Beef O'Brady's Bowl 2012: Complete Gambling Guide for UCF vs. Ball State

The 2012 Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl will be taking place in St. Petersburg, Florida on Friday, December 21 at 7:30 p.m. ET, and promises to be an exciting matchup between the UCF Knights and Ball State Cardinals.

In order to make this early bowl game even more thrilling, it’s always a great idea to place a friendly—or serious, if that’s your cup of tea—bet on the action.

Let’s take a look at the best bets to make in this postseason showdown between two great teams.

*Point spread and over/under courtesy of ScoresAndOdds.com

Point Spread: Ball State (+7) over UCF

We’re going with the Cardinals in this matchup of at-large conference opponents. They put together a solid season in the tough MAC, with their three losses coming to Clemson (ranked No. 12 at the time), Kent State (by two points, and who finished No. 25 in the BCS rankings) and Northern Illinois (MAC champions, and making a BCS Orange Bowl appearance).

This group has shown the ability to hang with anyone and has also covered the spread in three of their last four matchups, while UCF has only beaten a spread in one of their past four.

We believe Ball State has a great chance to win this one straight up, which is currently available at plus-240 on the moneyline—not a bad investment if you think this underdog will cover in the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl.

  

Over/Under: Over 61.5

Take the over in this contest.

Both teams are highly capable of putting points on the board (Ball St. averages 35.0 per game, while UCF is just ahead of them with 35.2), and neither play elite defense (the Cardinals allow 31.5 per game, with the Knights conceding 22.5).

With such an extended time period off, we believe that both these potent offenses will have the advantage against creaky defenses trying to shake the rust off after not playing for nearly a month.

If you have any further doubts, just know that the Knights have gone over in five of their past six contests and that the 22.5 points allowed number is a bit skewed due to their lesser competition.

BSU and UCF will both score at will in this one.