College Football Results Week 9: Who Were The Spread Busters?
By Mike Marteny
College Football Results Against The Spread Week 9
We had another big week with 55 FBS vs. FBS games over our college football weekend. It was a bad week in pick em, but I know I hit one of my five pointers, so I am pretty optimistic about the rest of the week.
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I ended up with just 32 points in pick em this week, which was my second worst total of the past three years. Unfortunately, the worst was earlier this year.
Here we will recap my picks against the spread. The winner against the spread will be in BOLD. My result will follow. Let’s get to it!
In case you want to follow along:
Thursday-Friday
Early Saturday
Saturday Afternoon
Late Saturday
Eastern Michigan at Northern Illinois((-7.5): HIT! The Eagles didn’t win outright, but they did take the Huskies to overtime!
Toledo(-25.5) at Ball State: HIT! Why did I lower this again? What a showing by the Rockets!
Western Kentucky(-9.5) at Old Dominion: MISS! Ray Lawry got near his full compliment of carries in the offense again, and the Hilltopper defense didn’t stop him enough. This was a big road win for WKU though.
South Alabama(-1.5) at Georgia State: MISS! Surprise, surprise! A Sun Belt Georgia team burned me again! Either that or it was the maddening inconsistency of South Alabama.
Stanford(-20.5) at Oregon State: MISS! What an ugly game that was! Stanford showed that they really are nothing without Bryce Love. They were lucky to win this game. Very lucky.
Tulane at Memphis(-10.5): MISS! This was a pretty solid performance by the Memphis defense. They have improved a lot since the UCLA game.
Florida State(-3.5) at Boston College: HIT! It doesn’t matter how far down the Seminoles may be, this is a huge win for the Eagles. Not just because of who they beat, but because of how they dominated this game.
Tulsa at SMU(-9.5): HIT! I did change the pick because D’Angelo Brewer played. It’s a good thing I did!
Buffalo at Akron(-4.5) MISS! I don’t know what to make of the Bulls. One week, they mean business. The next, they look like a high school team. A six man high school team….
Wisconsin(-26.5) at Illinois: HIT! Wisconsin can’t throw the ball. So they are still not capable of blowing anyone out. They just aren’t!
Miami(FL)(-20.5) at North Carolina: MISS! I still believe that the North Carolina defense is bad. Miami’s offense is just struggling right now at every level. They are in a whole heap of trouble if they don’t figure this out in the next few days.
Oklahoma State(-7.5) at West Virginia: HIT! This was exactly what the Oklahoma State offense needed to get their mojo back. And they got it at exactly the right time. Just before Bedlam, which comes early this year.
Rutgers at Michigan(-23.5): HIT! Brady isn’t back at Michigan, but freshman Brandon Peters looked very good taking over in the second half. This is something that probably should have happened at least a week ago, but better late than never for Michigan. They are likely better now than they have been at any point this season.
Arkansas at Mississippi(-3.5): MISS! This was a fail by the Ole Miss defense, who looked nothing like the Land Sharks of the last few years. The offense did their job. 37 points in Fayetteville should have been plenty.
Texas(-9.5) at Baylor: HIT! This was easy money. Texas may not lose another game. This defense is impressive, and the offense is capable.
Louisville(-2.5) at Wake Forest: MISS! John Wolford just picked apart that Louisville secondary. The Cardinals had no pass rush, and Wolford lit them up like the Christmas Tree in Rockerfeller Center.
Virginia at Pittsburgh(-3.5): MISS! Pitt isn’t the only team to thrive after their starting quarterback went down. Iowa State and Michigan (well, their third stringer anyway) have done the same so far. There likely will be more.
California at Colorado(-3.5): MISS! How in the world did Cal beat Wazzu? Good grief…..
Florida International at Marshall: MISS! I knew better. I thought this might be too many points, but I never thought that Marshall would lose outright at home by double digits.
Kansas State(-24.5) at Kansas: HIT! This was a really good performance by the Jayhawks. However, they still wont win a game in conference.
Air Force at Colorado State(-10.5): HIT! I was wrong about one thing. This wasn’t close. Air Force controlled this game after halftime.
San Jose State at BYU(-12.5): MISS! Just an ugly, ugly game. There was no way I would have bet this. I didn’t even want to pick it!
Penn State at Ohio State(-6.5): HIT! I still can’t believe that Penn State blew this game. Why sit on the ball when you couldn’t stop the Buckeye offense? I like James Franklin and the way he coaches, but I have a lot of questions about the playcalling late in this one. This is a game that Penn State should have won.
Georgia(-13.5)
at Florida:
MISS!
TCU(-6.5) at Iowa State: MISS! Where would Iowa State be if Kempt had started the season as the starter? TCU had plenty of chances in this one, but the Iowa State defense played an impressive game. They made plays when the Cyclones desperately needed it.
North Carolina State at Notre Dame(-7.5): HIT! With all of the talk about great running backs this year, how come Josh Adams gets no love? He just ran for 200 yards on one of the best run defenses in the country!
UCLA at Washington(-17.5): HIT! Yep. That’s the UCLA defense I was expecting to see.
Michigan State(-2.5) at Northwestern: HIT! The Wildcats made me sweat this one for a while…..
Georgia Southern at Troy(-25.5): MISS! Ugh…..those Georgia Sun Belt teams…..
Appalachian State(-3.5) at Massachusetts: MISS! What in the world has gotten in UMass??
Louisiana Tech(-13.5) at Rice: HIT! This Rice defense sure made the La Tech offense look good in this one.
Indiana(-4.5) at Maryland: MISS! This was a very exciting game. Indiana looked like they had control of this game after the first quarter and again after the third, but Maryland kept battling back.
Houston at South Florida(-10.5): HIT! Is the Houston defense really that good, or was South Florida just overrated? It’s not a fluke when you have scored 30 in that many straight games. It had to be Houston, right?
Vanderbilt at South Carolina(-6.5): HIT! This was a good game like I expected. South Carolina is quietly rolling along right now. They could still sneak up on some down the stretch.
Florida Atlantic(-6.5) at Western Kentucky: MISS! I knew better. I knew that the Hilltoppers are but a shadow of last year’s juggernaut.
Louisiana-Monroe at Idaho(-2.5): MISS! Idaho has been one of the toughest teams to pick this year. I shouldn’t have expected anything different.
Utah(-3.5) at Oregon: MISS! Niiiiiice defense Utah!
Texas State at Coastal Carolina(-8.5): MISS! Ouch. Where did that come from?
Missouri(-13.5) at Connecticut: HIT! Missouri has grown up a lot in five weeks. This team looks good enough to throw a wrench in the SEC East right now.
Old Dominion at North Texas(-10.5): HIT! This was a great game if you could find it. It looked like the Monarchs had all the momentum going into the fourth, but they were shut out in the final quarter.
Minnesota at Iowa(-6.5): HIT! The Gophers are a mess right now. They are inadvertently spearheading the save Mike Riley movement in Lincoln. Minnesota is looking like Nebraska’s fifth win right now.
UAB at Southern Mississippi(-12.5): HIT! How about this one for the Blazers? They held the Eagles under what they were favored to win by! UAB needs just one more win to go to a bowl. How great would that be to see them on Legion Field for a bowl game? It’s been a long way back for the program.
Mississippi State(-2.5) at Texas A&M: MISS! This was a big blowout win for a team that really hasn’t played well on the road this year.
New Mexico(-1.5) at Wyoming: HIT! I should have put the max bet here. I was going to, but the line made me nervous. Wyoming didn’t score in the second half, and still won by 39…..
Tennessee at Kentucky(-3.5): MISS! Damn you Kentucky! Seriously? Tennessee is the worst offensive team in the league, and they allow 26 points? I don’t even know what to say….
Nebraska at Purdue(-4.5): HIT! This was just an ugly, ugly game. Neither team played well. Does Riley even have a chance at saving his job? If he does, this was a big boost.
Georgia Tech at Clemson(-14.5): HIT! The halves have been going my way this week. Trust me, I needed it.
Texas Tech at Oklahoma(-20.5): MISS! Where did the defense come from? Did we rent one from a community college or something? I guess we will find out if it has staying power this week.
UTSA(-15.5) at UTEP: HIT! The Roadrunners are pretty good. Of course, anyone looks pretty good playing UTEP…..
Arkansas State(-3.5) at New Mexico State: HIT! The Arkansas State offense did exactly what it was supposed to. The defense also did a solid job on Tyler Rogers and Larry Rose in this one.
Washington State(-2.5) at Arizona: MISS! That Washington State defense had no chance. Arizona ran all over them! And this was supposed to be one of the best defenses in the Pac 12!
UNLV at Fresno State(-21.5): MISS! Well, so much for Fresno…..
Boise State(-9.5) at Utah State: HIT! It only took half the year, but Boise’s offense finally looks like it has things figured out.
USC(-3.5) at Arizona State(-7.5): MISS! The Trojan offense finally hit it’s stride in this one. Is it too little too late?
San Diego State(-9.5) at Hawaii: HIT! This should have been easy money, but I’m done betting on the Aztecs. I may still pick them, but no more money on it.
A strong night pushed my weekly total to 30-25. That puts me at 252-225 on the season. My percentage is back up to 52.8%. It was a solid week overall, but did I finally gain some points back?
This week’s totals follow the number. The season totals are in parentheses.
1. 5-6 (40-37) = 3
2. 10-10 (87-77) = 20
3. 8-4 (74-59) = 45
4. 6-3 (33-37) = -16
5. 1-2 (18-15) = 15
For the first time since week one, I was under 50% on my five point picks. Overall, I still gained 18 points this week thanks to my good picking of the three and four point games. I am now at 67 betting points on the season, and 27 points to the good over the last two and a half seasons.
Next week is a huge week! Hopefully I can keep it up!
Next: ESPN College Pick Em Picks Week 10
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