GS, I like your analysis on your games. Here's what I have so far.
UAB -6 I like that the offense is coming back, usually at the start of the year its much harder for new offenses to gel then defenses. I think Rice will struggle. Say what you want about UAB but they played well at the end of the season last year. I think they only lost to eventual CUSA champ ECU by 2 points. I think Rice is starting over. Yeah they have a lot of the defense coming back but that defense wasn't all that good last year, they gave up at least 30 6 times last year.
Georgia +6 Too many points, I think UGA dominates the line of scrimmage on offense and on defense it's a stalemate. UGA can work the clock and keep this game within reason.
UCONN -4 I know they lost a lot of NFL talent but if you look at Edsall's teams in the past he has always had a tough gritty team that plays well on the road as well as at home. Frank Solich... well, he's still Frank Solich. UCONN wins by 10
Haven't decided on LSU yet, Washington is my school and they are bad again, I just don't know how bad. This could wind up like the OU UW game last year when the sooners had that game covered by the time the opening kickoff was caught.
One other game I was hoping that you would take a look at is the Cincy Rutgers game, I like the Bearcats in this one 5.5 seems like way too many points here, RU lost a lot of talent and Cincy is a well coached team.
GL this weekend, I was a dumbass and planned a vacation the first weekend of football, no gameday for me.
UAB -6 I like that the offense is coming back, usually at the start of the year its much harder for new offenses to gel then defenses. I think Rice will struggle. Say what you want about UAB but they played well at the end of the season last year. I think they only lost to eventual CUSA champ ECU by 2 points. I think Rice is starting over. Yeah they have a lot of the defense coming back but that defense wasn't all that good last year, they gave up at least 30 6 times last year.
Georgia +6 Too many points, I think UGA dominates the line of scrimmage on offense and on defense it's a stalemate. UGA can work the clock and keep this game within reason.
UCONN -4 I know they lost a lot of NFL talent but if you look at Edsall's teams in the past he has always had a tough gritty team that plays well on the road as well as at home. Frank Solich... well, he's still Frank Solich. UCONN wins by 10
Haven't decided on LSU yet, Washington is my school and they are bad again, I just don't know how bad. This could wind up like the OU UW game last year when the sooners had that game covered by the time the opening kickoff was caught.
One other game I was hoping that you would take a look at is the Cincy Rutgers game, I like the Bearcats in this one 5.5 seems like way too many points here, RU lost a lot of talent and Cincy is a well coached team.
GL this weekend, I was a dumbass and planned a vacation the first weekend of football, no gameday for me.
GoSooners, Ponder is improving. FSU offense has been pushing their defense around in practice. I would not go under on FSU-Miami, both teams are very different from the defensive slugfests that they have had to open. Both offenses scored a lot of points and both teams had mediocre ( at best) defenses last year. you can look that up.
UPDATE for you GS...South Carolina starting defensive end Clifton Geathers who played in all 13 games last season will serve a one-game suspension once he is medically cleared to play.
a little history on him:
Junior defensive end who is listed as the starter opposite Cliff Matthews... has gained a significant amount of experience, seeing action in 24 of the 25 games over the past two seasons... has excellent size and athletic ability at 6-8 and 281 pounds... powerful athlete with long arms and good reach... comes from a tremendous family tree of football standouts... has made one career start.
2008: Saw extensive playing time while rotating in with the second unit... played in all 13 games, making one start... credited with 29 tackles including 17 solo stops... made his first career start against UAB... responded with five tackles including a tackle for loss and a quarterback hurry in the contest... credited with a sack when he forced a Jevan Snead fumble at Ole Miss that Nathan Pepper recovered and returned for a touchdown... credited with a half sack in the win at Kentucky... named the Most Improved Defensive End coming out of the spring.
2007: Enrolled at South Carolina in January and went through spring drills... played in 11-of-12 games... credited with a pair of tackles during his freshman campaign, both coming against South Carolina State... also credited with one quarterback hurry on the season... did not play in the season finale against Clemson.
a little history on him:
Junior defensive end who is listed as the starter opposite Cliff Matthews... has gained a significant amount of experience, seeing action in 24 of the 25 games over the past two seasons... has excellent size and athletic ability at 6-8 and 281 pounds... powerful athlete with long arms and good reach... comes from a tremendous family tree of football standouts... has made one career start.
2008: Saw extensive playing time while rotating in with the second unit... played in all 13 games, making one start... credited with 29 tackles including 17 solo stops... made his first career start against UAB... responded with five tackles including a tackle for loss and a quarterback hurry in the contest... credited with a sack when he forced a Jevan Snead fumble at Ole Miss that Nathan Pepper recovered and returned for a touchdown... credited with a half sack in the win at Kentucky... named the Most Improved Defensive End coming out of the spring.
2007: Enrolled at South Carolina in January and went through spring drills... played in 11-of-12 games... credited with a pair of tackles during his freshman campaign, both coming against South Carolina State... also credited with one quarterback hurry on the season... did not play in the season finale against Clemson.
You make a lot of good points with UAB. And I think they have a good chance to cover against Rice. With the UCONN/Ohio game I'm leaning more towards Ohio in that game. Edsall has done well in the past in these kinds of games. But he's missing some key components on offense this time around, along with going with a new OC and new offense to try out. So this is a little different year for UCONN in trying out a new offensive system. The question is, will these players take to it right away on the road for their first game against a hungry Ohio team who almost knocked off Ohio State last year? UCONN is a shaky bet at best. As for Cincy/Rutgers, I have one rule I follow when the line is under a TD. I want to be sure that I think the road dog is the better team that can win the game outright. And I'm not sure Cincy is better than Rutgers this season after losing 10 starters on defense.. If they aren't the better team, then Rutgers will not only win, their chances of covering a small spread like 6 or less is probably 95% or more. One other rule I follow in these first games. If your road team is favored over their home opponent in these early games, then make damn sure they are CLEARLY the better team before laying any money down on the fave. This applies to the UCONN/Ohio game. Remember, Ohio is picked by many to be the preaseason favorite to win the MAC. Is a 6th place Big East team better than a possible MAC champion? It's your call. As for LSU, I haven't decided for sure if I want to play it. I would much rather see the line below 17. And it seems to be going up instead of down. Plus Jefferson isn't a seasoned QB. I would like to see him perform in a few more games to see how he looks. Having said that, I think LSU is a real sleeper team this year.
Arizona/CMU (UNDER 55) **
Normally I don't list a lot of totals in my threads because they are usually only half unit plays for me. But this one warrants a small play. When it reached 55 (Sportsbetting) that was a key number. The things to look for with unders this early in the season is new QB's and inexperienced offensive lines (Arizona) vs improved (experienced) defensive lines & defenses (CMU). The Chips have a few concerns on the OL themselves with a couple converted tight ends expected to start on the line. Zona lost a 4 year starter in QB Tuitama. And I've found in the great majority of cases that the incoming QB in this kind of situation has problems at the beginning of the year. Don't forget, Tuitama was the career passing leader at Zona. And they also lose WR Mike Thomas, who was the Pac-10 career receptions leader. And they also lose left tackle Eben Britton, a second round NFL pick. The Zona defensive line is the best and deepest that it's been under Stoops. And I think they're going to give Lefevour fits in the backfield. Stoops said this is his best defense since he's been at Zona. You combine that with the problems that Zona is having with their QB(s) in practice, and you have the makings of a low scoring game. Expect Zona to unleash their clock chewing running game here to take a little pressure off of the QB. It should be a low to mid scoring game at best.
Arizona 31
CMU 17
Normally I don't list a lot of totals in my threads because they are usually only half unit plays for me. But this one warrants a small play. When it reached 55 (Sportsbetting) that was a key number. The things to look for with unders this early in the season is new QB's and inexperienced offensive lines (Arizona) vs improved (experienced) defensive lines & defenses (CMU). The Chips have a few concerns on the OL themselves with a couple converted tight ends expected to start on the line. Zona lost a 4 year starter in QB Tuitama. And I've found in the great majority of cases that the incoming QB in this kind of situation has problems at the beginning of the year. Don't forget, Tuitama was the career passing leader at Zona. And they also lose WR Mike Thomas, who was the Pac-10 career receptions leader. And they also lose left tackle Eben Britton, a second round NFL pick. The Zona defensive line is the best and deepest that it's been under Stoops. And I think they're going to give Lefevour fits in the backfield. Stoops said this is his best defense since he's been at Zona. You combine that with the problems that Zona is having with their QB(s) in practice, and you have the makings of a low scoring game. Expect Zona to unleash their clock chewing running game here to take a little pressure off of the QB. It should be a low to mid scoring game at best.
Arizona 31
CMU 17
The first half line at -7 should be about right since I'm seeing -13.5 across the board for the game. I'm curious to see if this line goes up any more. I think the natural assumption is that La Tech isn't going to score anything here and Auburn will get a low scoring cover. But I'm not so sure about that. The best offensive player on the field will be La Tech WR Phillip Livas. And under their excellent young coach Dooley they've gotten better every year in every phase of the game. I expect more improvement this year.
So what is the deal with Georgia...I like them in this game, ALOT. What happened today...was the news true, because the game went off the board, and now I can hit UGA +5 again. Doesn't sound like Zac Robinson is out.
I can't take all the speculation on the forums, any real understanding here?
I can't take all the speculation on the forums, any real understanding here?
Although Zac Robinson was hobbled some a couple weeks ago, I'm hearing that he's good to go in this game. The injury reports from earlier today were bogus. The lines being taken off the board might have had just as much to do with OSU losing starting LB Orie Lemon and TE Youman this week. Lines are back up now. I've seen it as low as 4.5 in a few places.
