added an exclamation point to his incredible campaign by totaling 390 yards through the air and on the ground and accounting for four touchdowns in the win.
The Roadrunners covered as 8.5-point favorites, with the combined points reaching 75, going over the posted total of 70.
Not to be outdone, and why this bowl matchup is quite compelling, Troy marched through their conference schedule without a blemish and put the finishing touches on it with a blowout win over Coastal Carolina in the Sun Belt Championship on December 3.
The Trojans won by 19 (though they led by 32 after three quarters), covering 6.5-point chalk and the 71 points went way over the final posted total of 49.
UTSA Roadrunners vs. Troy Trojans Betting Analysis
The Roadrunners are riding a 10-game winning streak, with their last taste of defeat coming on September 17.
Their only losses on the season, as a matter of fact, came to the likes of Houston in the season opener and national power Texas.
After the three-touchdown defeat to the Longhorns, UTSA ran the table to give them a tie for the third-longest active winning streak in the FBS.
Ironically, they’re tied with the team they’re about to square off against in the Cure Bowl. It’s been a wild ride for UTSA Roadrunners football players in 2022.
So we buried the lede here a little bit. This is a classic case of whatever you can do, I can do too as Troy enters this matchup, also riding the high of a 10-game winning streak.
The Trojans’ last loss also came on September 17 as they fell to Appalachian State after also dropping their season opener to a Power 5 team in Ole Miss.
Troy did save their best offensive work for last, though, as their two highest-scoring games of the entire season came in their regular-season finale (48-19 win over Arkansas State) and the Sun Belt Conference Championship (45-26 win over the Chanticleers).
Odds Breakdown
Trojans
When looking at UTSA and Troy Trojans predictions, we find that the oddsmakers expect the second bowl game on the NCAAF schedule to be a tightly-contested affair.
The Trojans are 1.5-point favorites in the Cure Bowl with an over/under of 54.5 points.
UTSA
The one discernable difference among all the similarities that we’ve pointed out is that despite both teams entering with identical records, Troy Trojans is 10-3 ATS this season, while UTSA is just 7-6. Continue reading for our UTSA vs Troy best bets.
UTSA vs. Troy Betting Pick and Prediction
This has the makings of one of the best under-the-radar NCAAF games during bowl season, and it’s almost a shame it’s so early.
Look at the NCAAF standings and find both of these teams at the top of their respective conferences. There are no notable college football injuries to report among these two programs.
The other storyline to watch is that this matchup will pit the Conference USA Most Valuable Player against the Sun Belt Conference Defensive Player of the Year against one another.
UTSA Frank Harris (40 total touchdowns) leads the Roadrunners against Troy LB Carlton Martial, who broke the Sun Belt and NCAA record for most career tackles.
Harris recently announced that he would return for a 7th season at UTSA after securing a new NIL deal despite owning 34 school records during his tenure.
But he’ll be up against his toughest test since going up against mighty Texas as Troy boasts the eighth-best scoring defense in the country, allowing just five schools to break 100 rushing yards, tied for the third-most in the nation this year.
Both teams have been scoring in bunches lately, but it will be Troy’s defense that ultimately gives them the edge. Here are our UTSA vs Troy best bets for the Duluth Trading Cure Bowl.
NCAAF Pick: Troy -1.5
NCAAF Pick: Over 54.5
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