What an opening week. Who would have bet that Liberty, Duke, and Liberty would all keep it close...for a half? Who thought Tennessee would drop one to Georgia-mother-flipping-State? Not this guy, that's for sure. I took the under on Florida/Miami and Southern Alabama +35. So that was nice. Unfortunately, I also took the Hokies (-4.5) and decided to parlay all the heavily favored teams in that gem above. PSA: don't bet, kids.
Anyway, on to this week's lines.
Some thoughts:
- Hokies (-29): I know we all want to see Tech hang 60 on the monarchs and blank them to boot, but is anyone really that confident we can do that? In our heyday, Vegas spots ODU 40, but even they aren't super confident. I'm not touching this at all. As it is, I'm still pissed at Willis for turning a blowout win into a 7 point loss last week and losing money on it only makes it worse.
- Syracuse (-2.5): Liberty threw everything they had at Syracuse... and got shut out to the tune of 24-0. I know baby face Jackson lit up Howard...but it's Howard. I think Syracuse got a better tune up game than UMd and reality comes crashing down on the terps. I'm taking Syracuse on this one.
- UT (-3): I think our neighbors to the southwest are in for another year of hilarious losses capped by dropping one to the best SEC team in the state, Vanderbilt. Until proven otherwise, my money is against the fighting traffic cones. Go
MormansCougars. - anOSU (-17): Justin Fields looked great last week. I think anOSU really upgraded by sending Tathan packing. That said, Cincinnati is really looking to make some noise with it's OOC games this year. I'm not saying anOSU loses, but I think Cinci keeps it close enough.
- Bama (-54): New Mexico State. At Alabama. The scoreboard will be flipping faster that Clark Griswold's power meter. I think Bama covers.
As always, please do not take my ramblings as legitimate gambling advice. You will lose your shirt and anything else you're foolish enough to bet based on my idiocy. Lines may change over the course of the week.
I also may have made errors copying them. Always triple check when money is at stake. TKP does not encourage gambling and even if it did, I am neither employed nor sanctioned by Orange and Maroon Media, LLC so who cares.
| Away | Home | Line | _____ | Away | Home | Line |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wake Forest | Rice | Wake (-18.5) | New Mexico State | Bama | Bama (-54) | |
| Marshall | Boise State | BSU (-12) | San Diego State | UCLA | UCLA (-7) | |
| Ohio | Pitt | Pitt (-6.5) | UL Monroe | FSU | FSU (-21) | |
| ODU | VT | VT (-29) | Wyoming | Texas State | Wyoming (-7) | |
| UAB | Akron | UAB (-8) | North Texas | SMU | SMU (-4) | |
| Army | Michigan | Michigan (-23) | BYU | UT Knoxville | UT (-3) | |
| Vandy | Purdue | Purdue (-8.5) | UCF | FAU | UCF (-10.5) | |
| Rutgers | Iowa | Iowa (-20.5) | Western Kentucky | FIU | FIU (-8.5) | |
| Syracuse | Maryland | Syracuse (-2.5) | Coastal Carolina | Kansas | Kansas (-8.5) | |
| West Virginia | Missouri | Mizzou (-14.5) | Liberty | UL Lafayette | UL Lafayette (-13) | |
| Cincinnati | anOSU | anOSU (-17) | Western Michigan | Michigan State | MSU (-16) | |
| Bowling Green | Kansas State | KSU (-24) | LSU | UT Austin | LSU (-4.5) | |
| N. Illinois | Utah | Utah (-23) | Tulane | Auburn | Auburn (-19) | |
| USF | GT | GT (-5.5) | Arkansas | Ole Miss | Ole Miss (-7) | |
| Tulsa | SJSU | Tulsa (-6.5) | Nevada | Oregon | Oregon (-23) | |
| Nebraska | Colorado | Nebraska (-4) | Buffalo | Pedo State | PSU (-28.5) | |
| aTm | Clemson | Clemson (-17.5) | Eastern Michigan | Kentucky | Kentucky (-14) | |
| CMU | Wisconsin | Wisconsin (-35) | UTEP | Texas Tech | Texas Tech (-34) | |
| Charlotte | App State | App State (-21.5) | Miami | UNCheat | Miami (-6) | |
| S. Mississippi | Miss State | Miss State (-16.5) | California | Washington | Wash (-13.5) | |
| Illinois | Uconn | Illinois (-20) | Minnesota | Fresno State | Minn (-3) | |
| Arkansas State | UNLV | UNLV (-2) | Oregon State | Hawaii | Hawaii (-5) | |
| UTSA | Baylor | Baylor (-27) |

Comments
After correctly calling the Boise State win last week I'm going to start tracking my Lock of the Week.
Hawai'i only gives up 5 points to one of the worst teams in the P5 at home? Give me the Rainbow Warriors.
I think they had to drop the Rainbow because it was insensitive to colorblind people. Since my brother is a proud UH alumnus I give him crap about it all the time...😂
My picks:
LSU/Texas (+4.5)... Give me Texas and the points.
Texas A&M/Clemson (-17.5).... Give me A&M and the points
Miami/UNC (+6)... Give me UNC and the points
This:
Marshall Marshall Marshall +12 @Boise State. On paper, there's little difference between Boise State and Marshall, plus Boise is coming off an emotionally draining win in Tallahassee (and energy sapping due to the high humidity)...on a short week give me the dog in this one.
Also like Clemson/A&M over (59) and LSU/Texas under (51)
I'm not a gambler, but I'm nothing short of astonished that VT is a 29-point favorite over a team that beat us by two touchdowns last year.
I realize that I have more of a "realist/pessimist" view than most people on TKP, but I would basically be thrilled to beat ODU by two scores, and frankly I'd take just about any victory margin without being too upset.
This team has the potential to get a lot better as the season goes along, but our pass rush and running game is not likely to magically get better any time soon. I'm not considering anything a given at this point.
While I do think 29 is optimistic given what we've seen so far, I still think we should be drubbing ODU and will be more than concerned than I am now if we don't. I'm still banking on last year's game being an anomaly and figure we'll get well a little bit this weekend. I'm not a betting man, though, and not about to become one this week.
I'm smashing aTm to cover, this will be a one score game barring major injury
Syracuse I think covers purely because UMD is still high on their blowout win
Also have a sneaky suspicion Cincy cover, OSU beat FAU but still gave up 21 and I think Cincy is a better football team
Georgia State not Southern, correct?
Yep. My bad.
Gotta think that aTm will be out for vengeance against Klempson after the way they got jobbed last year. If I had any money, I would put it on aTm with all those points, especially after the weak performance by Klempson's QB versus the Bees.
I agree. I'm taking aTm (+17), but the Clemson ML
I don't think Miami is any great team or anything, but I love (-6) at UNC.
Syracuse is my baby this week. I took them -2.5 Monday, then the line swung to UMD so I bet the ML. Then I wanted another bet to round out a 3 leg parlay so I threw the Syracuse ML in there, too. This could end horribly...
Illinois to cover -21 at UCONN seems like a no brainer.
Took Arkansas straight up vs Ole Miss....
Alabama -54 vs New Mexico St looks like the no-brainer of the week. Wazzu beat them by 51 last week (winning me about hunnit and a half) while only favored by 32 or so. I know the transitive property is not real, but don't tell me that 'Bama is only 3 points better than Wazzu.
FWIW, Alabama has been a 50+ point favorite 4 times in Saban's time there and is 0-4 ATS.
This line is crazy...55 point faves and the total is 64???? Not a lot of wiggle room there, def take the Aggies +55