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'Tis the season for winners, holiday cheer and picking college football games against the spread.
Sure, the holidays are about family and giving and joy. This is also a time of college football exhibitions, and we shall celebrate these occasions accordingly.
Locks of the Week, of course, never takes a vacation. We debuted Part 1 of our bowl season breakdown last week, focusing on the first batch of games.
Part 2 features bowl games that will be played between Wednesday, December 22, and Tuesday, December 28. That's a total of 12 games, which is more than enough to make some money.
Have no fear. Major bowl games and playoff picks are coming. We're simply taking our time and celebrating this robust lineup in all of its glory.
Let's pick some winners. (And happy holidays.)
Hawai'i Bowl: Hawai'i vs. Memphis (Under 55)
This game will be played on Christmas Eve, which is exactly when the Hawai'i Bowl should be played each year. This is a tradition, and forcing my family members to sit through a college football game most of them know nothing about is part of the holiday celebration.
Now, rooting against touchdowns is not something I normally do. In this instance, however, that's the plan.
For regulars of this bowl, you know that wind will be a factor. It always is, and it will be once again. Beyond that, I could see both defenses playing much better—particularly after a multiweek break. And rust could be an issue for the offenses.
Neither defense was superb during the regular season. It's worth noting, however, that both offenses rank outside the top 50 in scoring.
The over has only hit once in Memphis' last six games. Hawai'i has hit the under in seven of 12 FBS games this year.
Celebrate this game by hoping for punts. What a way to bring in the holiday.
Holiday Bowl: NC State (-1) vs. UCLA
Both teams flashed during the regular season.
UCLA was the darling of CFB for a couple of weeks following an upset over LSU. While the Bruins fell off at times throughout, they closed out the season with three straight wins (and covers).
NC State toppled Clemson early on and followed that up with some strong performances across the board. Even two of the three losses—Miami and Wake Forest—came by a combined four points.
The Wolfpack, led by quarterback Devin Leary, can really score. UCLA certainly can as well, although the trust (at least for me) just isn't there as much.
The total, which is hovering around 60, tells us what kind of game this will likely be. There will be touchdowns—likely many of them—although NC State just feels like the more complete, seasoned team as we finish out the year.
Military Bowl: East Carolina (+3) vs. Boston College
First, an admission.
I have a soft spot for East Carolina, and I am not ashamed to admit it. If you read this column during the year, you probably already knew this.
The Pirates have gotten so much better in such a short period of time—something that was on display throughout the 2021 season. And before failing to cover in the final two games, they covered the spread in six straight.
And their losses? Largely against quality teams. Cincinnati, Houston, App State, Central Florida and South Carolina all beat ECU, although many of those games were tight.
Enter Boston College, which has failed to score 20 or more points in six of the past eight games. That offense is a concern, and I expect this game to be on the lower-scoring side.
For East Carolina, this is good news. The Pirates close out the year with a cover and an outright win.
Liberty Bowl: Mississippi State (-9.5) vs. Texas Tech
The strategy here is somewhat simple. I think Mississippi State is much, much, much better than Texas Tech.
Now, that can be dangerous logic in a bowl game. I thought BYU was better than UAB and Oregon State was better than Utah State, and both of those games were losses in our first installment.
Bowl season sometimes gets weird, and it did that weekend.
Still, I love Mississippi State in this game. The Bulldogs were dreadful against Ole Miss in the Egg Bowl, although this will be a much cleaner performance against a team that frankly doesn't possess nearly the same talent.
Sure, Texas Tech played hard in the regular-season finale against Baylor. The Red Raiders nearly pulled an outright upset as a double-digit underdog.
But Mississippi State's level of competition throughout the year was on an entirely different level, and I think it shows in this game.
Mike Leach's team wins by more than two touchdowns.
Birmingham Bowl: Auburn (-2.5) vs. Houston
Things look different for Auburn these days.
For starters, Bo Nix now plays for Oregon. One of the most exciting players in the sport was injured late in the year, entered the transfer portal and will now take his talents out west.
Without him, Auburn put up one heck of a fight against Alabama. One could argue that the Tigers should have won that game. Regardless, it was not to be.
Still, Auburn held the potent Alabama offense in check and nearly won as a 20.5-point underdog.
Although the Tigers lost four straight games down the stretch, three of those games came against Alabama, Ole Miss and Texas A&M. Yikes.
Houston, of course, was superb this season. After losing the opener, the Cougars won every game up until the finale against Cincinnati. And even that one was close for a while. Well, until it wasn't.
To me, this one boils down to talent. While Auburn is a middling SEC team, the depth and size and speed are simply on another level.
Even with the injuries, the Tigers win (and cover).
Other Games on the Card
First Responder Bowl: Air Force (+1.5) vs. Louisville: The Falcons closed strong with three consecutive wins and quietly finished out the regular season with nine overall. They cover the small spread and pull a slight upset over the ACC.
Gasparilla Bowl: Central Florida vs. Florida (Over 55.5): With all the moving parts at Florida, it's hard to know what kind of performance we're going to get. But I envision points from both teams and a potentially scoreboard-friendly outcome.
Odds via DraftKings and accurate as of Tuesday.
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Welcome back to TGIFighting, where we talk to top fighters, preview the weekend's combat sports action and make crotchety observations about the combat sports news of the day. Ready? Let's proceed.
Deron Williams: 12-year NBA veteran, three-time All-Star, two-time Olympic gold medalist.
Saturday, he adds a new line item to his resume: pro boxer.
It happens on the Showtime pay-per-view card headlined by Jake Paul vs. Tyron Woodley II from Tampa, Florida.
His opponent? Longtime NFL standout running back Frank Gore. It's celebrity boxing at its finest, featuring two athletes not terribly far removed from their athletic primes. Williams, whose basketball career ended after a litany of injuries, is 37 years old, while Gore, a five-time Pro Bowler, is 38.
Neither has fought professionally before, but Williams has an apparent experience edge, having trained for years at the well-regarded Fortis MMA gym, which Williams co-owns, in his hometown of Dallas.
I recently spoke with Williams in an exclusive interview in advance of Saturday's matchup. The exchange has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Bleacher Report: Obviously people know you for basketball, but you have pretty deep roots in combat sports too.
Williams: Well, my uncle was a wrestler in high school and in the Army. My mom asked me if I wanted to wrestle when I was four, almost five. I wrestled from when I was five all the way up until high school. I won two state championships in Texas as a youth. I only stopped because the wrestling season was over the same time frame as basketball.
And I was always a boxing fan. I watched a lot of boxing. And when the UFC started, I was really drawn to that, with my wrestling background and all the grappling you see in MMA.
So fighting has always been kind of a passion. I've always loved to watch it, and I've always loved to train, and that's why I love it so much.
B/R: How long have you been training in MMA?
Williams: I was doing a lot of training off and on when I was playing [basketball], going as far back as 2009 or 2010. But I really got serious when I came to Dallas in 2015 and became a part of Fortis MMA.
B/R: Since you watch the UFC regularly, you know what a banner year 2021 has been for MMA. We've had some amazing fights. Do you have a favorite?
Williams: Yeah, there's been a lot of great fights. That Max Holloway-Yair Rodriguez fight [from November] that just happened is up there. The Michael Chandler vs. Justin Gaethje fight was up there as well, but it was shorter, only three rounds compared to the five-round decision they went to with Yair-Holloway.
It's tough to pick! Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington in November was a fun fight too.
B/R: How would you compare the training and preparation in boxing to basketball?
Williams: They're definitely different. First and foremost, one's a team sport and the other one's an individual sport, so that right there is totally different.
You don't get punched in the face much in basketball. If you get whacked, you go down, the game stops. Maybe you go sit down, you take some time out, the trainers come over and check you out. You can't do that in boxing.
In boxing, you're training to get hit in the face, punched to the body and to keep going right through it.
B/R: Learning how to get punched in the face. Was that difficult for you?
Williams: It took some time to get comfortable with it. It took a couple years, really, through sparring, just constant sparring, and getting punched in the face and kicked in the face, having your head smashed against the cage, having a forearm land across your nose. Getting punched in the face definitely takes some getting used to.
B/R: Do you have any insights whatsoever into Frank Gore as a boxing opponent?
Williams: I don't. But I can't really worry about him. I have to worry about myself. I've just got to prepare, get in the best shape of my life and prepare for a war.
B/R: To be completely candid, there are plenty of people who see this as just a novelty. They see two guys with big names who made their names in other sports and they don't want to take it seriously. How do you respond to that?
Williams: They don't have to watch. Nobody's making them watch; nobody's making them comment on Instagram. But they do because they're interested. If I'm not interested in something, I turn the channel, or I just swipe to the next post.
B/R: So that mindset doesn't bother you?
Williams: They're not getting in there, I guarantee you that.
B/R: What do you see for yourself in terms of your future in fighting? Do you see yourself ever trying MMA?
Williams: No. I'm 37. It would be hard to train for an MMA fight. There's just so much that goes into it, with the grappling and the wrestling. So I'm going into this like it's my last one. If I get in there and I like it, who knows? But really I just wanted to check this box. It's been something I've always wanted to do.
The Squeamish Bettor
Record to date: 26-8
As predicted right in this very space, Ryan Hall earned the decision win last Saturday at UFC 269. This week, let's look to the main card of Saturday's UFC Fight Night 199, where bantamweight Raphael Assuncao is a substantial +220 underdog, per DraftKings, to upset the younger, higher-octane Ricky Simon.
True, Assuncao has dropped three straight, but all three were to elite competitors, including former champ Cody Garbrandt and current contenders Cory Sandhagen and Marlon Moraes. The 29-year-old Simon is riding a three-fight win streak, but against much lesser competition.
The scales will rebalance Saturday, with the longtime contender showing he still has plenty left in the tank and putting concerns over his chin to rest, at least for now. It will be a classic, plodding Assuncao performance, but he'll get it done at age 39 to remain relevant in the division. Lock it in.
One last thing…
On a bittersweet note, this is the final edition of TGIFighting. Bitter in that I enjoyed writing the column, sweet in that I'm moving into new frontiers in the new year. I'll continue to provide the post-fight columns, exclusive interviews and other content you've come to expect of me over my approximately 7,000 years here at Bleacher Report. In the meantime, here's wishing everyone a safe and happy holiday season.
If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537) (IL).
Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ/WV/PA), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (CO), 1-800-BETS OFF (IA), or call or text the TN REDLINE: 800-889-9789 (TN).
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