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The reward for the winner of Conference USA every single year is to come here to the Liberty Bowl for their NCAA football betting bowl bash. This year, the reps from C-USA are the UCF Knights, who are ranked in the Top 25 for the first time in the history of the school this year. They’ll be looking for their first bowl victory in the history of the school when they take on the Georgia Bulldogs out of the SEC. There are three major keys that need to be watched when making your Liberty Bowl picks in this one on New Year’s Eve.

Key #1: AJ Green has to be a hero for UGA
Over the course of the first four games of the season, QB Aaron Murray was awfully questionable. The Bulldogs went just 1-3 in those games, and the buzzards were swarming to get rid of Head Coach Mark Richt. However, in those four games, WR AJ Green was suspended and wasn’t available. The first game he was back in the lineup, Green had a highlight reel touchdown catch against the Colorado Buffaloes. No, Georgia didn’t beat the Buffs, and it dropped to just 1-4 on the season. However, from that point forward, the Dawgs scored at least 31 points in all of their games. Green ended up with 49 catches for 771 yards and nine TDs to lead the team in all three categories. What Green also does is open up the deep game for WR Kris Durham, who averaged 21.1 yards per reception this year. The Knights have a solid pass defense, but they haven’t seen anything like what they are about to get from Green and the UGA passing game.

Key #2: Georgia has to win the battles in the trenches on both sides of the ball
Normally when you think about Conference USA football, you tend to think about teams that are throwing the ball all over the field and aren’t playing much in the way of defense. However, this UCF team is a significantly different story. Head Coach George O’Leary comes from the mindset of the NFL, where running the ball and playing good defense is key, and he has instilled that tenacity in his squad. The Knights are outrunning their foes by over 90 yards per game this year. On the defensive front, DE Bruce Miller isn’t just one of the best linemen in C-USA, but he is one of the best in the entire country as well. He is now a two time Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year. On offense, RB Latavius Murray and RB Ronnie Weaver have the ability to run the ball all over the place, and they both are able to slam the ball right up the gut at the opposition. Both men have at least ten TDs this year, and they combined for a whopping 278 carries and 1,423 yards on the campaign.

Key #3: One of these freshman quarterbacks has to shine
These two quarterbacks, Aaron Murray and Jeff Godfrey are amongst some of the only freshmen signal callers this year in bowl games. Murray obviously was helped out when Green came back into the lineup five games into the year, but his numbers really show a lot of maturity as the season progressed. He made some mistakes this year, but they were limited, as he only had six picks against 24 TDs. Murray should also become a 3,000 yard passer in this game assuming that he doesn’t get injured. Godfrey was a tremendous newcomer for the Knights this year. He won Conference USA Freshman of the Year this year for good reason. After replacing the injured QB Rob Calabrese, Godfrey threw for 2,042 yards on 68.4 percent completions. He accounted for 13 TDs against six picks through the air, and he ran for another 546 yards and 10 TDs on the ground. Godfrey did a great job managing everything this year, as he not only was a fantastic passer, but he managed to help UCF become one of the three rushers on this team that accounted for ten TDs on the ground. The only other team in the nation that can stake a claim to that? The Wisconsin Badgers, who will be playing in the Rose Bowl as the Big Ten champions.