More Week 2 College Football Line Action
I don’t really want to steel Trips Right’s thunder with adding some more games, but since the Prodigal Son returned to Juarez El Paso early this week, I think we need to revive some line talk. Plus, if we don’t, Big Satan will resort to only betting 5-team parlays.
A few updates on two of Trips’ picks:
Miami +21 @ Florida 1 unit. Hawaii played Florida much closer than people think. Florida’s defense is porous and Miami has young coaching star Randy Shannon. The Gators will need to get in the 40’s to cover. Gimme that bet everytime with a team of athletes and a well coached defense. 35-24 Florida.
This line has edged up over the 3 TD mark to 22 or 22.5. That is a nice 1.5 move if you liked it at 21 even.
Central Michigan +23.5 @ Georgia. Dan Lefevour > Matt Stafford. Remember Georgia barely snuck by a similar team in Troy last year 44-34. That’s a big number to cover on the ground. 38 - 24 Dawgs
This line has edged up over 24. Again, that is a critical crossover. I also think Georgia may be looking ahead to their SEC opener in Columbia, SC next week, particularly after watching them last night. I like this game BIG.
Now, on to some other games that I like.
Use your winnings to drop $90 on a trucker hat
West Virginia opened at a 10.5 point favorite at East Carolina and that line has dropped all the way to 7.5. Why? Well, East Carolina has gotten a lot of love on national TV with its win over Virginia Tech. It also helps that Lou’s son is the HC at East Carolina.
The nation (and everyone on the campus) has spent the last 7 days patting this CUSA team on the back. It is hard to keep your focus. Plus, West Virginia put 599 yards against this defense last year (9 of their 11 are back). How much improvement are you expecting? West Virginia outgained them by 439 yards last year and won by 41. Let’s face it – a lot has changed in Morgantown in the past 12 months, but they will still roll the Pirates. ARG!!
Kansas -20 hosting LA Tech – When you are picked 7th in the WAC, you are not a good team. Yes, but they beat an SEC opponent last week! I watched the game – Mississippi State is terrible, they will go 0-8 in the SEC. SEC wishes the state of Mississippi didn’t exist when arguing conference supremacy. This is a young LA Tech team that won 5 ballgames last year and now they have to travel to Kansas. LA Tech was lost 12 straight when traveling to face a BCS team by an average of 37 points. Kansas is still trying to figure out their run game, but their defense and passing game are still humming, so look for a 45-14 final.
Houston @ Oklahoma State OVER 57.5 – This one is pretty straight forward. The average total last week was just under 52. These two offenses scored 55 and 39, respectively. And the Cowboys played a decent BCS opponent on the road to notch their 39 after a very sluggish start. Neither team likes to play defense. Take the OVER.
For those of you who like to bet totals, strictly for entertainment purposes of course, you should have already figured out that the ballyhooed time clock changes are not changing a whole. In fact, this year’s first week average points scored actually increased by 2.4 points from last year’s first weekend (51.6, 49.2). Covers.com ran a solid article on “College rule changes and how they impact totals” which is well worth the read.
September 5, 2008 at 11:44 am
I already set a 10 team parlay. I’m good.
September 5, 2008 at 4:20 pm
I’m not sure Randy Shannon is young (he’s 42, in other words- the same age Mack was in his 6th year at UNC or Stoops was in his 4th year at OU) or a star. One of the odd things about Miami is that they fired Coker for losing the team (how odd that nobody else has hired him), but replaced him with somebody from the same staff.
Usually when a staff or coach loses a team, they go outside for the hire. They hired Shannon because Jimmy Johnson promoted him to the Miami AD so hard. He may work out, but it’s not a sure thing at all. I wonder if his best chance to succeed is at a different program.
September 5, 2008 at 4:58 pm
42 is young for a head coach at a major program. It’s debatable if he’s a star.
September 5, 2008 at 6:26 pm
supposedly miami hired bill young who was the defensive coordinator for kansas last year. i don’t know who was ultimately responsible for the discipline kansas team played with last year since the whole team seemed well coached, but kansas’s defense was extremely disciplined and effective given the talent they had to work with. they manage to control and beat a va. tech team which clearly had a good size talent advantage over them. and supposedly tebow for all his heisman hype still has difficulty actually throwing the ball, supposedly locker from washington is actually quite a bit more talented than tebow, even when it comes to running with the ball, it would be no surprise to me if miami played this game close, florida maybe still too one dimensional offense and a bit overrated overall. if florida’s defense is porous and not strength, i do not see how this will not be a close contest, unless miami is just a tema that totally sucks ass.
September 6, 2008 at 2:52 pm
ecu just faceraped wvu. is it appropriate to declare wvu overrated? methinks yes