Friday, September 12, 2014

college football week 3 best bets part 2

Welcome to part 2 of college football week 3 best bets.  Last night wasn't a good start to the weekend, with North Texas acting like they weren't interested in playing for the first 2 1/2 quarters.  We have 12 more games that are solid plays for Saturday.

Indiana -7.5 @ Bowling Green
Indiana’s offense is legit, and can put up big numbers in a hurry.  BGSU has struggled on the defensive side of the ball this year, allowing 569 yds passing to Western Kentucky and 321 to VMI.  Last year Indiana won 42-10 at home, and covered the -2.5 point spread easily.  Last week BGSU lost it’s starting qb for the year with a hip injury.  Look for Indiana to get another big win

South Florida +1.5 vs North Carolina St
South Florida is coming off a home loss to Maryland, where there defense forced 6 turnovers.  NC State barely beat Georgia Southern at home in week 1, and last week trailed Old Dominion at home 21-10 before coming back to win.  Against the spread NC State is 0-7 in last 7, 2-9-1 in last 12 on road, 1-4 last 5 versus non-conference and 2-13 in last 15 as road favorites. 

Virginia Tech -10 vs East Carolina
VT is coming off a huge road upset of Ohio State, while East Carolina is coming off a hard fought loss at South Carolina.  These 2 teams are familiar with each other as they’ve played every year for the past 4 years.  In the past 5 meetings the home team is 4-1 against the spread.  Virginia Tech defense is playing aggressive and was able to force 3 turnovers last week.  The home crowd will be pumped up for this game, and Virginia Tech rides that energy to another big victory.

Central Michigan +6.5 vs Syracuse
Syracuse struggled in it’s season opener at home against Villanova, a game that went into 2 overtimes.  Central Michigan is coming off a big road upset of Purdue on the road.  Syracuse is 2-12 in last 14 in road openers.  Syracuse defense allowed 190 yds rushing to Villanova and the CMU run game is averaging 155 yds rushing per game.  Look for CMU to run over Syracuse this weekend and pull off the upset.

Pittsburgh -25.5 @ Florida International
Pittsburgh is coming off a big road victor at Boston College, while FIU is coming off back to back FCS opponents, one of which they lost.  FIU is 0-4 in last 4 versus the ACC and 2-5 in last 7 non-conference games.  Pitt is 4-0 in last 4 road games, 4-1 last 5 overall and 9-4 last 13 non-conference games. 

Georgia Southern +17 @ Georgia Tech
This is a much bigger game for Georgia Southern than it is for Georgia Tech.  Georgia Southern almost pulled off the upset at NC State in week 1, and then won big against an FCS opponent last week.  This game opened at Georgia Tech -20, so we left some points there, but it won’t matter.  Georgia Southern is 6-0 in last 6 non-conference games, 5-0 last 5 road games and 6-0 last 6 overall.  Meanwhile Georgia Tech is just 3-8-1 in last 12 overall and 1-4 last 5 at home.  I’ll take the points in this one.

Virginia +6.5 vs Louisville
This is Louisville first road game of the year.  Virginia is playing very good at home.  They opened the season versus ranked UCLA and nearly pulled off the upset with the defense completely shutting down the UCLA offense.  UCLA had 3 defensive touchdowns in that game, and those were the difference maker.  Virginia is 4-0 in last 4 overall and 3-1-1 at home in last 5.  Look for Virginia to keep it close

Duke -14 vs Kansas
Duke is on a roll since the start of last season, and are coming off a big 17 point victory on the road last week.  Kanas squeaked out a win versus Southeast Missouri State.  Kansas is 3-14 in road openers, 0-7-1 in last 8 non-conference, 1-4 last 5 overall and 7-18-1 last 26 on the road.  Duke is 3-0-1 in last 4 at home and 8-2-1 in last 11 overall. 

Arkansas at Texas Tech over 64 points
2 high flying offenses here, and not much defense.  The over for Arkansas is 8-2-1 in last 11 overall and 16-4-1 in last 21 road games.  The over in Texas Tech games is 4-1 last 5 at home and 14-5 in last 19 overall.  Arkansas games are averaging 73 points so far this year while Texas Tech games are averaging 66.

Mississippi -27.5 vs Louisiana
Louisiana is coming off a devastating upset at home against Louisiana Tech last week.  Mississippi is playing at home for the first time this year after opening on a neutral site and then playing on the road at Vanderbilt last week.  Mississippi is scoring points at will since the 4th quarter of the 1st game.  Ole Miss is 20-6 in last 26 non-conference, 5-2 last 7 at home and 7-3 last 10 overall.  Louisiana is 2-5 last 7 on the road and 2-6 last 8 overall.  Mississippi wins big in front of a rowdy home crowd.

Oklahoma -21 vs Tennessee
Last week we were backing Tennessee thinking the young team would continue to feed off the home crowd, and if it weren’t for 2 missed field goals we would’ve got the cover.  This is the first road game for a team that plays 20 freshman, and that game is in Norman against a #4 ranked team in the nation.  Oh and that team has won it’s first 2 games by an average of 38 points.  Also, don’t underscore the fact that Bob Stoops hates the SEC and every school in it.  If he gets a chance to run up the score against one, I believe he will.

Texas A&M -31.5 vs Rice
Kenny Hill is lighting up the college football scene, and leading one of the top offenses in the nation.  Texas A&M is averaging 458 passing yds a game and Rice gave up 295 yds passing to ND.  Texas A&M of course has the big upset win at South Carolina in Kenny Hill’s coming out party.  Rice opened at Notre Dame where they got blown out 48-17.  If Notre Dame can score 48 on Rice, Texas A&M can score 70.

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