Bowl betting, NFL Wild Card odds ring in New Year

New Year’s week is jammed pack with sports betting action starting with the Wild Card round of the NFL playoffs this upcoming Saturday and Sunday as well as a full slate of college bowls all week long.

The NBA and college basketball also have a number of great matchups on the schedule so it will not be hard finding something of note on Americas Line to wager on every single day of this week.

The NFL odds have been released by 5Dimes for all four playoff games starting with Saturday’s two-game schedule. Both home teams are 2.5-point favorites (per Bovada’s early lines), with Indianapolis favored over Kansas City in the AFC and Philadelphia favored over New Orleans in the NFC.

Cincinnati has been listed as a 7-point home favorite over San Diego in Sunday’s first game, and San Francisco heads into Green Bay as a 2.5-point road favorite.

There are still 20 college bowl games left to be played from an original schedule of 35, but a few that jump off the page this week start off with a New Year’s Eve ACC vs. Pac-12 clash between Virginia Tech and UCLA in the Sun Bowl. The Bruins have been listed as 7-point favorites with the total set at 47 at Bovada.

New Year’s Day kicks thing off bright and early with a High Noon clash between Nebraska and Georgia in the Gator Bowl. The Bulldogs have been listed as 9-point favorites over the Cornhuskers with the total set at 60.

The action for the day wraps things up with Baylor squaring off against Central Florida as a prohibitive 17-point favorite in the Fiesta Bowl. The total for that potential shootout has been set at 69.5.

The Sugar Bowl between Oklahoma and Alabama will be played on January 2 with the Crimson Tide favored by 15.5 points on 5Dimes' latest college football odds. The total for that game has been set at 51.5.

Ohio State will face Clemson in this Friday’s Orange Bowl as a 2.5-point favorite with the total for that Big Ten vs. ACC matchup set at 69.

A couple of NBATV games on this week’s basketball schedule start off with Portland on the road at the Chesapeake Energy Arena on Tuesday night to face Oklahoma City. Brooklyn will head to the same exact venue to face the Thunder on Thursday night.

Two big matchups in college basketball have No. 3 Ohio State on the road against Purdue this Tuesday afternoon in the Buckeyes’ Big Ten opener and No. 1 Arizona at home against Washington State this Thursday night in the Wildcats' first game of the season in the Pac-12.