Football at Yankee Stadium. I love it! The No. 23 ranked Pittsburgh Panthers face the Northwestern Wildcats in the New Era Pinstripe Bowl that will be televised live on ESPN. Pitt is making their ninth consecutive bowl game and 33rd overall, while the Wildcats are bowling for the second straight year and 13th all-time. Pittsburgh is a 5.5-point favorite with a game total of 66.
The 2016 New Era Pinstripe Bowl continues it’s Bowl relationship with the Big Ten and ACC. Each respective conference has entered into multi-year agreements with the New York Yankees and the New Era Pinstripe Bowl to have a representative school play in the game.
Pittsburgh Panthers 8-4 vs Northwestern Wildcats 6-6
December 28, 2016
Yankee Stadium, Bronx, New York - 2:00 p.m., ET - ESPN2
Pitt was the only team this year to beat Clemson and they also notched a victory over Big Ten champion Penn State, making them the only team in the country with wins against Big 5 Conference champions. They have eight wins on the year and currently are ranked No. 23 in the rankings. The Panthers are led by running back James Conner, who overcame a knee injury and cancer to post 1,060 yards and 16 touchdowns, giving him ACC career marks for total TDs, 56 and rushing TDs of 52. Earlier this week, Conner declared for the NFL draft. Conner and Pitt should have a field day against a banged up Wildcats defensive unit.
Northwestern was an up and down team that barely was eligible for bowl action. The Wildcats finished 6-6 on the year that included losses to Western Michigan and an embarrassing loss to FCS foe Illinois State in week two that dropped them to 0-2. But head coach Pat Fitzgerald never panicked and his team responded with a huge win at Iowa and a regular season win against Illinois to become bowl eligible. Northwestern will depend highly on signal caller Clayton Thorsen, who gets better each week and wide receiver Austin Carr who led the league in pass receiving.
Opening Line: Pittsburgh -3, Total 66
Current Line at BookMaker Sportsbook: Pittsburgh -5.5
The line opened with Pitt favored by 3 and slowly moved to it’s current line of 5.5. Pitt played one Big 10 team earlier this year and whipped Big Ten champion Penn State. No one in the country played more OVER games than the Panthers - they hit the OVER 11 times in 12 tries. Pitt scored at least 36 points in every game this season but one. Meanwhile Northwestern was an UNDER team, cashing on 8 of 12 tickets.
THE PICK
Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi has plenty of experience in the Big ten conference, having served as Michigan State’s defensive coordinator before getting the Panthers head coaching gig. Northwestern has multiple injuries in their secondary that Pitt will exploit and that will open up the running game for the Panthers and star running back James Conner as they crush the undermanned Northwestern team. Pitt wins 41-27.
The College Football betting odds and props for this week’s games were first available at BookMaker Sportsbook. Live wagering during commercials offers adjusted moneylines, totals and spreads. Log in and start gambling during the game now! The Pittsburgh Panthers and Northwestern Wildcats square off in the Pinstripe Bowl on Wednesday, December 28, 2016 at 2:00 p.m., ET. ESPN will televise the game live.
