Most 2006 Orange Bowl odds are showing Louisville as a decided favorite over Wake Forest. Both of these teams have had to battle injuries to make it through this season, but through it all each earned their first births into a BCS bowl.
Wake Forest is a stranger to the bowl season, heading to only six games since 1949, but they have won in their last three trips. The last appearance was a 38-17 rout of Oregon in 2002 in the Seattle Bowl. They overcame the loss of their starting quarterback, top running back, and backup running back. Redshirt freshman Riley Skinner came in to lead the squad to the conference title even though most experts had them slated in at last in the ACC this pre-season. Jim Grobe earned coach of the year for his efforts over Greg Shiano of Rutgers. Grobe’s defense will try to maintain it’s dominance in which it has held eight teams to 14 or less points this season.
Louisville on the other hand has made it to nine straight bowl games, but last last year 35-24 to Virginia Tech in the Gator Bowl. The Cardinals battled through their own share of injuries with Heisman Trophy candidate Michael Bush gone for the year and Brian Brohm missing a chunk of time in the middle of the year. Louisville is an offensive powerhouse putting up 477 ypg and 39 ppg, but their defense is pretty under-rated. They have held their opponents to 14.7 ppg and 296 ypg when playing away from home.
Is the double digit spread too many or can Louisville dominate like they have several other opponents this year? Head on over to our college bowl picks section and pick up a package from one of our experts.
2006 Orange Bowl Odds:
Wake Forest +10 -106 at Pinnacle
Louisville -10 -104 at Pinnacle
UNDER 52 -108 at Pinnacle
OVER 51.5 at BetCris