College Football Picks Against The Spread Late September 9, 2017

College Football Picks Against The Spread Late September 9

I was a bit under average in the opening weekend of the college football season. Starting in the hole is nothing new. I have done that for four straight years now. Week 1 is the hardest to pick. By week two, we have a pretty good idea of what to expect from most teams.

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For those of you that are new here, I put myself out there every week. For the last six years, I have picked every single college football game. Sounds easy, right? I thought so too. So I have picked them all against the spread. That significantly increases the degree of difficulty.

I take the average of the odds from the six major Vegas casinos and round that to the nearest half point. There will be no ties here. Ties are for the other football.

Some site will sell you top ten picks for a fee. Some will even give you a couple of free picks to lure you in. This is every game picked, all for free.

This contains the picks for FBS vs. FBS games only. It is too hard to get an accurate spread on games that involve 1-AA teams.

I will assign a point value “bet” on each game, between one and five points. That way you can see just how confident I am in each pick. Look for those at the end of each line. I am down 43 points over the last two seasons, but I fully plan to be back to even before the end of of September.

This is for entertainment purposes only! I cannot be responsible for you losing any of your worldly possessions, significant others, or limbs to a loan shark. I am a simple person. I cannot have that on my conscience.

We have 76 games this weekend, but only 51 of them are FBS vs. FBS matchups. I will split the Saturday slate up into early and late games. Unfortunately, we have four games canceled or postponed because of Hurricane Irma. Florida Atlantic is the only team venturing to their road game from Florida. Miami and South Florida elected to stay home. Florida State and Florida weren’t going to make their opponents come down there with the entire state in danger. That leaves 43 games on Saturday. Here are the rest of the Saturday games!

Hawaii at UCLA(-23.5)(3): There is a lot not to like about this one. The way they game back on A&M, will they have enough left? Oh, who am I kidding? This is Hawaii! UCLA rolls!

Marshall at North Carolina State(-23.5)(2): The Wolfpack just ran into a good South Carolina team last weekend. Ryan Finley is absolutely the right quarterback here, and I think NC State rebounds in a big way here. I’ll take the Wolfpack.

(13)Auburn at (3)Clemson(-5.5)(3): If Jarrett Stidham is anywhere close to as lost as he was in the opener, Clemson’s defensive line is going to eat him alive. This game will be a defensive battle, but Clemson looked much better than Auburn in the opener. Give me the (home) Tigers!

Toledo(-10.5) at Nevada(1): I don’t like the half, and Nevada played a nice game on the road in the opener. Toledo also lost the school’s best player ever in RB Kareem Hunt. That said. Logan Woodside is a solid quarterback. I think I will take Nevada. I expect a close game.

UNLV at Idaho(-6.5)(5): I would have taken this when it opened at 8.5 after UNLV’s loss to Howard in opener. That was statistically the biggest upset in college football history by the 45 point dogs. Idaho should have no trouble in the Kibbie Dome.

North Texas at SMU(-13.5)(1): This one looks a little too high to me. North Texas has a solid QB and a defense that isn’t terrible. Does SMU? I don’t know. Give me UNT.

South Carolina at Missouri(-2.5)(3): The line is falling, as it should. I still think South Carolina is the better team, but by how much? The oddsmakers think so too since home field advantage is worth a touchdown. I think I’m going with the Cocks again!

(5)Oklahoma at (2)Ohio State(-7.5)(3): Indiana ran a spinoff of the Oklahoma offense with lesser personnel to great success in the opener. Oklahoma wont fall apart like Indiana did. This front seven will force Barrett into mistakes. I just don’t think Mayfield lets the Sooners lose again. Give me Oklahoma.

(15)Georgia at (24)Notre Dame(-5.5)(2): The loss of Jacob Eason had this line open high. Then everyone realized that Georgia has the best running back tandem in the country, and Fromm led this offense better than Eason did against Appalachian State. I think I like Georgia straight up.

Mississippi State(-9.5) at Louisiana Tech(3): Nick Fitzgerald is very very good, but what about the people around him? Louisiana Tech has a high powered offense, but I think that defense struggles big time with Fitzgerald. I’ll go with Mississippi State.

Texas State at Colorado(-35.5)(3): That’s a ton of points, but the Ralphies are more than capable of covering on offense, and the defense was impressive against Colorado State. Give me Colorado.

UTSA at Baylor(-16.5)(5): This is such a bogus line. Baylor just lost to Liberty! Give me the Roadrunners. Meep meep!

Western Kentucky(-7.5) at Illinois(2): The half makes this difficult. However, after last weekend I’m quite sure that the Hilltoppers are the better team. I’ll take WKU.

Rice at UTEP(-1.5)(1): Both teams got steamrolled in the opener. Give me the home team, I guess. I really have no idea.

New Mexico State at New Mexico(-7.5)(3): I like Lamar Jordan, but the Aggies really showed me something hanging with a good Arizona State team. And this is a rivalry game. I’m pretty sure this stays a one score game. Give me State!

(14)Stanford at (6)USC(-6.5)(2): My question is, just how good is Western Michigan? Sam Darnold looked like he regressed from last year. Maybe it was just rust. At any rate, Stanford looked like a very good team against a very bad team. USC desperately needs a receiver to step up and take some heat off of Darnold. I don’t think that happens yet, so give me Stanford.

Minnesota at Oregon State(-2.5)(5): Huh? No chance. Minnesota wins outright. This defense is legit, and the Beavers have done nothing but struggle so far.

Utah(-2.5) at BYU(4): The Holy War is almost always hotly contested. Utah was solid against North Dakota. BYU struggled against Portland State and had the doors blown off by LSU. How does this add up to a spread this small? It shouldn’t. Give me Utah.

Boise State at (20)Washington State(-9.5)(4): Washington State is for real, folks. Boise has virtually no chance at stopping this offense, and Wazzu shut out a top 1-AA team last weekend. Mike Leach may have a defense too! Wazzu rolls!

Houston at Arizona(EVEN)(2): Can Duke Catalon and Kyle Postma get Houston humming like Greg Ward did last year? That seems a tall task, especially at Arizona. However, I don’t really know how good this Arizona defense is. This could be a shootout, and betting the over is probably safer than betting this line. That said, I pick spreads. Give me Houston.

San Diego State at Arizona State(-2.5)(3): Nope! Rashaad Penny had more than one game where he outplayed super-back Donnel Pumphrey last year. He is more than ready to take the role on his own. Judging by Sparky’s troubles stopping Larry Rose III last week, this is going to be even worse. Aztecs straight up!

The five cancellations left us with 46 games this weekend. I ended up with six one pointers, 15 two pointers, 14 three pointers, six four pointers, and laying it out there with five five pointers. I didn’t do that once last year! Come back next week to see if it paid off!

Next: ESPN College Pick em Picks Week 2

Stay tuned to Fantasy CPR for the last couple of picks of the week against the spread, and our daily picks for MLB. We also have NFL DFS picks for week 1 and picks for the EPL!