Expert Picks
Alabama travels to Tennessee in this SEC matchup...
Indiana owns the nations longest win streak, is it in trough ...?
No. 15 Kentucky looks to stay hot, against Oklahoma. ...
FIU has lost both road games by double digits. ...
My wife is snoring like a drunken lumberjack so I mean guess I am up to watch this. And I'm certainly not watching Boise State-Fresno State without a betting opinion. The hook may matter with the 2-point stuff. Home game of the season for the Bulldogs, and they have looked great in a four-game winning streak. Our model has Boise by a TD and that's sorta what I am thinking.
FanDuel. This would have been my first play of the week because I love the spot for Penn State. The reason it wasn't is that it's hard to trust a team that gave up 400 rushing yards in its last game. Still, I chalk some of that up to the Nittany Lions being emotionally down after blowing a lead to Wisconsin in the final minutes the week before. Maybe Penn State just stinks, but this is still one of the better spot plays of the season, especially since USC has allowed 127 points in their last four games, and we know they struggle traveling to the East Coast. I'll play Penn State -120 on the ML for a half unit. Good up to -125.
I have Georgia ranked No. 3 and Alabama ranked No. 8, five points apart, and Alabama gets six points for home field, but we have to cut it down because Georgia is better. Georgia should be the slight favorite. Both teams are 5-0 and 4-1 ATS and 5-0 to the over. Just 10 years ago, Alabama and LSU would play an epic SEC game at 10-0, but that's not Bama or UGA's style this year. Alabama has scored 45 points or more in every single game this season. They come at you hard and fast, and you're down by 3 touchdowns before you even know what happened. Georgia has scored 38 points or more in their games. The total is 10 points cheap.
James Madison has been a machine so far this season, but I think it's led to the market having a little too much trust in the Dukes right now. Georgia Southern's a quality Sun Belt team that's never easy to deal with in Statesboro.
This total plummeted all week because of the weather forecast, but even if the worst of the rain won't impact the game itself, it's still going to be windy as all hell, and that never helps with scoring.
We're taking a shot here. Air Force QB Liam Szarka hurt himself last week and is out for the season. Evan Medders is stepping in, and so much of the option offense is built on reps and timing, and his inexperience could be a problem.
I see Mike Tierney is thinking what I was. Both offenses have been lights out so far, but with that tropical storm/hurricane possibly affecting Tuscaloosa on Saturday night (better there than here), there could be rain and 20-30 mph winds. That's if the game isn't postponed, which is possible. Georgia is allowing just 13.7 PPG so Tide QB Keelon Russell might get a bit of a wake-up call. Our model has only 45 points scored. Certainly may go Under if it were 75 and sunny, so I'm fine either way but hope there's weather.
Georgia has had a key issue over the last three years, where three of their four losses in the regular season or conference championship have been to Alabama. This includes losing to Alabama in week four each of the last two seasons. This is where I expect the Bulldogs to showcase their improved offense that was not their the prior two seasons. They are tops in college football averaging 51 points per game, and will be able to counter an early Bama lead. Tail Georgia.
Being a newcomer to a conference can bring value ATS. Louisiana Tech is in their first year in the Sun Belt conference, and will play their first conference game today against UL Lafayette. The Ragin Cajuns only loss this season was on the road at USC in which they played well enough to put up thirty points. Still look for the close proximity of both Louisiana schools, and the angle of the Bulldogs playing in their first Sun Belt game to hold. Tail the short favorite.
Statesboro is expected to catch remnants of a tropical storm, which could douse the offensive firepower both teams have shown at times. Weather aside, James Madison's defense can be counted on to keep the scoring reasonable. Opponents average just 13.2 ppg against it, the 10th-lowest in FBS. The Eagles, who throw more than they run, might have to call an audible on offense to accommodate any rain. Won't be a snap against JMU's vaunted D.