Last weekend was fun, but it’s only going to get better this Saturday.
Many are getting prepared to watch a top-25 showdown in the SEC take place in the afternoon, especially the folks in South Carolina. Those on the west coast will likely be sleeping in after a long night out, but that’s okay.
They get to tune into the USC-Stanford rivalry game Saturday evening on FOX, as it’s setting up to be one heck of a ball game. So it doesn’t really matter where you live or who your favorite team is. This Saturday, there is all sorts of action all over the place.
So I ask.
Which game are you most interested in watching? Or perhaps the better question is, “Which game are you most interested in betting?”
For me, I already scoured the betting sheets on the top college football betting sites and have seen the prices that are available. I noticed that SportsBetting.ag has a few games piquing my interest, and I wanted to share my thoughts right here.
I’ll preview four games I keep coming back to, so feel free to leave any comments below and give me your opinion!
These are the ideal spots for me. The public starts out scared and betting on one side, so go ahead and give me the other!
Penn State opened at -9.5 on the road at Heinz Field, and that number has already dropped to 8.5.
Why?
Because all of the people who got burned last week when Penn State didn’t cover versus Appalachian State are panicking and are too afraid to trust the Nittany Lions this week. Penn State wasn’t firing on all cylinders and thus allowed the Mountaineers to hang around and eventually force overtime.
I think this was the scare that head coach James Franklin needed to get his group on track and ready for a big push toward the Big Ten conference schedule. Quarterback Trace McSorley wasn’t at his best, but I think he’ll turn things around this Saturday against a Pittsburgh defense that gave up nearly 27 points per game in 2017.
I know this is an “in-state” game, and Pitt is playing at home in front of millions of viewers on ABC. I’ve even been hearing people saying that Panthers QB Kenny Pickett will shine in this national spotlight game and thrust his name into the Heisman Trophy discussion.
I’m saying you should pump the brakes with that talk and remember that Penn State was a preseason top-10 team.
Backing road favorites in games like this isn’t always my cup of tea, but I see two distinctly different football teams this time around. Penn State is the much, much better team, and I think that will be demonstrated Saturday night.
Nothing against the Gamecocks – I just feel like this Georgia team is on a mission this season. They lost a heartbreaking National Championship game to Alabama last year, and I don’t think Kirby Smart and company plan on letting South Carolina foil any of their intentions in 2018.
I agree that Will Muschamp’s men looked good in their opener, albeit against Coastal Carolina. But this Georgia Bulldog football team is an entirely different kind of beast.
Gamecocks QB Jake Bentley was all smiles after the beatdown of the Chanticleers, but again, it won’t be the Coastal Carolina defense he’ll be facing this weekend.
Georgia’s defense is littered with guys who will be playing on Sundays, and their offense is coming off a game in which they provided more than 500 total yards.
Jake Fromm is efficient enough to spread the ball around to the open receiver, and they have a bevy of running backs who would be superstars on other squads.
This is fairly unusual for me, picking another favorite playing on the road in a hostile environment.
But when I see a team as talented and well-coached as the Bulldogs, my fears tend to fade away.
Apparently, Connecticut had the idea of beefing up their early-season schedule.
After opening up at home versus a top-25 opponent (and getting smacked in the process), the UConn Huskies now have to travel cross-country to the western portion of Idaho to play a football game against the Boise State Broncos.
This is not a promising proposition, ladies and gentlemen.
After a decisive 56-20 romping of Troy on the road last weekend, the Broncos get a soft bunch in UConn that lacks playmakers on both sides of the ball.
The Huskies have virtually no shot of hanging around with the 20th-ranked team in the country according to the AP Poll, as they are simply outmatched at every level.
The raucous atmosphere will know that Boise State has a chance to run the table and be in the College Football Playoff if things pan out, so they can’t afford to look anything other than “lights out” against the weaker competition.
Head coach Bryan Harsin knows his team needs to impress the selection committee each and every chance they get, which is why I don’t see the Broncos letting this game televised on ESPNU slip by.
If you are looking to see if the Cornhuskers won their opener last weekend, I’ll warn you to stop searching.
Nebraska’s game against Akron was cancelled due to lightning, and I can’t help but think that the Cornhuskers have been itching to take the field ever since.
The Scott Frost era has to wait an extra week to get started, but I think the former coach at UCF will have a big coming-out party Saturday afternoon in Lincoln.
Buffaloes QB Steven Montez might have looked sharp against Colorado State last weekend, but the Rams defense isn’t exactly full of 5-star recruits and future NFL players. Colorado now makes the 500-mile trek east to “The Sea of Red,” and I think they are in for a really tough afternoon.
Scott Frost will unveil his true freshman quarterback to the world, and I can assure you that this kid’s potential is off the charts. Adrian Martinez missed his senior year of high school due to a shoulder injury, so some scouts and teams have “fallen asleep” on the dual-threat signal-caller from Fresno, California.
But let me tell you right now that Frost has big plans for his athletic and agile QB.
I’m not exactly sure how much real noise the Cornhuskers will end up making in the Big Ten Conference by the time the season is over.
But I think they’ll make plenty in front the more than 90,000 fans that will be packed into Memorial Stadium to see this new chapter begin.
There are few better times in sports than the beginning of the college football season. I love betting the games early in the year – before the sample size gets bigger and the oddsmakers have even more data to deal with.
I’m not saying there is a perfect science to “beating the books” at this current time, but there are definitely some early-season games that can be taken advantage of.
Last week, I jumped on West Virginia -10 against an inexperienced Tennessee team, and that turned out well.
Will one of these four games wind up being a “non-sweat lock of the week”?
Only time will tell, but I’ll be tuned in to find out!
The post Week 2 NCAAF Betting – 4 Free Picks for College Football Games appeared first on GamblingSites.com.
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