Bowl Mania Analysis

Game: Bowl Mania
From: ESPN
Link to Play: Bowl Mania

How does it work?: The College Football bowl season runs from the beginning of December until the National Championship game in early January. There are 40+ bowl games that the contestant must select a winner. For Bowl Mania, there are two possible scoring systems that can be chosen. We describe each below.

Strategy: Our numbers in the analysis table are based on the strategy of maximizing score. Thus, we always take the favorites and assign the confidence level by giving the most points to the team with highest odds of winning. In the case of ties, we present the confidence level as the average and leave you to choose which game to assign higher confidence.

How to Play

The college bowl pick’em game can be played under two scoring systems on ESPN. The simplest approach is to make picks for the winner of each game, and you are scored based on the number of correct picks. The second scoring system requires you to both make picks and provide your confidence by ranking the games in the order of most to least likely to be correct. This adds a little more of a twist in the scoring to makes things more interesting.

In our analysis table below, we have provided you with a good starting point for making your own picks. These are our recommended picks based on a combination of odds for each game using DRatings.

For those using the confidence based scoring system, be aware that you must make your pick and confidence before each game begins.

There is obviously some strategy involved in picking confidence since we do not know who will play in the National Championship game. For our pick on that game, we used a weighted average of all the possible scenarios to provide you with the current expectation on who is likely to win in case you want to go ahead and make all your picks and confidence selections now. Of course it’s likely better to wait on this game as far as the winner goes, but you may want to go ahead and lock the confidence position ahead of time or if you’re fully uncertain then you can always make this one have the lowest confidence.

2024-2025 College Football Bowl Mania Predictions

Confidence	Team		Implied Odds		Win Prob
3	Jackson State Tigers	-125	51.9%	48.4%	50.9%
N/A	South Carolina State Bulldogs	-106	48.1%	51.6%	49.2%
41	South Alabama Jaguars	-365	75.8%	77.5%	76.3%
N/A	Western Michigan Broncos	+300	24.2%	22.5%	23.7%
14	Memphis Tigers	-125	53.2%	56.9%	54.3%
N/A	West Virginia Mountaineers	+105	46.8%	43.1%	45.7%
N/A	Western Kentucky Hilltoppers	+235	28.6%	24.8%	27.5%
34	James Madison Dukes	-290	71.4%	75.2%	72.5%
5	California Golden Bears	-125	53.2%	47.8%	51.6%
N/A	UNLV Rebels	+105	46.8%	52.2%	48.4%
29	Georgia Southern Eagles	-200	64.3%	71%	66.3%
N/A	Sam Houston State Bearkats	+170	35.7%	29%	33.7%
11	Ohio Bobcats	-125	53.2%	55.5%	53.9%
N/A	Jacksonville State Gamecocks	+105	46.8%	44.5%	46.1%
N/A	Tulane Green Wave	+350	21.4%	26.7%	23%
43	Florida Gators	-450	78.6%	73.3%	77%
N/A	Indiana Hoosiers	+260	27.4%	28%	27.6%
33	Notre Dame Fighting Irish	-280	72.6%	72%	72.4%
N/A	SMU Mustangs	+280	26%	26.3%	26.1%
39	Penn State Nittany Lions	-300	74%	73.7%	73.9%
N/A	Clemson Tigers	+335	22.3%	20.6%	21.8%
44	Texas Longhorns	-400	77.7%	79.4%	78.2%
N/A	Tennessee Volunteers	+240	28.7%	21.5%	26.5%
37	Ohio State Buckeyes	-270	71.3%	78.5%	73.5%
N/A	Coastal Carolina Chanticleers	+185	33.6%	38.3%	35%
27	UTSA Roadrunners	-225	66.4%	61.7%	65%
8	Northern Illinois Huskies	-125	53.2%	51%	52.5%
N/A	Fresno State Bulldogs	+105	46.8%	49%	47.5%
N/A	South Florida Bulls	+115	44.7%	46.9%	45.4%
16	San Jose State Spartans	-135	55.3%	53.1%	54.6%
35	Pittsburgh Panthers	-320	73.3%	72.3%	73%
N/A	Toledo Rockets	+260	26.7%	27.7%	27%
N/A	Rutgers Scarlet Knights	+235	28.6%	27.8%	28.4%
32	Kansas State Wildcats	-290	71.4%	72.2%	71.6%
N/A	Arkansas State Red Wolves	+185	33.6%	75.5%	46.2%
10	Bowling Green Falcons	-225	66.4%	24.5%	53.8%
38	Oklahoma Sooners	-290	71%	80%	73.7%
N/A	Navy Midshipmen	+230	29%	20%	26.3%
12	Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets	-130	53.7%	54.6%	54%
N/A	Vanderbilt Commodores	+105	46.3%	45.4%	46%
N/A	Texas Tech Red Raiders	+110	45.7%	46.2%	45.9%
13	Arkansas Razorbacks	-130	54.3%	53.8%	54.2%
25	Syracuse Orange	-225	66.4%	58.1%	63.9%
N/A	Washington State Cougars	+185	33.6%	41.9%	36.1%
20	Texas A&M Aggies	-140	56.2%	55.2%	55.9%
N/A	USC Trojans	+120	43.8%	44.8%	44.1%
N/A	Connecticut Huskies	+160	37%	40%	37.9%
24	North Carolina Tar Heels	-190	63%	60%	62.1%
N/A	Boston College Eagles	+140	40.1%	36.7%	39.1%
23	Nebraska Cornhuskers	-165	59.9%	63.3%	60.9%
N/A	Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns	+315	23.7%	22.6%	23.4%
42	TCU Horned Frogs	-345	76.3%	77.4%	76.6%
N/A	Iowa State Cyclones	+103	48.1%	48.5%	48.2%
7	Miami Hurricanes	-113	51.9%	51.5%	51.8%
6	Miami OH RedHawks	-120	52.2%	50.6%	51.7%
N/A	Colorado State Rams	+100	47.8%	49.4%	48.3%
N/A	East Carolina Pirates	+170	35.7%	32%	34.6%
28	NC State Wolfpack	-200	64.3%	68%	65.4%
N/A	BYU Cougars	+115	44.7%	47.7%	45.6%
15	Colorado Buffaloes	-135	55.3%	52.3%	54.4%
N/A	Marshall Thundering Herd	+230	29.8%	31.5%	30.3%
31	Army Black Knights	-250	70.2%	68.5%	69.7%
N/A	Iowa Hawkeyes	+110	45.7%	51%	47.3%
9	Missouri Tigers	-130	54.3%	49%	52.7%
30	Alabama Crimson Tide	-425	77.5%	51.3%	69.6%
N/A	Michigan Wolverines	+325	22.5%	48.7%	30.4%
26	Louisville Cardinals	-190	63%	68.8%	64.7%
N/A	Washington Huskies	+160	37%	31.2%	35.3%
46	South Carolina Gamecocks	-425	77.5%	82.1%	78.9%
N/A	Illinois Fighting Illini	+325	22.5%	17.9%	21.1%
N/A	Baylor Bears	+115	44.7%	44.4%	44.6%
19	LSU Tigers	-135	55.3%	55.6%	55.4%
40	SMU/PSU	-330	74%	76.7%	74.8%
N/A	Boise State Broncos	+270	26%	23.2%	25.2%
45	CLEM/TEX	-410	77.6%	80.3%	78.4%
N/A	Arizona State Sun Devils	+330	22.4%	19.6%	21.6%
N/A	TENN/OSU	+118	44.2%	45.8%	44.7%
18	Oregon Ducks	-138	55.8%	54.1%	55.3%
N/A	IND/ND	+116	44.5%	46.2%	45%
17	Georgia Bulldogs	-136	55.5%	53.7%	55%
N/A	Duke Blue Devils	+360	20.8%	14.8%	19%
47	Ole Miss Rebels	-480	79.2%	85.2%	81%
N/A	North Texas Mean Green	+275	25.6%	29%	26.6%
36	Texas State Bobcats	-345	74.4%	71%	73.4%
22	Minnesota Golden Gophers	-170	60.7%	59.3%	60.3%
N/A	Virginia Tech Hokies	+145	39.3%	40.7%	39.7%
N/A	Buffalo Bulls	+115	44.7%	41.3%	43.7%
21	Liberty Flames	-135	55.3%	58.7%	56.3%
N/A	SMU/PSU/BSU	-110	50%	49%	49.7%
1	IND/ND/UGA	-110	50%	51%	50.3%
N/A	CLEM/TEX/ASU	-110	50%	48%	49.4%
2	TENN/OSU/ORE	-110	50%	52%	50.6%
4	Orange Bowl Winner	-110	50%	55%	51.5%
N/A	Cotton Bowl Winner	-110	50%	45%	48.5%

Results

2023-2024 Bowl Season Pick Results

2023-2024 College Football Bowl Mania Results

2022-2023 College Football Bowl Mania Results

2019-2020 College Football Bowl Mania Results

2018-2019 College Football Bowl Mania Results

2017-2018 College Football Bowl Mania Results

2016-2017 College Football Bowl Mania Results

2015-2016 College Football Bowl Mania Results