Sun Bowl Miami vs. Washington State Picks & Predictions
By Anthony Rome
The ACC will meet the Pac-12 today at 2:00PM ET when Miami takes on Washington State in the Hyundai Sun Bowl.
Oddsmakers from online sports book Mybookie.ag currently list the Cougars as a 1.5-point favorite over the Hurricanes while the over/under is sitting at 63 points. Washington State opened as a 3-point favorite but the line was bet down to 1.5 over the past 24 hours.
Miami has turned things around since Al Golden was fired following the embarrassing loss to Clemson in the middle of the season. Larry Scott has done a great job taking over the team on an interim basis, leading the Hurricanes to victories in four of their last five games.
Unfortunately for Scott, he'll turn the keys of the program over to Mark Richt after today, but the Miami players should be plenty motivated to send Scott off on a winning note.
Both quarterbacks in this matchup are highly efficient. Miami's Brad Kaaya has thrown for at least 3,000 yards the past two seasons while Washington State's Luke Falk has completed 70.7% of his passes for 36 touchdowns and 4,266 yards.
The difference today will come down to turnovers. While Miami is sixth in the nation with a +1.2 turnover margin (+1.3 in its last three games), Washington State is 74th with a -0.1 turnover margin (-1.3 in its last three games). With the spread low and the quarterback and defense matchups even, look for the Hurricanes to flip the game on its head with a couple of key turnovers.
SUN BOWL FREE PICK: MIAMI HURRICANES +1.5