The second bowl game of the season takes place Tuesday night at the Crampton Bowl in Montgomery, Alabama, as the Troy Trojans face the Jacksonville State Gamecocks in the IS4S Salute to Veterans Bowl.<\/p>\n
This is the 64th meeting between these two programs, but the first since 2001, marking the renewal of a former longtime rivalry termed the Ol\u2019 School Bell.<\/p>\n
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See why I\u2019m betting on the underdog with my Troy vs. Jacksonville State predictions and\u00a0college football picks<\/a> for the Salute to Veterans Bowl.<\/p>\n Troy vs Jacksonville State predictions for the Salute to Veterans BowlWho will win the Salute to Veterans Bowl?<\/p>\n Jacksonville State will pull off the upset as the ground game gets moving with Creel and Cook, and the defense holds up just enough against a poor Troy offense.<\/p>\n Troy vs Jacksonville State best bet: Jacksonville State +2.5 (-105)<\/p>\n The Jacksonville State Gamecocks<\/a> have the better overall metrics, yet are listed as the underdog. Why is that the case? Charles Kelly\u2019s squad has accumulated those numbers against the easiest schedule in the country (136th per ESPN\u2019s FPI).<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n The thing is, the Troy Trojans<\/a> haven\u2019t been particularly impressive despite facing a more challenging slate of opponents. Gerad Parker\u2019s team gains a full yard less per play on offense (4.7) than it allows on defense (5.7).<\/p>\n They benefited from two overtime wins in conference play to qualify for the Sun Belt Championship Game, where they mustered just 2.6 yards per play against James Madison.<\/p>\n The offense already stinks out loud (111th in success rate), and now could be without workhorse running back Tae Meadows (portal) and starting quarterback Goose Crowder. The offensive line struggles to block (126th in front seven havoc), and that\u2019s where JSU\u2019s defense excels (43rd in front seven havoc, 31st in line yards).<\/p>\n Troy\u2019s defense can\u2019t stop the run, allowing 182.7 yards per game, and that\u2019s music to the ears of Caden Creel (1,085 rushing yards) and national rushing yardage leader Cam Cook (1,659).<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n MORE FREE CFB PICKS<\/a><\/p>\n Troy vs Jacksonville State same-game parlay<\/p>\n This total has seen significant movement, dropping five points in response to the Crowder and Meadow news. I\u2019m buying back, as Crowder is reportedly practicing, and he has nearly identical numbers to backup Tucker Kilcrease, who saw extensive action this season and doesn\u2019t represent much of a dropoff, if any.<\/p>\n Cook has gone Over this number in nine of his last 12 games and should feast against a subpar rush defense, while Creel has found the end zone four times in his last four games and similarly stands to benefit from the matchup.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Troy vs Jacksonville State SGP<\/p>\n Cam Cook Over 107.5 rushing yards<\/p>\n Caden Creel anytime touchdown<\/p>\n Our deep-ball SGP: Cookin’ Up<\/p>\n Jacksonville State didn\u2019t face many prolific offenses, but the secondary proved vulnerable against Kennesaw State (362 passing yards), Delaware (422), Liberty (335), and UCF (314). RaRa Thomas is an SEC talent who previously played at Mississippi State and Georgia, and he\u2019s averaging 83.3 receiving yards across his last three games.<\/p>\n Troy vs Jacksonville State SGP<\/p>\n Cam Cook Over 107.5 rushing yards<\/p>\n Caden Creel anytime touchdown<\/p>\n RaRa Thomas Over 43.5 receiving yards<\/p>\n Troy vs Jacksonville State odds<\/p>\n Spread: Troy -2.5 | Jacksonville State +2.5<\/p>\n Moneyline: Troy -140 | Jacksonville State +120<\/p>\n Over\/Under: Over 46.5 | Under 46.5<\/p>\n Troy vs Jacksonville State trend to know<\/p>\n Jacksonville State is 6-3 ATS in its last nine games as an underdog of at least 2.5 points. Find more\u00a0college football betting trends<\/a> for Troy vs Jacksonville State.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n How to watch Troy vs Jacksonville State<\/p>\n Location<\/p>\n Cramton Bowl, Montgomery, AL<\/p>\n Date<\/p>\n Tuesday, December 16, 2025<\/p>\n Kickoff<\/p>\n 9:00 p.m. ET<\/p>\n TV<\/p>\n ESPN<\/p>\n Troy vs Jacksonville State latest injuriesTroy vs Jacksonville State weather<\/p>\n Monitor gametime conditions with our College football weather info<\/a>.<\/p>\n Odds are correct at the time of publishing and are subject to change. This article originally appeared on Covers.com<\/a>, read the full article here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The second bowl game of the season takes place Tuesday night at the Crampton Bowl in Montgomery, Alabama,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":83384,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[4667,46048,116,118,117,16843,4642,46049,46046,46047,4688],"class_list":["post-83383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-caden-creel","tag-crampton-bowl","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-jacksonville-state","tag-jacksonville-state-gamecocks","tag-rara-thomas","tag-salute-to-veterans","tag-salute-to-veterans-bowl","tag-troy-trojans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83383\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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