I think the Southern Miss Golden Eagles look way underrated here in the Independence Bowl. Southern Miss closed out the regular season on a high note by beating Rice, Charlotte and Marshall. The Golden Eagles have been money against the spread all season going 8-4 ATS and here they'll take on an FSU team playing under an interim coach.

The Florida State Seminoles will play this contest under Odell Haggins as Jimbo Fisher left FSU on Dec. 1 to become the head coach at Texas A&M and newly hired Willie Taggart not set to take over until next season. Haggins ran the team in FSU's regular season ending 42-10 triumph against ULM, but this should prove to be a much tougher matchup.

Note that the Golden Eagles rank higher than the Seminoles in points scored per game, total yards allowed, and total yards per game. Southern Miss lost its only two games it played against Power 5 teams, to Kentucky by 7 and to Tennessee by 14, so it was still competitive.

Ny selection is an 8* play on Southern Miss Golden Eagles.