NCAA College Football Liberty Bowl Betting Picks Kentucky Wildcats versus the East Carolina Pirates

The Kentucky Wildcats will be playing this one without their starting QB, true freshman Randall Cobb. Cobb took over for Michael Hartline after the ‘Cats offense began to sputter in conference play. While Cobb was not spectacular, he did bring a level of excitement to the offense with his ability to tuck the ball and run. That dimension will be missed against a solid East Carolina Pirates’ Defense. The Wildcats can win in one of two ways; one is if they get some big plays out of an offense that had been dormant until new quarterback Randall Cobb injected some athleticism into the lineup. The second way is their old reliable method: keeping the game low-scoring and ugly and simply hoping to come out on top at the end. For their sake, they should hope for the former, because it’s likely that East Carolina will put up some points in this one. It was agonizing to watch Kentucky at times this year as its solid defense (ranked 38th nationally) kept the Wildcats in most games, such as a 17-14 loss to Alabama and a 24-17 loss to South Carolina. But it was downright painful most of the time to watch their offense plod along under immobile quarterback Mike Hartline, who eventually gave way to Cobb, and a group of less-than-breathtaking position players. This game might be the ultimate measuring stick of just how tough the SEC is, because Kentucky hasn’t done a lot to deserve being a favourite here.

The East Carolina Pirates were the talk of the nation after knocking off West Virginia and Virginia tech to open the season. Houston, and Virginia, they’ve rallied nicely in the late season. Quarter Back Patrick Pinkney is steady – 2379 yards, 12/7 TD/INT ratio – particularly considering the ineptitude of the Pirates’ 84th ranked ground game.

The talk at the beginning of the season was about the UK D that only gave up a total of 22 points to its 4 non-conference foes. Once the SEC slate began – and the injuries mounted – the ‘Cats struggle on both sides of the ball, knocking off only Arkansas and Mississippi State. East Carolina certainly has the momentum headed into the 2009 Liberty Bowl.

Fearless NCAA Football Betting Prediction: Kentucky Wild Cats by 7 points

For more College Football Betting Odds go to Bodog Sportsbook

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 3rd, 2009 at 9:20 am and is filed under College Football, Football, Sports, Sports Betting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.