This article covers a past game! See our Ball State vs Georgia prediction for the upcoming game on September 9, 2023
There's one matchup on the college football bowl game schedule for Christmas Day — the Camellia Bowl, which features the Georgia State Panthers and the Ball State Cardinals.
The Ball State Cardinals defeated the Buffalo Bulls, 20-3 back on November 23rd in their final game of the season. That win gave the Cardinals six wins and allowed them to be bowl eligible.
Now they’ll take on a Georgia State team that went 7-5 on the season. The Panthers finished with three straight wins and are feeling good coming into this game, winning four of their last five. Here are our picks and predictions for the TaxAct Camellia Bowl between the Georgia State Panthers and the Ball State Cardinals.
Georgia State vs Ball State odds
Odds via the Covers Line, an average comprised of odds from multiple sportsbooks.
The Georgia State Panthers opened as 3.5-point favorites. Since opening, the Panthers shifted to -4.5 at all outlets at the time of this writing. Meanwhile, the total also shifted in favor of the over, from 49.5 at open to as high as 50.5 at some sportsbooks.
Use the live odds widget above to track any future line movements right up until kickoff and be sure to check out the full college football odds before placing your bets.
Georgia State vs Ball State predictions
- Prediction: Georgia State -4.5 (-110)
- Prediction: Under 50.5 (-110)
- Best bet: Georgia State -4.5 (-110)
Predictions made on 12/16/2021 at 4:30 p.m. ET.
Click on each prediction to jump to the full analysis.
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Georgia State vs Ball State game info
• Location: Cramton Bowl, Montgomery, AL
• Date: Saturday, December 25, 2021
• Time: 2:30 p.m. ET
• TV: ESPN
Georgia State vs Ball State betting preview
Weather
Be sure to monitor the gametime conditions with our NCAA football weather info.
Key injuries
Georgia State: No injuries reported.
Ball State: Dylan Koch TE (Out), Kaleb Slaven OL (Out), Tye Evans RB (Out).
Find our latest NCAA football injury reports.
Betting trend to know
The Panthers are 5-0 against the spread in their last 5 games after allowing less than 20 points in their previous game. Find more NCAA betting trends for Georgia State vs. Ball State.
Georgia State vs Ball State picks and predictions
Our predictions are compiled from the analysis of the spread and total and are indications of where we are leaning for this game.
Our best bet is the play that we like the most for this game, which we would actually put some of our bankroll behind.
Spread analysis
On December 25, we will get a game between two bowl-eligible teams that each allowed more points than scored this season. Sometimes in sports, you just gotta get lucky and come out with wins in close games. Both of these teams did just that in the regular season.
Georgia State is averaging 26.3 points per game while allowing 27.7. The Panthers gave up 405.8 yards per game on the year with 147 of those coming on the ground each time out. But to be fair, the running game wasn’t all that bad this year on the defensive end. It was more the poor tackling on that defense.
The front line was exceptional, especially with the pass rush. The Panthers can put a lot of pressure on quarterbacks and have done so plenty of times this season.
On the other hand, Ball State was a bit more inconsistent, scoring 24.4 points per game while allowing 26.5 points per game. The Cardinals also allowed over 415 yards per game on defense.
Ball State is also capable of putting pressure on the quarterback but will have a bit of trouble trying to stop the run. The Cardinals allowed teams to rush for nearly 170 yards per game while Georgia State finished the regular season rushing for 222.7 yards per game.
That’s ultimately the difference. Georgia State should be able to find holes in the run game and keep drives alive while Ball State should struggle a bit more to find its footing.
Prediction: Georgia State -4.5 (-110)
Over/Under analysis
I’m going to go with the Under. Ball State has a little bit of a running game, averaging 134.3 yards per game, but outside that the Cardinals really haven’t been impressive on offense. The Cardinals should be thrilled with scoring over 24 points per game on just 334.8 yards.
Plus, Georgia State’s success should also come on the ground. Ball State’s secondary has its holes, but the pass rush is effective and could be a problem for Georgia State as well. So let’s take the Under 50.5 with two teams combining to allow over 800 yards per game on the defense. It’s a bit risky, but I don’t trust these offenses.
Prediction: Under 50.5 (-110)
Best bet
I’ll be sticking with Georgia State for my best bet. Ball State has a pass rush and maybe don’t miss as many tackles, but Georgia State has the much better running game in comparison and the overall better offense.
Gaining under 350 yards of offense per game isn’t going to cut it when you’re allowing teams to average over 415 yards per game.
Pick: Georgia State -4.5 (-110)
Did you know that if you parlayed our Georgia State vs. Ball State picks, you could win $26.45 on a $10 bet?
Use our college football parlay calculator to create your own parlays and see their potential payouts.
