Myrtle Beach Bowl Picks and Predictions

Myrtle Beach Bowl Betting Preview

WagerTalk college football handicapper Tony Finn offers his Old Dominion vs Tulsa Myrtle Beach Bowl betting preview for Monday, December 20. At the time of posting, the Golden Hurricane from the AAC are holding steady as a 9-point favorite over the Monarchs from Conference USA, with the total sitting at 53.5 points.

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Myrtle Beach Bowl	Betting Notes
Point Spread:	Tulsa Golden Hurricane -9 vs Old Dominion Monarchs
Total:	53.5 Points
Game Time:	2:30pm ET / 11:30am PT on Monday, December 20
Stadium:	Brooks Stadium in Conway, South Carolina
TV:	ESPN

Myrtle Beach Bowl Analysis

Teams that earned their bowl stripes by capturing a sixth win in the regular-season finale face-off on Monday when the Old Dominion Monarchs and Tulsa Golden Hurricane meet in the 2021 Myrtle Beach Bowl. Both programs close the season with 6-6 records, with the Monarchs winning six straight and the Golden Hurricane victorious in the school’s final three contests. Kickoff for the Myrtle Beach Bowl is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. ET at Brooks Stadium in Conway, S.C.

The players and coaches of the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes (6-6, American) understand the hard work and dedication bowl opponent Old Dominion put into their season. The Monarchs (6-6, C-USA) became eligible for a holiday bowl by winning their final six season games after a 1-6 start.

Tulsa’s last three games of the season started with an overtime win over a 2-10 Tulane program. The victory over the Green Wave was followed by a 44-10 rout of the Temple Owls, and in the season’s final regular slate, the Hurricane defeated a good SMU Mustangs squad in a 34-31 final.

Tulsa stumbled out of the season’s starting blocks and was 1-4 after suffering a 45-10 beatdown by Houston to kick off the October portion of the schedule. In late November, it appeared Tulsa would be home for the holidays watching their league mates in bowl games. However, following a 28-20 loss to College Football Playoff qualifier Cincinnati, the Hurricane entered the stretch turn of the campaign with a 3-6 mark before rallying to finish the season with the wins mentioned above over Tulane, Temple, and SMU.

“We take it one game at a time, and every game that we get to play with each other is something big,” Tulsa receiver Josh Johnson told the national media in a Myrtle Bowl presser.

The Monarchs owned a 1-6 record in mid-October, and few believed leveling their mark at 6-6 by season’s end and garnering a bowl invitation realistic. However, the quality of the competition that Old Dominion faced in their first seven games will go unnoticed for those without a connection to this Myrtle Beach Bowl.

The Monarchs suffered a season-opening loss to Power-Five Wake Forest, who finished 1st in the ACC Atlantic with a 10-3 mark. After a 47-4 win over Hampton in the second game of the season Old D lost five straight. The five consecutive losses came at Liberty, versus Buffalo, at UTEP, at Marshall, before a 43-20 home loss to Western Kentucky. The loss to the Buffalo Bulls was the only team in that five-game losing streak that didn’t qualify for a bowl. In the Monarchs’ five-game winning streak to close the season, they defeated bowl eligible Middle Tennessee at Johnny “Red” Floyd Stadium in Murfreesboro.

“I love our story. I love this season. It’s the most fun season I’ve ever been a part of,” Monarchs coach Ricky Rahne told the media earlier this week. “The kids never changed, never blinked. They believed in our coaching staff; our coaching staff believed,” coach Rahne added.

Tulsa Golden Hurricane

Hurricane running back Shamari Brooks (3,622 career yards) is on schedule to register 30 yards in today’s Myrtle Bowl contest and pass Tarion Adams (2005-08) to finish his career as the second most accomplished running back in Tulsa football history.
QB Davis Brin has thrown for 2,984 yards passing and 16 touchdowns, assisting in the Hurricanes offense averaging 436 yards a game, ranking second in the AAC behind CFP-bound Cincinnati.
The Tulsa offense rushed for 200 yards in five of the team’s last nine games.
Golden Hurricane’s stop-unit is fueled by the energy of defensive tackle Jaxon Player and his 13.5 tackles for loss.
Tulsa committed 24 turnovers this season, with 18 in the team’s last eight games.

Tulsa has a sluggish offense that becomes one-dimensional in high-profile games. Pundits’ concern with the Monarchs was their early-season unforced mistakes, turnovers. Tulsa leads the nation in unforced turnovers, and the offense doesn’t represent the profile of a riverboat gambler. Tulsa’s scheme is student body right, left, and up the gut of the opposing defense.

Old Dominion Monarchs

The Old Dominion bowl invite from the Myrtle Beach Bowl committee is the second for Monarchs who became an FBS program in 2013.
The Monarchs’ rushing attack is not to be discounted. Tailback Blake Watson comes into the Myrtle Beach event with a 1000 yard season on the ground. Watson topped 100 yards on the ground in six regular-season games.
The Old D “D” is led by linebacker Jordan Young and his team-high 83 tackles.
Additional players to watch are headlined by tight end Zack Kuntz and his 71 catches for 694 yards, including five touchdowns.
The passing attack became a more significant part of the offense for the Monarchs in the second half of the season. Quarterback Hayden Wolff replaced season-opening starter DJ Mack and brought more consistency and fewer turnovers to gameday.
The Old Dominion defense has forced two or more takeaways in each of the last four games.
Old Dominion played six bowl teams in their regular seasons’ schedule with a win over Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders.

Monarchs of Conference USA won three games by 14 or more points during the team’s five-game winning streak. Turnovers were significant to the slow start for the Monarchs. The Old D rushing attack is efficient and balances the ability to stretch the field with Wolff and the offense’s downfield passing game. Old D has an edge in big plays and experience in special teams.

Myrtle Beach Bowl Prediction

Old Dominion’s regular-season schedule included six bowl teams; Wake Forest, Liberty, Marshall, Middle Tennessee, UTEP, and WKU. All have some form of a rushing element – in particular the Liberty Flames – and any suggestion that the Monarch’s defense won’t be able to get off the field against the Tulsa rushing attack is a handicapping reach. Additionally, the balanced attack of Old D with the downfield arm of Wolff finds holes in a suspect Tulsa Secondary. Old D and the points are the WagerTalk pick to click in the Myrtle Beach Bowl matchup.

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Myrtle Beach Bowl Preview from The GoldSheet

Mind, it wasn’t against SEC opposition, but once Old Dominion’s offense finally settled up second-year frosh Hayden Wolff ahead of UCF transfer D.J. Mack at QB, it began to hum, scoring 36 pg in the season-ending uptick, with Wolff passing for a season-best 328 yards in the final regular season win over Charlotte that got ODU bowl-eligible.

It is likely true that the Myrtle Beach foe Golden Hurricane will present the stiffest test yet for Rahne’s Monarchs, with Tulsa good enough to play top-ten Oklahoma State and Cincy into the last minute on the road (with a real chance to beat each) in a campaign that also gained momentum late when winning the last three to get to the required six wins for postseason eligibility.

Philip Montgomery’s attack will test the interior of the Monarch D with a jarring ground attack that gained almost 190 ypg behind slicing RB Shamari Brooks (922 YR). But QB Davis Brin (16 TDP but also 16 picks) was often guilty of the big mistake, and only against a deflated Temple in late November did the Golden Hurricane have an easy game. This one doesn’t look like it will be easy, either.

Myrtle Beach Bowl Video Breakdown

WagerTalk college football handicappers Ralph Michaels, Dave Cokin and Teddy Covers offer their Myrtle Beach Bowl betting preview.

Myrtle Beach Bowl Stats

College football handicappers Ralph Michaels and JM Sports have put together a 66-page Bowl Betting Guide featuring everything from first quarter scoring to yards per point to plays per minute. Don’t place a bet on the Myrtle Beach Bowl before diving into this FREE download.

WagerTalk Live Odds Screen

WagerTalk’s live odds screen features up-to-the-minute lines from a variety of offshore and domestic sports books. Track the moneylines, point spreads, first half lines and betting percentages for all of the college football bowl games, including this Myrtle Beach Bowl showdown between Old Dominion and Tulsa, from your desktop or phone.

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