In their inaugural season in the Big 12, UCF Football will face off against ACC foe Georgia Tech in the Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl. Both teams come into this game 6-6, but the way that they reached bowl eligibility couldn’t have been different.
Georgia Tech made it to six wins with about the least conventional way of getting to bowl eligibility. There were a few predictable wins against teams like Virginia and South Carolina State, as well as predictable losses against Georgia and Florida State. However, the rest of their schedule made no sense with losses to Boston College and Bowling Green but wins against ranked North Carolina and Miami. In other words, it was almost impossible to predict how a game would go for the Yellow Jackets.
UCF Football on the other hand was for the most part pretty predictable. Outside of a 45-3 head scratching win against Oklahoma State which was probably more the result of a letdown game in the rain after the Cowboys beat Oklahoma, UCF pretty much followed the script beating the teams worse than them and losing to the teams with better records.
That leads us to an interesting matchup. UCF is favored by Vegas, but with both teams at 6-6, and seeing how both of their seasons have played out, this may be a game to enjoy watching rather than betting on, particularly if betting on the over/under.
Players Not Playing for Georgia Tech vs UCF Football
Neither team is going to be without a major player such as a starting quarterback or leading rusher/tackler. Both sides do have quite a few players in the transfer portal, but it likely won’t make a noticeable difference in the final score unless injuries start to make a difference.
How to Watch:
6:30 PM EST on ESPN/ESPN+
Prediction
As I mentioned before, if you were thinking of putting money on this game, it is a very risky option. This is one of the few games this bowl season that I’ve looked at multiple times and predicted a different winner each time.
After looking at the strengths of each team, and looking at the shear amount of luck that Georgia Tech needed just to get to a bowl game, I believe that UCF will ultimately have just enough to win the game.
Final Score: UCF 32, Georgia Tech 28
