College football is off and rolling! After Week 1 we are 5-3 on our picks. Going into this week there are plenty of marquee matchups and sleeper picks for value. Let’s dive into it.
SMU welcomes the Cougars into Dallas for a Friday night showdown. The temperature at game time will be a scorching 96 degrees which favors the home team. I am personally very high on the Mustangs this year as a sneaky team to make the College Football Playoffs. I lean toward the home squad in this matchup.
Best Bet: SMU -11.5
Duke travels to Northwestern and their makeshift stadium for another Friday night game. This will surely be a low-scoring, grind-it-out game but I lean towards Duke in this matchup. Texas transfer QB Maalik Murphy has a ton of talent and with his dual-threat capabilities, I like Duke pulling off an upset here.
Best Bet: Duke ML +100
Kansas State travels to New Orleans looking for a statement win in their CFP resume. Tulane is a tough team to play at Yulman Stadium and they have revamped their roster in the transfer portal. I think there is value in buying the line up to Tulane +10. This is one of those games where it is just hard to imagine the home team getting blown out.
Best Bet: Tulane +10
Simply put, FAU looked atrocious last week against Michigan State. QB Cam Fancher was running for his life all game and when he could throw, it usually went to MSU’s defense. Army looked like their typical self in their Week 1 matchup against Lehigh. I like the upset here for the Golden Knights.
Best Bet: Army +3.5
Another case of boy was I wrong last week. Jacksonville State got their doors blown off by a Coastal Carolina team that was rebuilding after losing much of last year's team. Louisville looked explosive last week albeit against a lower opponent. I think this game will be more of the same as last week. Gimme Louisville and the points.
Best Bet: Louisville -27.5
I looked at Ole Miss’s -42 line last week against Furman and thought hard about it for a while. Boy, did I have some regret after the Rebels dropped 76 on Furman. MTSU barely beat Tennessee Tech, at home no less, so I won’t make last week’s mistake again. Ole Miss in a blowout.
Best Bet: Ole Miss -43
This won't be a repeat of last year's game where Jalen Milroe was benched and Alabama barely got by with the win. Milroe is leaps and bounds better than he was at this point last year and should be looking for revenge against the team he was benched. Alabama put the hurting on a decent Western Kentucky team last week and looks to do more of the same this week.
Best Bet: Alabama -31
In one of the marquee matchups of the weekend, Coach Prime travels to Lincoln to take on Matt Rhule and the Cornhuskers. I think this game has the potential for a Nebraska blowout win but otherwise, I still lean towards Nebraska winning by a touchdown. True freshman QB Dylan Raiola is the truth and I think there's something to be said about the difference between the two programs.
Best Bet: Nebraska -6
