Minnesota vs Virginia Tech Predictions | Duke’s Mayo Bowl Betting Preview For 1/3/25

Duke’s Mayo Bowl Betting Preview

Both Minnesota and Virginia Tech closed the season going 1-2 straight up although the Golden Gophers won their final game of the regular season at Wisconsin 24-7. How will each team fare in their college football bowl matchup? Read below to Get a Duke’s Mayo Bowl betting preview!

GoldSheet – The country’s longest-running sports betting newsletter – shares its thoughts on the matchup between the Golden Gophers and Hokies.

Duke’s Mayo Bowl Details: Minnesota vs Virginia Tech

Date:	January 3, 2025
Time:	7:30 PM ET / 4:30 PM PT
Location:	Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, NC
TV:	ESPN
Spread & Total:	Minnesota -8.5 | O/U 42.5

Duke’s Mayo Bowl odds above courtesy of DraftKings as of 10:00am ET on Thursday, January 2

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Duke’s Mayo Bowl Betting Trends

Minnesota went 9-2-1 against the spread this season, including a 7-1 ATS run to close the regular season. The Gophers have won seven-straight bowl games, including each of the last five under PJ Fleck.

Virginia Tech went 6-6 against the spread this season, but the Hokies dropped three of their last four. Virginia Tech was favored in ten of its 12 games, facing Miami (Fla) and Clemson as an underdog this season.

The Hokies have gone 1-4 straight-up in their last five bowl games, but the lone win came over a depleted Tulane squad in last year’s Military Bowl. That was the one-and-only bowl appearance for Virginia Tech head coach Brent Pry.

Duke’s Mayo Bowl Analysis

How seriously does PJ Fleck take bowl season? Left without a quarterback heading into bowl season last year, Fleck convinced fifth-year senior Cole Kramer to come out of quasi-retirement to lead Minnesota…in the Quick Lane Bowl…in Detroit…the day after Christmas…against Bowling Green.

That’s how seriously Fleck takes bowl games. Kramer was in the middle of planning his wedding and starting a sales job when Fleck pulled him off the maroon-and-gold shelf to lead the Gophers’ win over the Falcons.

Minnesota will likely have a handful of key opt-outs for this one, but nowhere near the challenge that Virginia Tech is facing.

The Hokies will likely have more than a dozen starters missing from this contest. Starting QB Kyron Drones is injured.

Star running back Bhayshul Tuten has not been seen at practice leading up to this game. Virginia Tech is likely to be missing three starters on the offensive line.

Duke’s Mayo Bowl Prediction

Much has been made about the ACC’s struggles in bowl season thus far, and we believe that will continue in this one.

Entering Tuesday, the ACC is 1-9 straight-up, 0-10 against the closing spread with the lone win provided by Syracuse against Washington State’s third-stringers.

Virginia Tech already lost to a Big Ten program this season (Rutgers). Since the beginning of October, Minnesota is 5-2 straight-up with those losses to Penn State and Rutgers coming by a combined eight points.

The Gophers have not been favored by more than a touchdown since hosting Nevada in Week 3, but this has the potential to get ugly as Fleck rows the boat in Charlotte.

Duke’s Mayo Bowl Prediction: Minnesota -8.5

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WagerTalk’s live odds screen features up-to-the-minute lines from a variety of offshore and domestic sports books. Track the college football moneylines, point spreads, totals and betting percentages for all of this season’s bowl games, including Friday’s Duke’s Mayo Bowl clash between Minnesota and Virginia Tech.

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