How and what to watch in the Birmingham Bowl between Boston College and Cincinnati

The Cincinnati Bearcats and Boston College Eagles are set to square off in the Birmingham Bowl the day after New Year’s.

Cincinnati was eyeing up that New Year’s Six spot only to lose two consecutive games to Memphis and find themselves playing on Jan. 2. Cincinnati quarterback Desmond Ridder struggled with a shoulder injury, but this is a different offense with him in the game. He’s had a few weeks to recover, so hopefully he will be closer to full strength for the Birmingham bowl.

Boston College needed a regular season finale win over Pittsburgh to reach a bowl game, and the Eagles got that win to finish 6-6. Boston College fired head coach Steve Addazio, and the Eagles’ star running back AJ Dillon will sit out the bowl game to prepare for the NFL Draft.

Game Time/TV Channel/Streaming

The Ticketsmarter Birmingham Bowl will begin at 3:00 p.m. ET in Birmingham, Alabama on Thursday, Jan. 2 and can be seen on ESPN and streamed on WatchESPN.

Point Spread, Totals, Odds, Trends

Spread: Cincinnati (-7) vs. Boston College
Point Total: 55.5 O/U (-110)
Money line: Bearcats (-286), Eagles (+225)

- Boston College is 6-3 against the spread in its last nine games.

- The total went over in five of Boston College’s last seven games.

- The total went under in each of Cincinnati’s last five games.

The Best Bet

Without their head coach and best player participating in this game, I don’t see how much excitement there will be for Boston College going into the Birmingham Bowl. I’m very surprised we can get Cincinnati as just a touchdown favorite because I like Cincinnati to win this one big.

Pick: Cincinnati -7

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