College Football picks against the spread August 31, 2018

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Week 1 continues with a fairly busy Friday with six FBS vs. FBS games. There is some decent action on this slate with a couple that shouldn’t be touched. Let’s check it out!

For those of you that are new to this, I pick every college football game every week. Not a top five. Not a top ten. All of them. Big deal, right? Lots of people make picks. Well, I do them all against the spread! I take the odds of each game and average them out at all the Vegas casinos and round to the nearest half. There will be no ties here. Ties are for the other football.

I also assign a point value based on the confidence I have in each pick. 1 means that I have little to no confidence. 5 is one I would place a decent wager on. I keep track of my record and my points back from year to year. I went 400-75 last season and ended up with 31 points in my point bank. I am aiming for 55% this year. It’s harder than it looks!

This is for entertainment purposes only! I cannot be responsible for the loss of money, possessions, spouses, or limbs because of my picks. I can’t have that on my conscious.

Without further delay, we continue with our picks for Week 1!

Syracuse(-5.5) at Western Michigan(2):

I would have more confidence in this except that I really don’t know what to expect from Western Michigan. Jamauri Bogan is still there, but not much else. Syracuse beat Clemson last year. They are healthy again, so they have to be considered pretty dangerous. This looks low. I’ll take the Orange.

Utah State at (11)Michigan State(-23.5)(2):

Michigan State was down last year, but they are going to be dangerous this year. Most of the offense, including QB Brian Lewerke and RB L.J. Scott return, but the strength of this team will continue to be the defense. The question here would seem to be how many points Utah State can muster. Not many. I’ll take Michigan State.

Army at Duke(-13.5)(2):

Why is this line climbing? I realize that Ahmad Bradshaw is gone, but Kelvin Hopkins looks like he can run an option. Darnell Woolfolk is still there. So is Kell Walker. You know the defense will be good. Duke returns both QB Daniel Jones and RB Brittain Brown, but this wasn’t a prolific offense – or defense – last year. The one thing that was stout was Duke’s run defense, and that’s all Army does. I’m still taking Army. Duke by ten or so.

Western Kentucky at (4)Wisconsin(-36.5)(1):

I get it. Jonathan Taylor was a monster as a freshman, and the WKU run defense is just terrible. However, Wisconsin has a stable of backs that they want to get looks in this game. They will need Taylor in conference season, not in a game like this. This game wont be contested, but I doubt Wisconsin covers either. That’s a ton of points for a run first team. Give me the Hilltoppers.

San Diego State at (13)Stanford(-14.5)(2):

This line is actually down to 14 almost everywhere, but we don’t do full points here. Win or lose. No screwing around with ties. Superback Bryce Love returns for Stanford, as does K.J. Costello. San Diego State still has Juwan Washington, who still ran for over 700 yards last year despite the huge season from Rashaad Penny. The Aztecs continue to reload at running back, and lost in Love mania in Palo Alto last year was how conspicuously bad the run defense was. That half makes this easy. Give me the Aztecs.

Colorado(-7.5) vs. Colorado State at Denver(2):

If you live outside of Colorado, you likely don’t know how big of a rivalry this is. Of course, Colorado doesn’t see it that way. The Rams are the little brother. I guarantee you they all show up at Mile High for this one. The Rams lost to Hawaii in Fort Collins for the first time in 30 years last week, so this line is now scattered like roaches when you turn the light on. It opened at -6, and is now up to -9 in some spots. The average is still at -8 if that tells you anything. Lost in that huge comeback last week that fell short was just how good of a game Washington transfer K.J. Carta-Samuels had. Colorado’s pass defense is awful, and the offense wasn’t much better. Steven Montez is going to have a big game on the other side as well. I’m more comfortable betting the over on 65 than I am the spread here, but I still think this stays a one score game. Give me the Rams.

Next. 2018 Fantasy Football running back tiers. dark

Come back for the rest of the picks for the weekend and the DFS picks as well. We have a busy weekend for College Football, and I’ll be here every step of the way!