2013 Sugar 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 Florida Gators and the Louisville Cardinals. Join us for our Sugar Bowl keys to the game and our Louisville vs. Florida predictions.

2013 Sugar Bowl: Florida Gators vs. Louisville Cardinals
2013 Sugar Bowl Location: Mercedes Benz Superdome, New Orleans, LA
2013 Sugar Bowl Date/Time: Wednesday, January 1st, 8:30 p.m. (ET)
2013 Sugar Bowl On TV: ESPN

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

Key #1: Florida’s offense needs to get something out of someone aside from Mike Gillislee
We give all of the credit in the world to what RB Mike Gillislee has been able to do this year. He has had a good offensive line in front of him, which really has helped quite a bit, and he put up 1,104 yards and a total of 11 TDs on the year. The most remarkable part about the whole thing is that he did all of this without any semblance of a passing game. Florida’s offense just stunk it up with QB Jeff Driskel out there, as he threw for just 1,465 yards and 11 TDs and rushed for 404 yards. Granted, when Driskel was at his best, Florida was in fine shape. The good news is that he was at his best in the team’s most recent game against the Florida State Seminoles. In that game, he threw for 147 yards and a score and proved to be the MVP of the game. When he was effective, the rest of the ground game was able to really get going, and the team ended up with 244 yards on 47 carries for the game. That’s the type of production that it is going to take to ultimately win the Sugar Bowl this year, but if Driskel has one of these games where he goes 10-of-28 for 90 yards with no scores, Florida is going to be in a heck of a lot of trouble.

Sugar Bowl Odds at BetGuardian Sportsbook
Florida Gators -14
Louisville Cardinals +14
Over/Under 47
Click Here to Bet Your Sugar Bowl Picks!

Key #2: Louisville’s defense has to step up against the run
For most of the season, Head Coach Charlie Strong had his boys from the ‘Ville playing great ball on the defensive side of things. Down the stretch though, the team slipped just a bit. The Syracuse Orange ran for 278 yards against this unit, and the Connecticut Huskies picked up 149 yards on the ground as well. The team rebounded against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights and held a team that really can move the rock on the ground to just 54 yards, and that’s a large chunk of the reason why Louisville was even able to make it to the BCS this year. Take out that game against Syracuse though, and what’s left is a unit that allowed right around 140 yards per game rushing this year. If the Cardinals can hold the Gators to that type of a number, the blue and orange are going to have an awfully tough time figuring out how to cover the spread in this one, and potentially win the game outright as well. If Driskel is forced to put the ball in the air, the Gators are going to be in some trouble.

Key #3: The Cards cannot get beaten by Florida’s special teams
We have seen the Gators do too much work on special teams over the course of the last few months to know that it could be problematic again in this one. The team has tried fake punts, fake field goals, gimmick plays, has blocked punts, blocked kicks, returned kicks and punts for scores… You name it on special teams, Head Coach Will Muschamp has dialed it up. Most of it has worked, but not all of it has. If not for the blocked punt returned for a touchdown against the Louisiana Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns, it’s anyone’s guess as to whether the Gators would have been playing here or in the Outback Bowl (or worse). Here’s the other facet to Florida’s game that we haven’t discussed yet: The kicking game. K Caleb Sturgis has a huge leg and can boot it from 55 yards if given the chance. He was one of the better kickers in America this year, while P Kyle Christy averaged a whopping 46.1 yards per punt attempt. Special teams are where Florida really has killed a ton of foes this year, and Louisville has to avoid being the next team in a long line of clubs that succumbed to the UF special teams unit to have a chance at the upset.

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The Ohio State Buckeyes could be reaching the end of an era this week at the Sugar Bowl, where they are going to take on the Arkansas Razorbacks. There are storylines galore to analyze before making our NCAA football picks in this one, and we have the three keys to the game that you have to watch out for here at Bankroll Sports!

Key #1: The Buckeyes have to let the off the field issues stay off the field
Though we know that QB Terrelle Pryor, WR DeVier Posey, and RB Daniel Herron are amongst the five players that have vowed to come back for their senior seasons next year, we aren’t so sure that that is going to be the case. These five juniors, all of which are eligible to go to the NFL Draft next year if they please, were at the center of a scandal in which they were suspended for the first five games of next season. Head Coach Jim Tressel and company were lucky to find out that none of the top Buckeyes were suspended for the biggest game of the season in the Sugar Bowl, though. That being said, nothing is stopping these players from hopping out of Columbus right after this game is over, never getting punished for their actions. All of these distractions could be a tremendous key in this game. If OSU isn’t focused, it is going to be punished by a well disciplined bunch of Razorbacks. The Buckeyes also have to forget about that the Big Ten was dominated on New Year’s Day is bowl games. They are a totally different team this year than the rest of this conference was, and they can’t let the conference’s 2-5 record stop them.

Key #2: This Buckeye defense has to be as nasty as advertised
After watching the TCU Horned Frogs take down the Wisconsin Badgers in the Rose Bowl, we’re not really so sure about this argument, but this Ohio State defense really could have been the best in the nation this year. The Buckeyes held teams to just 251.6 yards per game this year, and though this was a country mile away from what the Horned Frogs allowed, it was still easily good enough to finish second in the land. OSU ranked No. 6 or better in the land in every single major defensive categories this year. Allowing 13.3 points per game this year, and this was a stat that would have been a lot better had this unit not been victim to a number of special teams and offensive blunders. We also have to remember that this was a fairly brutal schedule this year, and the only team that scored more than 24 points against this ‘D’ was the Wisconsin Badgers.

Key #3: Ryan Mallett has to continue spreading the ball around to the rest of his offensive weapons
Mallett was one of the most unheralded quarterbacks in the nation this year, and we are somewhat bothered by the fact that he really has fallen off of the map as a potential top NFL prospect. We’re not so sure that he isn’t the best signal caller in the land as a pure passer, and that includes Heisman Trophy winner QB Cam Newton in his own conference. Mallett completed 66.5 percent of his passes this year for 3,592 yards and 30 TDs against 11 picks in the toughest conference in America. The recently declared QB Blaine Gabbert for the Missouri Tigers is supposedly a Top 20 pick in the NFL Draft, and he might be up into the Top 5 when push comes to shove. This is really the chance for Mallett to shine against one of the best defenses in the country, though. We also have to remember that Mallett hasn’t had WR Greg Childs since the end of October. Still, there are going to be six receivers on this team that end up with more than 600 yards for the season assuming that TE DJ Williams has at least 11 yards for the game. There are a ton of speed burners on this team right now. WR Cobi Hamilton is averaging 19.6 yards per reception to lead this team, but WR Jarius Wright is at 18.9 yards per catch as well. WR Joe Adams is at 16.9 yards per catch to boot. This is why Mallett is averaging almost ten yards per time that he drops back to throw the pigskin. If that keeps up, the Hogs have a great chance at pulling off the upset.