It’s Bowl Game Pick’ Em season, and Zac Jackson has ranked his confidence in each bowl game pick he’s made — from 43 being the most confident to 1 being the least. In the “confidence pool” games, you’d get awarded the “confidence points” from your picks. So if your most confident pick wins their bowl game, you get those 43 points.
Even if you don’t have the “confidence” element, these picks remain useful as a guide to who he likes to win each game. Good luck in your pools and picking endeavors…and enjoy!
Note: Alabama is in here twice — once for the Rose Bowl and again for the title game against TBD.
Zac Jackson's 2023 Bowl Game Picks
| Pick | Confidence | Opponent |
|---|---|---|
43 | Liberty | |
42 | Marshall | |
41 | Florida State | |
40 | Coastal Carolina | |
39 | Ohio | |
38 | Eastern Michigan | |
37 | Fresno State | |
36 | Wisconsin | |
35 | Oregon State | |
34 | UNLV | |
33 | Boston College | |
32 | Tulane | |
31 | UNC | |
30 | Iowa | |
29 | No. Illinois | |
28 | Western Kentucky | |
27 | Northwestern | |
26 | USC | |
25 | Memphis | |
24 | Duke | |
23 | Toledo | |
22 | Georgia State | |
21 | Miami (OH) | |
20 | Texas A&M | |
19 | Miami | |
18 | Ohio State | |
17 | Michigan | |
16 | Bowling Green | |
15 | California | |
14 | Auburn | |
13 | Syracuse | |
12 | Texas State | |
11 | James Madison | |
10 | UCF | |
9 | Texas | |
8 | Penn State | |
7 | Kentucky | |
6 | Arizona | |
5 | TBD (title game) | |
4 | Louisiana | |
3 | Kansas State | |
2 | Boise State | |
1 | Howard |
I don’t mind that every player in every pool across this great nation has high points on Oregon and Georgia. They seem like slam dunks. After hitting Tulane over USC last year and narrowly missing a nice payout, I’m more focused on the bottom and trying to not to lose points on games I simply don’t know or trust. We’re all dealing with the unknown here thanks to the transfer portal and mixed motivations.
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Your own strategy should be dependent upon what kind of pool you’re entering. Is it a pool with hundreds of entries? If so, you have to get different and really size up a few upsets in the 20-ish range. If it’s just an office pool or a neighborhood pool with 20-40 entries, you have to worry more about just being right. In any case, you’re going to have hit your five (at least) highest-number picks to have a chance.
I’m against teams that had poor Novembers, like Fresno State and Marshall. Do those teams really have much to gain from this season continuing? After the turnover at Texas A&M and Duke, I’m against those teams in this setting.
Four MAC teams won bowl games last year. I view this year as more like 2018 or 2017, when MAC teams only won one. I see MAC teams playing backup quarterbacks and in unfavorable matchups. If I’m wrong, there’s always next year.
More fun Bowl Game reads
Zac Jackson and Jon Greenberg’s weekly betting/picks/Ohio
College football bowl projections: Predicted scores for every bowl game
Pre-Christmas bowl game betting guide: Odds, picks, transfers, opt outs and matchups
(Top photo: Justin Ford/Getty Images)
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