No. 23 A&M Opens As 6.5-Point Favorite Over No. 20 Wake Forest In Gator Bowl

The Aggies find themselves favored over the higher-ranked Demon Deacons in the Gator Bowl

The No. 23 Texas A&M Aggies accepted its invite to the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida on Sunday afternoon, and will face the No. 20 Wake Forest Demon Deacons on Dec. 31. According to SI Sportsbook the Aggies are 6.5-point favorites over the Deacons.

The Aggies and Demon Deacons have just met once before, in a 2017 matchup in the Belk Bowl, resulting in a 55-52 Wake Forest win in a game that came just weeks after the firing of former Aggies coach Kevin Sumlin.

A lot has changed since then, including the hiring of Jimbo Fisher to lead the Aggies, and Fisher knows a little something about winning bowl games.

Fisher's postseason record is 8-2, which includes 1-0 in the Gator Bowl when Florida State beat NC State 52-13 in 2018. His .800 career bowl game winning percentage is tied for first all-time with Urban Meyer and Tom O'Brien.

And of course, the reason Fisher was pursued by the Aggies and hired in 2017, is his national championship over Auburn while coaching the Florida State Seminoles in 2014.

The opening line seems odd, favoring a lower-ranked team with eight wins over a higher-ranked opponent with 10 wins. Plus Wake Forest made its way to its conference championship game, which the Aggies did not do.

But Vegas and the committees rarely see things the same way. From a betting standpoint, the Aggies are just 7-5 against the spread while Wake Forest is just 6-7.

Fisher and the Aggies will be in Jacksonville to ring in the new year, and as 6.5-point favorites, are expected to win. But it's certainly not where they thought they would be when the season started, with expectations of an SEC West title and competing for a national championship.

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