Famous Toastery Bowl – Western Kentucky vs Old Dominion

This December 18, 2023 College Football Bowl Game Famous Toastery Bowl

Famous Toastery Bowl
Western Kentucky vs Old Dominion
Charlotte, North Carolina
12/18/23 – 2:30pm EST

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Monday AFTERNOON Football

Where I’m writing this from, it’s rainy, dreary and cold. Possibly the worst type of Monday you could want. Work is dragging on and the long week before Christmas has begun. But there is salvation today on this boring Monday. We got a bowl game…at 2:30 pm. What better way to break up the day?

It’s Western Kentucky vs Old Dominion in the Famous Toastery Bowl. Sure, it’s not the most glamorous of bowl games and certainly doesn’t feature the best teams of college football. But are you going to complain? It’s still football baby.

Star QB out for WKU

WKU QB Austin Reed will not be playing and will be sitting out the bowl game today moving the line towards Old Dominion.

Season Stats

Western Kentucky finished with a record of 7-5 in Conference USA, ending with back to back wins. The Hilltoppers averaged almost 30 points per game while letting up an average of 28.17 to their opponents. WKU averaged a solid 5.9 yards per play as well, showing their offense was able to[ move the ball efficiently this season. When the Hilltoppers reached the redzone, they converted, going 33 for 35. One of the more interesting stats for Western Kentucky was their 3rd down and 4th down conversion rates. The team only converted 41% of their 3rd downs, not a sign of a great squad, no, but managed to convert 60% of their 4th downs. Pretty strange but something to keep an eye on.

Old Dominion had a rough season going 6-6 and only averaging 22.92 points per game while letting up an average of 26.25. The offense, and winning was hard to come by this season for ODU, but this afternoon they get a chance to finish the season on a high note in the Famous Toastery Bowl. QB play for ODU wasn’t as flashy as it could be as the team averaged only 200 passing yards per game and finished the year with 19 passing touchdowns. Looking at their 3rd down conversion rate you’ll see it was pretty abysmal at 35.84%. That simply isn’t going to cut it. If there is a bright spot for this team it may be the rushing defense. ODU let up an average of only 3.6 yards per rush. WKU averaged 4 yards per rush, so it will be interesting to see if ODU can limit that even more today.

Trends/Odds

ODU is the favorite at -230 while WKU is listed at +188. The spread is 6.5 here while the o/u is set at 51.5 points. Both these teams have not put up a ton of points this year and without WKU QB Austin Reed, its hard to bet on WKU pulling this out. WKU has won 6 of their 7 games against ODU back when they both played in the same conference. But this is a different team. If you have been following HAppy Hour, you’ll know I am more of a hockey guy so take my prediction with a grain of salt but after researching these two teams and with the news of WKU playing without their top QB, I have to go with under 51.5 points at -115. If you parlay that with ODU money line at -230 you’ll even get plus money.

Thank you for reading and as always, bet responsibly!

This is an article written by Dylan "Mogo" Montgomery