RUTGERS -2.5

Rutgers has been a great bowl team in recent years under head coach Greg Schiano. He has won three straight bowl games, with his teams posting dominant performances in all of those games. They have been well prepared and focused for the post season during his tenure. Schiano should have no problem having his team put out a strong effort in this game because of their poor performance to end the season. They failed to show up against West Virginia, losing in their final game, and they also played horribly at lowly Syracuse two weeks earlier. Meanwhile, Central Florida had a tough time when they were asked to step up against better competition. They were dominated by Miami and Texas, as well as losing to Conference USA opponents East Carolina and Southern Mississippi. Central Florida’s weakness is their pass defense, and I feel that Rutgers will be able to take advantage of the Knights secondary with freshman quarterback Tom Savage. Overall I feel that the Big East is slightly under-rated as a conference while the Conference USA is over-rated. The Big East has also done well in bowl games over the last few years. Look for Rutgers to get the win and cover.

4 UNIT SELECTION RUTGERS.