Money won is twice as sweet as money earned.
The Color of Money
We are officially one third of the way through this years college football season. Depressing when you think of it that way isn’t it? Well fellow degenerate gambler, do not despair for this is is when it is our time to shine. For the first few weeks, while we don’t want to have to admit it, there is a lot of guesswork. There aren’t many stats to compare, new coaches are working their styles in, and we capital K know that Jim Harbaugh has Michigan on track to win it all this year. Now we have some numbers. We have a better idea of who will run up a score to improve their ranking. Most importantly, we know that Mack Brown and Jim Harbaugh will still hurt us at every opportunity. So with that information in hand we hit week five and we hit it hard. On with the picks!
Friday 9/27
Duke and Virginia Tech over 53.5 points-If you are over the age of 30 you are asking why in the world anyone is taking an over in a Virginia Tech home game at night. Well, Bud Foster is on his way out. Old Dominion and Furman aren’t exactly powerhouse tuneup games for the Hokies, and Boston College (yeah the one that lost at home to Kansas by 20 points) hung 35 on them. Quentin Harris is over 70% passing the ball and is leading Duke rushing the ball as well. The Blue Devils put up 40 in back to back games but Va Tech should bust off a big run or two and we start the weekend with an unexpectedly high scoring game here. If you’re an “I have to bet a team” person I lean Duke +2.5.
Saturday 9/28
Georgia Tech +8.5 at Temple-More of a play against Temple than on Georgia Tech here. The Yellow Jackets are under a new coach installing a new offense which is a huge change from the option and other than the bright spot of Jordan Mason at tailback they aren’t a lot of fun to watch. Temple on the other hand seems to enjoy playing everyone close regardless of their skill level. I’ll bank that GT has incremental improvement each week and Temple continues to play to their opponents level.
Washington State +6 at Utah-Utah was thinking win the PAC-12, go to the playoff, actually play defense in this conference, and then they ran into the buzzsaw that is USC this season. The Utes have been phenomenal against the run this season but against the pass not so great. Enter Washington State. Anthony Gordon is over the magical 70% mark I love to see and threw for NINE touchdowns last week in a loss! Mike Leach seems to be able to get his teams to bounce back well after losses and has had Utah’s number in recent years, I’ll take them to keep it close here.
Kansas State +4 at Oklahoma State-I absolutely love what Chris Klieman is doing at Kansas State. This will be a huge test for the Wildcats but I’m going to buy in and hope I’m not too early. They play to their strengths offensively and don’t let their opponents play to theirs when on defense. The biggest concern will be Chuba Hubbard here, not the fast pace or passing. The Wildcats brought back 8 defensive starters this season and go against a freshman QB who hasn’t seen anything like this defense yet. Taking the experience and ball control here with a first year coach who seems to know how to get his guys ready for every opportunity so far.
Hawaii +2.5 at Nevada-The secret is out now on one of the most underrated teams in the country. The Rainbow Warriors were projected to win right around five games for the year and have three to their resume already, two again the PAC-12. They still love to score and get to go up against a team who’s best performances have been against UTEP and a week one, Purdue. Nevada has been great against the run but has already given up over 400 yards passing in a game this season; twice! Tune in to this one if for nothing other than to watch Cole McDonald chuck the rock. If he’s a system quarterback I like that system.
The sure thing blue plate special lock of the century this week is Deadeye BBQ. Get to Hy-Vee and pick up two packages of Hillshire Farm Smokies and you get the best BBQ sauce on the market free. When you invite me over to thank me for winning so much I expect the home to smell like smokies covered in the best BBQ sauce man has ever made.
Thank you again to everyone at The Tailgate Society for letting me join them in the quest to make the internet more fun. A special shoutout to @kingscowboyhat for taking time to make a logo for me; life is busy and it takes a special kind of person to do something for someone knowing you’ll likely get nothing in return.
Follow me on twitter @tsglevi where I generally stick to sports and betting unless I don’t feel like it and then I have the microphone and you don’t so you will listen to every damn word I have to say! Until next time remember: Good teams win; great teams cover.