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Is there any better way to get the holiday season started than with the New Mexico Bowl on Christmas Eve? If there is, I’d love to hear it. The Hawai’i Rainbow Warriors will take on the Houston Cougars on Thursday starting at 3:30 p.m. ET from Frisco, Texas. You read that correctly. The New Mexico Bowl will be played in Texas, and it can be seen on ESPN and on the WatchESPN app.
Odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook.
New Mexico Bowl odds: Hawai’i vs. Houston
Point spread: Houston opened -11.5, currently -13.5
Point total: Opened 61.5, currently 60.5
How they got here
Hawai’i got more games in than Houston and finished with a 4-4 Mountain West record for fifth place in the conference. The Warriors took care of business against most of the lesser teams early in the season before losing three of their last five games in a backloaded schedule.
A ton of teams have battled through COVID-19 issues this fall, but Houston might have had the worst luck regarding games postponed and rescheduled. Despite all of it, the Cougars were able to get seven games in for a 3-4 record overall including 3-3 in the AAC for sixth place in the conference. Houston has played just one game since Nov. 14, and it was a 30-27 loss to Memphis on Dec. 12.
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