2012 Holiday Bowl picks are going to be entertaining to make this year, as we have two teams that are going to be going at it against each other in what could be an unpredictable game in the UCLA Bruins and the Baylor Bears. Join us for our Holiday Bowl keys to the game, complete with our 2012 Baylor vs. UCLA predictions, only right here at Bankroll Sports.

2012 Holiday Bowl: UCLA Bruins vs. Baylor Bears
2012 Holiday Bowl Location: Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego, CA
2012 Holiday Bowl Date/Time: Thursday, December 27th, 9:45 p.m. (ET)
2012 Holiday Bowl On TV: ESPN, Watch ESPN

Click Here For The Rest Of The 2012-13 Bowl Game Schedule And Other Bowl Game Previews

Key #1: One of these teams has to play some defense
It’s the obvious statement to make in a game when the ‘total’ is as high as any bowl game has ever seen at 82.5 (and rising), but it’s the truth in this one. We have seen UCLA play in some games like this one in the past, and the key to beating the Arizona Wildcats and the USC Trojans was the fact that the defense came up with two of its better games of the year in those victories. Baylor too, was only able to win games this year in which the defense at least made a few plays, such as allowing 34 points to the Oklahoma State Cowboys or 24 to the Kansas State Wildcats. It was really sad to think that this club scored 63 in a game and still lost by a touchdown to the West Virginia Mountaineers and then turned around three weeks later, scored 50 in Austin and still lost to the Texas Longhorns. It’s not going to take total Herculean efforts on either side to win this one, but whichever team can make a play here or a play there to help quell what would have been a touchdown drive in all likelihood will be the one that ultimately goes on to beat the Holiday Bowl odds.

Holiday Bowl Odds at BetGuardian Sportsbook
UCLA Bruins -3
Baylor Bears +3
Over/Under 82.5
Click Here to Bet Your Holiday Bowl Picks!

Key #2: The Baylor defense has to have an answer for Johnathan Franklin
About the only good news that the Baylor ‘D’ has to bring to the table in this game is that the club “only” ranks 90th in the NCAA in rush defense at 190.8 yards per game. Of course, a lot of that is because the teams in the Big XII are generally a lot more based upon the pass than the run, and the Bears themselves aren’t much of an exception to that rule. That being said, the Bruins would much rather keep the ball on the ground. QB Brett Hundley gets the job done with his feet, but the bell cow of this offense is RB Johnathan Franklin. With 1,701 rushing yards already under his belt, Franklin still has a chance to lead the nation in rushing if he can get over 200 yards on the ground in his final game. Don’t think that he is beyond doing it either, knowing that he just rumbled for 194 yards on a fantastic Stanford Cardinal defense in the Pac-12 Championship Game. Franklin has 4,370 rushing yards and a total of 34 TDs in his career, and he has put together 10 rushing TDs in his last seven games, including scoring at least twice in four out of those seven. This is a man that Baylor simply has to contain, knowing that Franklin has had at least 160 rushing yards in four of his last six.

Key #3: Terrance Williams has to be the best receiver in the nation
No man had more receiving yards in the regular season this year than did Williams, who had 95 catches, 1,764 yards, and 12 TDs. He had eight of those scores in his first five games of the year though, which really brings up some questions down the stretch. Williams also only had a total of 24 receptions in his last four games, and he only exceeded 91 yards once in those four outings. We have seen this man explode before, as he has had four games this year with double digits worth of receptions, eight games with at least 130 yards, and four games in which he averaged at least 21 yards per catch. Williams has the talent to do anything that he wants to against this unit, but in the end, we have to remember that the Bruins, for all of their flaws defensive, did hold WR Marqise Lee to a relatively tame 9/158/1 stat line, most of which was picked up in the second half of that game against the Bruins. This secondary definitely doesn’t stink as bad as Baylor’s does, and that could make this a huge challenge for the Bears.

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The Holiday Bowl is always one of the best NCAA football betting battles of the year in the bowl season, and this year shouldn’t be any exception. We have a real David vs. Goliath situation here in San Diego on Thursday night, as the Washington Huskies are taking on the Nebraska Cornhuskers in a game that really should be hot and heavy. Will U-Dub be able to exact some revenge from an early season loss to Big Red? Our Holiday Bowl keys to the game have the answers that you need to know before making your Holiday Bowl picks.

Key #1: Washington has to just forget about Round 1 against Nebraska
Sometimes, you just get blown out of the water in games. The Huskies were three point dogs at home earlier this year against the Cornhuskers, and they just never stood a chance. QB Taylor Martinez ran all over the place, the defense was stifling for Big Red, and by the time the dust settled in this one, Nebraska had scored a dominating five TD victory. The task for Head Coach Steve Sarkisian here is to make sure that his team’s psyche is still rock solid. He needs to turn that blowout loss into a form of motivation instead of being a reason for intimidation. Still, there is a lot that physically needs to change for U-Dub to even be able to compete in this one, and the biggest thing that really needs to happen is that it just needs to get tougher. Don’t be afraid to step up and smack the other guy in the mouth a little bit. Nebraska is like the big bully on the schoolyard, while Washington, which doesn’t have a single player on its roster that has every played in a bowl game before, looks like the little kid that just got his lunch money taken away. If the Huskies don’t stand tall and really believe that they can win this game, they’re going to get slaughtered.

Key #2: Jake Locker needs to look like a first round pick in the NFL Draft for a change
We’re calling you out, kid! Locker really doesn’t look like a man that is capable of leading a team at the NFL level even though he has all of the raw abilities to get the job done. Sometimes, you just need a winner. Sure, we know that the Huskies never really did surround Locker with type of talent he needed to be able to compete in the Pac-10, but there is really no excuse for this four year starter to never throw for 3,000 yards and to never have a winning season. This is his first bowl game, and he needs to make it count in front of a nationally televised audience. Locker threw for 2,209 yards and ran for 302 more this year, accounting for 22 TDs against nine picks. Of course, he had three games this year in which he didn’t throw for even 100 yards in the game, one of which came against these Cornhuskers. Big Red held him to just 4-for-20 passing for 71 yards with a score and two picks, and if Locker can’t shake those cobwebs off, there is no hope for the Huskies. Nebraska’s defense held teams to just 294.8 yards per game this year, just 159.9 of which came through the air. Needless to say, the Black Shirts are licking their chops once again.

Key #3: Washington can’t let Nebraska’s trio reach milestones
Of course, we’re talking about the rushing threesome of QB Taylor Martinez, RB Roy Helu, and RB Rex Burkhead. These three are all within striking distance of the 1,000 yard barrier this year (Helu is already there), and if that happens, they’ll become the second trio in the history of college football, joining the Nevada Wolf Pack’s QB Colin Kaepernick, RB Vai Taua, and RB Luke Lippincott to all reach four digits in yards on the ground in the same season. These three all rushed for 100+ yards on the Huskies the first time around, and Washington just can’t let that happen again. U-Dub allowed a very questionable 200.9 yards per game to opposing ground attacks this year, and it was one of the few teams in the land that allowed at least 200 yards per game both passing and rushing. This is why the Huskies are one of the few teams in the bowl season that averaged allowing more points per game (31.2) than they scored (22.1).