AutoZone Liberty Bowl point spread: Picking Memphis Tigers vs Iowa State Cyclones
There are plenty of bowls to watch ahead of the College Football Playoff. That includes the Liberty Bowl the Memphis Tigers and the Iowa State Cyclones.
Iowa State is entering the game as a 9.5-point favorite and the point total is set to 56.5 points. Ahead of that game, On3’s Andy Staples shared some of his thoughts on the matchup in the Liberty Bowl.
How to watch North Carolina vs. West Virginia
Time: Dec. 29 – 3:30 p.m. ET
Channel: ESPN or ESPN+, FuboTV (streaming)
Location: Memphis, TN
At one point this season, it didn’t look like Iowa State would even make a bowl game. However, as Andy Staples pointed out, the Cyclones were able to get to the Liberty Bowl thanks to an incredibly impressive turnaround by head coach Matt Campbell and quarterback Rocco Becht.
“I think Matt Campbell did a great job,” Staples said. “I think Rocco Becht was just, remember Rocco Becht started because Hunter Dekkers got caught up in the gambling investigation. That was a very close to the Fall practice situation.”
At the same time, Memphis is a tough team out of the AAC and this is basically a home game for the Tigers in the Liberty Bowl.
“So, Memphis-Iowa State game in the Liberty Bowl. It’s a home game for Memphis. The Seth Henigan–Roc Taylor combo is still intact. I expect Memphis to score some points in this game,” Staples said. “One corner TJ Tampa might opt out for Iowa State but Matt Campbell expects to have the whole team basically other than that.”
Memphis is capable of putting up a lot of points on offense and it’s a fairly wide spread. On top of that, Iowa State’s offense hasn’t been particularly explosive outside of the win against Kansas State.
“This is a tough one for me because this is the best defense Memphis has played since maybe Missouri. Memphis did score 27 on Missouri too,” Staples said.
“But I’m choosing to believe the team that we saw in Farmageddon is Iowa State going forward. I may be completely wrong but I’m gonna take the Cyclones here. Magical finish to their season. Rocco Becht, from Tampa to Ames, Iowa. Maybe he’s the next Brock Purdy. Who knows? I’m gonna stop there. It’s too much.”
So, for Andy Staples, it was a tough decision but he’s going with Iowa State to cover 9.5 points against Memphis in the Liberty Bowl.