Happy New Year! It's time for the first bowl games of 2023 and the final non-championship bowls of the postseason. Eight teams play on Monday, including two conference champions and one team playing for its late head coach.

The day starts off with a matchup between 8-4 teams in the ReliaQuest bowl from Tampa. The No. 22 Mississippi State Bulldogs, still in mourning over the untimely death of head coach Mike Leach in December, face the Illinois Fighting Illini. Caesars Sportsbook has Mississippi State as a 1.5-point favorite with the over/under at 46.

The Cheez-It Citrus Bowl pits the No. 17 LSU Tigers (9-4) against the Purdue Boilermakers (8-5). Caesars lists LSU as a 14.5-point favorite with the total set at 56.

In the first of two 'New Year's Six' games, the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic in Arlington, TX, the No. 16 Tulane Green Wave (11-2) take on the No. 10 USC Trojans (10-2). USC is favored by 2-points per Caesars with the total set at 62.

In the final game of the day, the Rose Bowl Game Presented by Prudential, the No. 11 Penn State Nittany Lions face off against the No. 8 Utah Utes. Caesars has Utah as a 2-point favorite with the over/under at 52.5.

Before you submit your parlays for these games, check out what the SportsLine Projection Model and SportsLine college football analyst Eric Cohen recommend for Monday's games.

The SportsLine Projection Model simulates every FBS college football game 10,000 times. Over the past six-plus years, the proprietary computer model has generated a stunning profit of almost $2,500 for $100 players on its top-rated college football picks against the spread. Anyone who has followed it has seen HUGE returns.

Cohen finished one game above .500 with his picks on the season, including an impressive 17-8 run over the final two weeks of the season. His SEC conference parlays generated more than 11 units of profit for bettors who followed his selections. Thus far this bowl season, he's 15-14 with one more big day to go.

One of the bowl picks the model is high on: Illinois +1.5 vs. Mississippi State. The Illini will be looking to finish the year on a high note after their stinging loss against Michigan, and the model likes their chances at covering.

Another prediction: Cohen is taking Utah -2 vs. Penn State in the Rose Bowl. "I favor the Utes for two reasons," Cohen says. "One: coaching. Kyle Whittingham is arguably the most underrated coach in the country, with his teams over-achieving year after year. His 11-4 bowl record speaks for itself. James Franklin's teams rarely beat teams better than them (see this current team) and to me, he's overrated by national media members."

You ABSOLUTELY need to see their bowl parlays before locking in any of your own. 

Make your own college football parlay using SportsLine's expert picks! Use promo code MONTH to get your first month of SportsLine for free!

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