It may be Thanksgiving today, but even a hundred crepe-paper turkeys couldn’t cover the mass amounts of Christmas decorations currently trussing up storefronts everywhere. The jolly old elf comes in less than one month, and when I think of the holiday season, you know what I think? College football bowl games, that’s what — especially Rose Bowl odds and Fiesta Bowl odds. Blame it on having football-loving cousins spending the holidays monopolizing the TV so they can yell at bad pigskin passes all day…Though I suppose I ought to thank my family for those times, as they served as a springboard for my own adult love of the game! It really is a time for family.

(You just know they’re watching the Chick-fil-A Bowl with bated breath)

Despite the wacky names and sponsors (though it IS only right that Tostitos hosts the Fiesta Bowl) and the fact that pretty much anybody can buy a bowl game if they’re a millionaire, the bowl games make for college football betting at their finest. What better way to try and earn money to pay off those massive credit card bills from the holidays? Your sportsbook holds all the answers. Maybe if you wager enough, the payoff will be so big you can buy your own bowl game next year! Wishful thinking, my friends — it’s what the holidays are all about.

But I digress — personally, I’m thinking Trojans and Penn State for my Rose Bowl pick, and of course Texas Tech to make an appearance in Fiesta Bowl lines (you DO know Texas is gonna run all over A&M tonight, right?) — but against who? That’s the question that the next month of NCAA football will hopefully answer. Pass the salsa.