College Football Results Against The Spread Week 1 2018
By Mike Marteny
College Football Results Against The Spread Week 1 2018
What an opening weekend of college football! We had upsets! We had FCS schools beating FBS schools. Top ten teams were upset! And Nebraska cancelled a football game for the first time in 75 years. This time it was due to rain instead of, you know, a World War. I think I did pretty good for the first week. I was doing great with the return of DFS until Nebraska cancelled the game. I had stacked the Nebraska and Akron backfields.
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My college football pick em picks were in the middle of the pack to start the season. No one in the readers group had a really big score though, so I’m confident that I won’t fall too far back.
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:
August 25
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Wyoming(-3.5) at New Mexico State: HIT! This Wyoming defense looks even better than last year. Their freshman QB didn’t look too shabby either.
Hawaii at Colorado State(-13.5): MISS! Was this a statement by Hawaii or is Colorado State just going to be that bad? Maybe a little of both. This Hawaii offense is going to be fun to watch!
Central Florida(-23.5) at Connecticut: HIT! UCF didn’t miss a beat. Let the Milton Heisman hype begin!
Northwestern at Purdue(-1.5): MISS! This was at least an entertaining game. If Purdue would pick a quarterback, they may have won the game.
New Mexico State at Minnesota(-21.5): HIT! The boat rowing is working in Minneapolis right now. This was the most explosive that the Minnesota offense has been since Marion Barber III was in the backfield. I know, the Aggies defense is nothing special, but this freshman outdid the more heralded one at Wyoming.
Wake Forest(-6.5) at Tulane: MISS! That stupid half! I was really impressed with another freshman QB in this game, Wake’s Sam Hartman, and Tulane’s Terren Encalade is a really good receiver. Keep that name in mind for DFS purposes.
Syracuse(-5.5) at Western Michigan: HIT! This was an entertaining game. Eric Dungey looked good as new, and WMU looks like that offense is still in great shape. They are a force in the MAC.
Utah State at Michigan State(-23.5):MISS! Michigan State looked very, very average here. This was a great game, but based on talent level alone, it shouldn’t have been. I knew better than to bank on the Michigan State offense.
Western Kentucky at Wisconsin(-36.5): HIT! The Badgers didn’t even score 37. Of course, the defense was dominant. The offense was methodical. It was everything you would expect in a Wisconsin game.
San Diego State at Stanford(-13.5): MISS! James Washington did have a good game, but the Stanford defense still looked a lot better than last year. Arcega-Whiteside could overshadow his more famous teammate this year.
Army at Duke(-13.5): MISS! I was surprised at how well the Duke defense did against the option. We saw just how important Ahmad Bradshaw really was to this Army team.
Colorado(-9.5) vs. Colorado State at Denver: MISS! This was a dominating performance by Colorado, something we didn’t see even once last year. The Colorado State defense got gouged by Hawaii, so I wouldn’t get overly excited here, but there is an air of cautious optimism in Boulder.
Florida Atlantic at Oklahoma(-20.5): HIT! I, like every Oklahoma fan, was very happy with what I saw in this game. The defense played with a purpose. The offense didn’t miss a beat. They destroyed a team that won 11 games last year. I’ll take it!
Oregon State at Ohio State(-38.5): MISS! That was a lot of garbage points by the Buckeyes that screwed this up.
Texas(-13.5) at Maryland: HIT! I will freely admit that I didn’t expect Maryland to win outright again, but I did expect a close game. Texas…..what a disaster. Again!
Kent State at Illinois(-16.5): MISS! I knew better.
MISS! There was a reason this was a one point bet.
Coastal Carolina at South Carolina(-29.5): HIT! This was actually closer than I thought it would be. Of course, the Chanticleers didn’t hit double digits until the fourth quarter.
Mississippi vs. Texas Tech(-2.5) at Houston: HIT! No one should be surprised that this was a high scoring game. We should also not be surprised by Texas Tech’s defense getting ripped apart.
Houston(-25.5) at Rice: MISS! All the garbage points in the world couldn’t save Houston from a lackluster first half, especially in defense.
Massachusetts at Boston College(-18.5): MISS! 34 points for the Eagles in the second quarter put this WAY out of reach.
Washington vs. Auburn(-2.5) at Atlanta: MISS! I knew better. That Washington trend is real.
Appalachian State at Penn State(-24.5): MISS! I think Barkley was far more important to this team than we realize. The Big Ten(14) doesn’t look as strong at the top as the experts think.
West Virginia(-9.5) vs. Tennessee at Charlotte: HIT! Much as I thought, this was complete domination by West Virginia. This line was easy money!
Marshall(-1.5) at Miami(OH): HIT! The Redhawks did everything they possibly could to keep up, but fell just short.
Central Michigan at Kentucky(-17.5): MISS! The Kentucky ground game dominated the second half, but they didn’t get into the end zone enough to cover this.
Northern Illinois at Iowa(-10.5): MISS! This was a slow, plodding, painful-to-watch offensive day until halftime. Iowa adjusted. The Huskies didn’t.
Washington State(-1.5) at Wyoming: HIT! As you can tell by the bet, I didn’t really expect a blowout. Gardner Minshew makes this offense special, and that defense is still good enough to be a problem.
UNLV at USC(-26.5): HIT! The Trojans were a lot closer to covering than I ever thought they would be after watching the first half.
North Carolina at California(-7.5): MISS! Cal’s defense packed it in after three quarters. They were pitching a shutout at halftime.
Boise State (-10.5) at Troy: HIT! This was a blowout. I thought Boise may have a hard time blowing out the Trojans at home, but I guess not!
Old Dominion(-5.5) at Liberty: MISS! Wow……just……wow! What a showing by the Flames. This was an absolute beatdown!
Louisiana Tech(-10.5) at South Alabama: MISS! The offense for the Bulldogs looked good. The defense got tired in the fourth quarter, I guess.
Cincinnati at UCLA(-13.5): MISS! I don’t even think Cincinnati played that well. The UCLA defense wasn’t bad, but the offense was mostly horrid. They were even worse with Speight in there, but that shouldn’t surprise anyone.
Indiana(-10.5) at Florida International: MISS! The halves are not kind this week.
Michigan at Notre Dame(EVEN): MISS! So much for a well oiled offense. However, a lot of that can be credited to the Notre Dame defense. They looked really good in this game.
Middle Tennessee State at Vanderbilt(-2.5): HIT! The Blue Raiders kept it close for a while, but that Vanderbilt secondary really stepped up in this one, even without both starting safeties.
SMU at North Texas(-4.5): HIT! I can’t believe that I actually missed the over by two points! Mason Fine was as advertised, but this North Texas defense played very well.
Louisville at Alabama(-24.5): HIT! At least I hit my lock. This was easy money. I’m glad there is a line or two like this almost every week.
Bowling Green at Oregon(-32.5): HIT! Oregon’s defense almost gave this up. At least the fifth string offense scored a touchdown to cover this.
UTSA at Arizona State(-17.5): HIT! Wow. That was an impressive performance by the Sun Devils, even on defense. Their defense was a sore spot for them last year.
BYU at Arizona(-13.5): MISS! This was just a bizarre game. Arizona got pushed around on both lines. BYU locked down Tate on defense, and was a plodding, methodical steamroller on offense. I’ll go ahead and say BYU is making a bowl this year and will top last year’s win total by Halloween.
Navy(-11.5) at Hawaii: MISS! I should have known better. This Hawaii offense looks like it did when June Jones was going wild with his run and shoot out there. They are going to be fun to watch!
Miami(FL)(-3.5) vs. LSU at Jerry World: MISS! I should have known better. Miami stumbled down the stretch last year, and was mostly powerless to stop LSU’s running game.
Virginia Tech at Florida State(-6.5): HIT! This is what we expect to see in a Virginia Tech defense. The Seminoles were held without a touchdown at home for the first time since September of 2008. This was an ugly game for Florida State. That’s the only way to say it.
This was not the start I was hoping for. I learned a lot this weekend, and that is the big thing to take away. My biggest wagers were on Alabama and Oklahoma so I came out ahead in real life. Most of these I left alone. That’s why I had so many two point bets. Overall, I was only 20-26 to start the season. Did I at least gain some points? Let’s check!
This week’s totals follow the number. The season totals are in parentheses.
1. 3-5 (3-5) = -2
2. 9-13 (9-13) = -8
3. 6-5 (6-5) = 3
4. 1-3 (1-3) = -8
5. 1-0 (1-0) = 5
I opened the season by losing 10 betting points, but I am still three points to the good after three full seasons and one week of using the points system.
Next. ESPN College Pick Em picks week 2. dark
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