Bowl us over on Boxing Day

We hope you all have had a fantastic holiday weekend full of family, food and football. Things are slow in the sports world on Boxing Day, and we're still in a "have some drinks with friends and watch football" kind of mood.

We're putting our trust in Yardbarker's own Matt Weisenfeld for today, looking to his betting guide from the day's college football bowls and parsing out some of our favorite picks and reasonings behind them.

Bowl games for Boxing Day

Quick Lane Bowl: Minnesota -4.5

The Big Ten tends to dominate teams out of the MAC, and that's what we have here when the Minnesota Golden Gophers take on the Bowling Green Falcons. Despite being 5-7, Minnesota's strength of schedule should shine through here in a comfortable win.

First Responder Bowl: Texas State-Rice over 59 points 

Texas State games have averaged a ridiculous 70 points per game this season. Need we say more? Bring on the points.

Guaranteed Rate Bowl: UNLV +12.5 

The Kansas Jayhawks are only 3-4 ATS this season as a favorite and don't quite seem like a team deserving of this large spread. UNLV tends to pound the run, which should ideally help extend drives, keep the defense fresh and maintain a close game throughout. This could be a fun watch.

In the news ...

NFL Week 16's biggest moments include Miami's signature win and AFC South's rough weekend — Just another packed NFL weekend, it's hard to believe we only have two weeks left of all 32 teams in action. Miami's last-second field goal over Dallas to win 22-20 was most definitely one of the wins of the weekend, finally giving the Dolphins a win over one of the best teams in the league. Miami now sits at 11-4, still two games up on Buffalo with two weeks to go. Miami now sits at +750 to win the Super Bowl, the third-best odds in the NFL. However, some tough news has been dealt, as WR Jaylen Waddle has a high ankle sprain, casting doubt on his availability for the rest of the season.

Meanwhile, Dallas dropped to 10-5, and with Philadelphia beating the Giants, it's seeming more and more likely that the Cowboys will be a wild card and have to go through the playoffs on the road, where they are only 3-5 this season. Elsewhere, all three of Jacksonville, Indianapolis and Houston lost, keeping the AFC South race knotted up with the trio of teams all sitting at 8-7. Colts-Texans in Week 18 could very well be for the division if Jacksonville can't turn things around, losers of four straight.

Baltimore's big win shifts the betting markets — We have been on the record saying that Brock Purdy's MVP odds made no sense, and we'd be lying if we didn't say we feel a tad validated by his Monday night performance and the subsequent shift it caused in the NFL futures markets. Once -200 to win MVP, Purdy is now +500 and dropping. Lamar Jackson, who authored the Ravens' dominant victory, sits at -150 to win his second Most Valuable Player Award, with Baltimore owning the top seed in the AFC and the second-best odds to win the Super Bowl at +450.

Today's Bark Bets is written by Griffin Carroll, the guy who won $8K on a $20 NFL parlay. Follow him on Substack: griffybets.substack.com.