Bowl Game Pick 'Em: The Writers Pick The Bowls Pt. 1

Our college football staff picks every game against the spread for the first week of bowl season, where BYU's Zach Wilson headlines a matchup against UCF in what should be the best game of the opening stanza.
Bowl Game Pick 'Em: The Writers Pick The Bowls Pt. 1
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Despite cancellations, opt-outs, and a nonsensical snub of a nine-win Army team,  we have a fun bowl season ahead of us that kicks off Monday at the Myrtle Beach Bowl. As is tradition, we polled our college football staff for their picks against the spread for every game. 

The change this year is that we'll be releasing these picks in two parts as there was a less-than 24-hour turnaround between the final bowl announcements and the start of bowl season. This article will cover this week's bowl games and the second part, which covers the remaining bowl games, will drop in the coming days. 

  • All picks are against the spread
  • Losing picks are noted as such
  • Pushes are italicized
excited arrested development GIF
FavoriteSpreadUnderdogJohn McKechnieJohn EarleyJeff EdgertonChris MorganGreg VaraJesse Siegel
Appalachian State-19North TexasAPPUNTUNTAPPUNTUNT
Tulane-3NevadaNEVTULNEVNEVTULNEV
BYU-4UCFBYUUCFBYUBYUUCFBYU
Georgia Southern-4.5Louisiana TechLTLTLTGSULTGSU
Memphis-10FAUMEMFAUMEMMEMFAUMEM
Houston-11.5HawaiiHAWHOUHOUHAWHAWHOU
Georgia State-5Western KentuckyGASTWKUGASTWKUWKUWKU
         
Record  6-10-74-3 6-11-64-3
FavoriteSpreadUnderdogChris BennettNick GraysNick WhalenSeth GrossmanChris BenzineErik Helm
Appalachian State-19North TexasUNTUNTUNTAPPUNTAPP
Tulane-3NevadaTULNEVTULNEVNEVTUL
BYU-4UCFBYUBYUBYUBYUBYUBYU
Georgia Southern-4.5Louisiana TechLTGSULTLTLTLT
Memphis-10FAUMEMMEMMEMMEMMEMMEM
Houston-11.5HawaiiHOUHAWHAWHAWHAWHAW
Georgia State-5Western KentuckyGASTGASTGASTWKUWKUWKU
         
Record  3-46-14-35-24-34-3
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Bennett covers baseball, college football and college basketball for RotoWire. Before turning to fantasy writing, he worked in scouting/player development for the Atlanta Braves and Montreal Expos. He's also a fan of the ACC.
Chris is the college football editor and the Kansas City Chiefs beat writer. He's a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Jeff has provided sports content for numerous sports outlets and has played fantasy sports since scores had to be tabulated via newspaper. He started working with RotoWire in 2017. Originally from South Carolina, he's a lifelong Clemson fan now enjoying the sun in Los Angeles.
Grays covers college football for RotoWire by night and is a Financial Analyst by day.
Erik is a former RotoWire contributor.
John is the 2016 and 2021 FSWA College Writer of the Year winner. He is a Maryland native and graduate of the University of Georgia. He's been writing for RotoWire since 2014.
Chris Morgan is a writer of sports, pop culture, and humor articles, a book author, a podcaster, and a fan of all Detroit sports teams.
Siegel covers college football, college basketball and minor league baseball for RotoWire. He was named College Sports Writer of the Year by the Fantasy Sports Writers Association.
Vara is the lead golf writer at RotoWire. He was named the FSWA Golf Writer of the Year in 2005 and 2013. He also picks college football games against the spread in his "College Capper" article.
Now in his 10th year with the company, Nick is RotoWire's Senior Media Analyst, a position he took on after several years as the Head of Basketball Content. A multi-time FSGA and FSWA award winner, Nick co-hosts RotoWire's flagship show on Sirius XM Fantasy alongside Jeff Erickson, as well as The RotoWire NBA Show on Sirius XM NBA with Alex Barutha. He also co-hosts RotoWire's Football and Basketball podcasts. You can catch Nick's NBA and NFL analysis on VSiN and DraftKings, as well as RotoWire's various social and video channels. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @wha1en.
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