College Football Week 2 Betting News and Notes

Games to Watch - Week 2
By Christian Alexander
VegasInsider.com

Florida at Texas A&M

As the old cliché goes, be careful what you wish for…. because it just might come true. This is what Aggie fans wanted, to be out of the shadow of their former archrival the University of Texas, and to be part of the almighty SEC. This Saturday Texas A&M hosts Florida from Kyle Field for its first-ever SEC game. Due to Hurricane Isaac this will also be the Aggies first game of the year after their season opener against Louisiana Tech was postponed until Oct. 13. This will also mark the first game for A&M under new head coach Kevin Sumlin. Despite the enormous amount of pressure that the team and the fans have on themselves to begin the new era of SEC football, A&M does have the benefit of playing at home where they boast one of the loudest stadiums in the country. The fact that Florida has already played a game this year (albeit rather poorly) against Bowling Green should be in Florida's favor. However it may have brought about more questions than answers for the Gators, who once again proved that if you have two quarterbacks, you really have none. With the Kyle Field advantage has the Aggies opening as a field goal favorite.

Georgia at Missouri

The other team making their SEC debut this weekend under a little softer spotlight is the Missouri Tigers, who will be playing the University of Georgia. Missouri also has the benefit of making its SEC debut at home; however they have a far less home field advantage than its SEC newlywed and it plays a team many have picked to win the SEC East this year. The Dawgs come in on the heels of a less than impressive win over the lowly Buffalo Bulls. Georgia was a 37½-point favorite but only led 24-16 at halftime before pulling away to a 45-23 victory. The bright spot for UGA in week one was Todd Gurley, the freshman playing in his first college game, ran for 100 yards and returned a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown as well. Mizzou opened the season with a 62-10 victory as it scored early and often against the Southland Conference powerhouse Southeastern Louisiana with punt returns of 72 and 70 yards and a 76-yard TD run. Mizzou led 28-0 after running just 12 plays. Missouri will quickly be reminded that the Southland Conference and the Southeastern Conference show up with two very different caliber players. Despite being rankeds sixth nationally and favored in the division, the Bulldogs are only a field goal favorite against Missouri this weekend.

Washington at LSU

These two teams last met in 2009 in Washington and LSU managed a 31-23 win that really wasn't that close. This year they meet in Death Valley and that simply doesn't bode well for Washington. LSU is riding a nation-leading 18 game home winning streak and has won 43 of its 49 home games under The Mad Hatter (Les Miles). If that's not enough to get your attention, LSU is a mere 22-0 against non-conference teams in Death Valley under Miles. Basically, they are really good at home. Throw in the fact that Washington is 1-10 in nonconference games away from Husky Stadium since 2001, which tells you that 23-point line seems about right or maybe a tad too low. If you are a Washington fan you can hang your hat on the fact that Washington's QB Keith Price is one of the more under the radar players in college football and the LSU secondary is without Tyrann Mathieu and a handful of other DB;s from last year's stellar squad. Personally, I wouldn't hang a very valuable hat on that but I'm just trying to give you something to look forward to. Let's just say if he ends the night with half of the 400 passing yards and seven touchdowns he put up against Baylor last year in the Alamo Bowl you should feel good about his night. Basically, this game is a great excuse for Washington fans to spend a few days in New Orleans on their way into Baton Rouge. But not even three days on Bourbon Street will help them erase the possible pounding their team is going to get Saturday night in Death Valley.

Miami, (Fl.) at Kansas State

These two teams met in a thriller last year in South Beach where Kansas State won 28-24 when they stopped Miami quarterback Jacory Harris on a fourth-down run at the goal line with 49 seconds left. Miami will be looking for revenge this year in Manhattan, so the question becomes which Wildcats team will Miami face? The one that only lead Missouri State 16-9 at the end of the third quarter or the one that scored five touchdowns against Missouri State in the fourth quarter to beat Missouri St 51-9 in Week 1? Kansas St. will need to be much more consistent in week two if they are going to cover the touchdown spread against a Hurricanes team out for redemption under second-year head coach Al Golden. Miami looked sharp on the road last week, earning a 41-32 win over Boston College behind true-freshman running back Randy "Duke" Johnson.

Nebraska at UCLA

The highly scrutinized Nebraska quarterback Taylor Martinez threw for five touchdowns and 354 yards in the team's 49-20 Week 1 win against a Southern Mississippi defense that most people would say is at least respectable. So the real question is - "Can he repeat those numbers this week against UCLA?" Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. Making it even more impressive was that Martinez did it without Rex Burkhead, the Huskers' All-Big Ten running back, who left Saturday's game in the first quarter because of a low-grade sprain to the medial collateral ligament in his left knee. The Huskers head west to face a UCLA team Saturday that has a new head coach in Jim Mora. UCLA did win their opener 49-24 allowing 358 yards and three touchdowns, against Rice. The key words in the previous sentence were "against Rice." Back to the real questions in Week 2 - "Can Martinez repeat his week one performance against an even lesser defense and can UCLA repeat its Week 1 offensive output against a far more superior defense?"

SEC News and Notes Week 1
By Alatex Sports
Sportsmemo.com

South Carolina escaped with a 17-13 win at Vanderbilt last Thursday night, but took some hits in doing so. Starting quarterback Connor Shaw can barely lift his right arm and will miss 3-4 days of practice and possibly the East Carolina game this week. Starting guard Brandon Shell hurt his ankle and is in a walking boot, so he is also questionable as well. South Carolina had trouble protecting Shaw all night and the Commodores wound up outgaining the Gamecocks. The South Carolina coaches were not upset at how the Gamecocks played; they recognized that Vandy is a pretty good team and were happy to get out of Nashville with a win. Vandy is a road favorite at Northwestern this week.

Tennessee unveiled its new up-tempo offense against NC State and the results were impressive. The Vols ran 79 plays from scrimmage, the most since notching 82 in a quadruple overtime game against Kentucky in 2007. Tennessee gained 524 yards of offense in the35-21 win and quarterback Tyler Bray looked like a sure-fire NFL prospect. JC wide receiver transfer Cordarrelle Patterson showed some awesome speed and it certainly looks like Da’Rick Rogers, who was booted off the team last week, will not be missed. Tennessee will have no problems with Georgia State this week and the Vols could be a serious threat in the SEC East.

Tennessee’s top competition in the East, Georgia and Florida, were not very impressive on Saturday. Florida couldn’t pick a starting quarterback against Bowling Green and scored just 27 points in the lackluster win. Florida only outgained the MAC school 365-327 and had just 145 yards passing with Jeff Driskel and Jacoby Brissett splitting snaps. Driskel has been named the starter for this week’s trip to Texas A&M.

Georgia also had trouble with a MAC opponent, leading Buffalo just 24-16 at halftime before pulling away for a 45-23 win. The Georgia defense allowed 199 yards rushing to the Bulls and 347 total yards.

Auburn had several question marks heading into its opener against Clemson, most notably on defense. The Tigers defense gave up 528 total yards, including an alarming 320 on the ground. The Auburn passing game also struggled and if you take away two long passes of 54 and 38 yards, quarterback Keihl Frazier was 9-of-25 for 102 yards on his other attempts.

The Hugh Freeze era didn’t get off to a good start in Oxford but the Rebels did manage to overcome a 20-14 halftime deficit to defeat Central Arkansas 49-27. Ole Miss allowed 347 yards, most of which in the first half, before tightening up after the break.

Kentucky wound up on the short end of a 32-14 loss against rival Louisville. The Wildcats offense however did show some promise. The defense had a tough day and allowed 466 yards and 26 first downs. Kentucky put up 373 yards itself, and if not for two lost fumbles in the red zone, the score would have been much closer.

Finally, the rest of the conference, which includes three more top-10 teams in Alabama, LSU and Arkansas, all rolled to easy wins. The most impressive showing was the Crimson Tide’s romp over Michigan and I’m sure some Razorback fans were concerned about Jacksonville State putting up 21 first half points.

College Football Line Moves Report
By Alf Musketa
Sportsmemo.com

In this edition of my Football Line Moves Report we'll look at the college ranks and report on some of the early action and predict which way it will move. Next week we'll add in some of the NFL line moves as well.

Penn State at Virginia

Virginia opened -7, now -10

Despite Penn State's emotional effort and a 14-3 halftime lead vs. Ohio U, the Nittany Lions fell apart like dominos and let the community, their fans and punters that bet on them down. Penn State has made it's hill to climb even steeper, because a win surely would have taken the pressure off this team. Instead, that pressure remains and a big reason why the line has moved quickly from -7 to -10, and bettors will continue to fade Penn State until they prove otherwise. The opener of -7 was too easy not to take for market players. Virginia handled FCS Richmond fairly easily and they boast a couple of Outland Trophy nominees in right tackle Morgan Moses and left guard Oday Aboushi.

Idaho at Bowling Green

Bowling Green opened -12, now -16.5

Huge move here. The Falcons were -12 for about 10 minutes and then -13.5 for most of Sunday night. On Monday morning a saying that is well known among professional bettors is, "we go fishing" meaning that when the majority of sportsbooks in Las Vegas and online finally post their opening numbers it is time to fish and see who has made a mistake or has a number that is too high and worthy of a buy-back. Bowling Green will surely get to -17 or a little higher before the market hedges some of their investment back. Idaho lost to FCS Eastern Washington 20-3, but EWU is a top 10 FCS team.

USC at Syracuse

USC opened -25.5, now -27.5

OK, this is not a big noteworthy move, however I just thought I’d mention that throughout the course of this season if you are not taking USC, LSU and Alabama in the first hour that their numbers are out you will get the worst of the number. Unless they are playing another top 5 team like Oregon, anything lined at less than -28 will jump.

Louisiana Tech at Houston

Houston opened -2.5, now La Tech -3.5

Houston just lost to first-time FBS team Texas State as -37 point chalk. Trust me, Texas State is not that good. Houston has major issues on offense trying to replace the some of the best skill position talent the program has ever seen. Add in a new head coach and it is apparent that this team is way behind and not ready to play football. The line moved Sunday night quickly to -3 and -3.5 and this was before news broke that Houston's offensive coordinator resigned. This line may climb a little higher I believe, the only thing that is preventing it from taking off to -6 or -7 is that Louisiana Tech's first game was postponed and they have yet to take the field.

NC State at Connecticut

NC State opened -1, now -6

This line move doesn't make sense to me. In my opinion this line is being set up by some very sharp handicappers and market players. If it hits -7 there will be an avalanche of Huskies money. Yes, NC State played a much tougher squad last week in Tennessee while Connecticut had its way with UMass who managed only three first downs, but we'll give kudos to head Paul Pasqualoni who always fields fundamentally sound defenses.

UL Lafayette at Troy

Troy opened -1, now -3

The reason for this line move is simple and you can use this in your arsenal of key handicapping factors and predicting line moves. If a team wins and covers against the spread the previous week and they were a popular play among bettors and or the public, they will be bet on again the following week. Many touts, handicappers and articles that I read from various sports websites all liked Troy last week. Now versus UL-Lafayette, in a good spot at home and betting into a line that is low, we wouldn't be surprised if this line goes higher still.

Week One News & Notes
By Phil Steele
Phil Steele.com

All summer there was talk about how Taylor Martinez was a much improved passer having attended a couple of passing camps over the summer. In the opener he hit 26-34-354. Southern Miss head coach Ellis Johnson said “the biggest thing was they manhandled us on the line. I thought that was obvious the whole game.” Nebraska had a 632-260 yard edge with Southern Miss getting a 100 yard KR td and gaining 73 of their yards on the final 3 drives. A concern was that Rex Burkhead got injured and he is actually doubtful for this week’s game vs UCLA.

Connecticut’s defense dominated, holding Massachusetts to just 3 FD’s and 59 yards offense in their 37-0 opening day win vs their new regional rival. It was the 72nd meeting between the two programs but the first since 1999 when both were in IAA. Mass QB Kellen Pagel might not play this year and Mike Wegzyn got his first start and hit just 9-22-56 and had -8 yards rushing.

New Mexico St reminds me a lot of Eastern Michigan last year. They were coming off a poor season and lost a lot of returning starters, just like the Eagles did but after going through Coach English’s team with him last year, I thought they had a shot at being bowl eligible. The same could be said for NMSt and they opened up strong with a 49-19 win over Sacramento St. The most impressive player watching the game was #4 Austin Franklin who had 236 yards on just 8 rec including 52, 50 and 84 yard catches in the 1H. Sac St did move the ball for 397 yards vs them and NMSt did get a td with :23 left for the final 49-19 margin but could be a surprise team this year.

Arizona St has a bevy of talented RB’s and vs Northern Arizona they rushed for 305 yards on 51 carries as ASU rolled up 554 yards offense and led 42-0 at the half. Their defense knocked out NAU’s QB and top rusher in the 1H. ASU even suspended their top WR Jamal Miles and RB James Morrison for the game.

If WKU has an Achilles’ heel it’s at K. LY their kickers hit just 5-20 FG’s and vs Austin Peay they would have won by much more but they were 0-3 on FG’s. WKU had a 596-154 yard edge and coach Taggert really needs to address the K position, not that he hasn’t thought of that all offseason. They had a missed 22 yard FG at the end of a 70/8pl drive and a missed 34 yard FG at the end of a 70/12pl drive and a missed 36 yard FG at the end of a 49/7pl drive.

Many wondered who would win the Utah St starting QB job but Chuckie Keeton not only won it, he looked great vs Southern Utah hitting 22-26-304 yards. SUU QB Brad Sorensen hit 12-31-153 as Utah St rolled up a 581-209 yard edge.

Throughout the 1Q of Miami, Oh/Ohio St you would think that Miami was the superior team. They had 182 yards on their first 5 poss and could have easily had led 14-0. Their 2nd poss went 62/8pl but they settled for a 24 yard FG and missed it. Their 3rd poss was 64/5pl but they settled for a 22 yard FG. OSU’s first 4 poss netted 2 FD’s and 46 yards. The Buckeyes then took over after that. It was 35-10 after 3Q’s when OSU got an IR 17 yards to the 8 setting up a td and the Bucks even tacked on a td with :44 left on 2&3 for the 56-10 final.

East Carolina only led Appalachian St 14-13 with 2:19 left in the 3Q when they got a 90 yard KR td. They then drove 59/7pl and 76/9pl for td’s to extend the margin. ASU went 72/7pl but was SOD on 4th & 3 at the EC3 and the Pirates got 2 FD’s running out the clock in their 35-13 win. App St had a 419-390 yard edge.

Many wondered if Philip Sims would beat out Michael Rocco for the Virginia starting QB job but Rocco hit 25-37-311. Virginia had a 149-7 yard edge in the 1Q and 291-105 at the half but only led 22-7 with Richmond putting together an 88/10pl drive for a td with 2:55 left in the half. UVA got a td with 5:28 left to lead 43-12 and Richmond then went 65/12pl for a garbage td with :38 left.

A surprising stat from this past week was that Buffalo had a 243-188 yard edge at the half vs #6 Georgia. For the game UGA finished with a 485-347 yard edge and ended up winning by 22. Very impressive was true frosh Todd Gurley who rushed for 100 yards (Keith Marshall had 46) and Gurley also had a 100 yard KR td. Remember last year their starting RB was also a true frosh.

Missouri had 2 PR td’s and 2 defensive td’s in their 62-10 win over SE Louisiana. Their PR td’s were of 72 and 70 yards, they had a 20 yard IR td and a 7 yard FR td with both turnover td’s coming in the 1Q and both PR td’s coming in the 2H. After gaining 207 yards in the 1Q, Missouri had just 53 yards in the 2Q so Pinkel kept his starting offense in until the 4Q. The last time Missouri had 2 kick/punt scoring returns in game was back in 1965.

North Carolina got its first shutout since 1999 but suffered a big injury when Giovanni Bernard went out in the 2Q. He had a 59 yard td run, caught a 6 yard td pass and returned a punt 70 yards for a td spurring UNC to a 41-0 lead over Elon at the half with a 336-92 yard edge. The Tar Heels extended it to 62-0 after 3Q’s and ran the ball 10 of 10 plays in the 4Q which was scoreless.

EJ Manuel had a streak of 128 consecutive passes without an interception stopped. As expected, Florida St mauled Murray St 69-3. Jimbo Fisher has now taken on 3 FCS schools and won those by a combined 190-19 and they have Savannah St on deck, a team that just lost to Oklahoma St 84-0. FSU finished with a 606-156 yard edge.

Last year when UTSA and South Alabama got together it went to 3OT. This year it was down to the wire again with SA trailing most of the game but getting a td with 2:46 left to lead 31-30. UTSA converted on 3rd & 10 for a FD then nailed a 51 yard Sean Ianno FG with :16 left to allow UTSA to pull out the upset, 33-31.

Air Force had a big game vs Michigan on deck and did roll up 626 yards offense but 484 yards rushing vs one of the weakest defenses in the NCAA. They did lead 28-0 at the half with a 360-140 yard edge. Idaho St’s pass-happy offense chipped away with a 75/10pl, 75/13pl and 75/10pl drives on the first 3 possessions of the 2H to pull within 42-21. They still got a comfortable 28 pt win despite allowing 431 yards.

Troy RB Shawn Southward ran for a career-high 204 yards but UAB QB Jonathan Perry threw for 307. Troy appeared on their way to a route leading 17-0 but UAB battled back to within 25-23 with a td and a missed 2 pt conversion with 12:16 left. UAB had the ball on the Troy side of the field when they were intercepted at the 31 with 7:25 left. Troy then went 69/2pl for a td and after a fumble, got a 5 yard td run to blow it open 39-23. UAB went 78/8pl getting a td with 3:45 left allowing them to have the yardage edge for the game.

West Virginia only had a 31-28 FD edge vs Marshall but Marshall did have 135 yards on their last 2 drives of the game as WV led 69-20 after a td with 13:04 left and MU went 75/9pl and 72/16pl vs the backups. Gino Smith hit 32-36-323 yards and WV almost matched their bowl total of 70 points.

Many overreacted when Tennessee lost WR Da’Rick Rogers to injury. Yes, he was the team’s #1 receiver statistically last year and a dynamic 1st round potential threat but their leading WR at the start of last year was actually Justin Hunter who had 18 rec in the first 2 games prior to injury. They also added exciting JUCO Cordarrelle Patterson. Tyler Bray hit Patterson with a 41 yard td pass and Patterson also ran 67 yards for a td while Hunter had 73 yards in 9 rec’s and Zach Rogers was impressive with 87 yards on 2 rec’s including a 72 yard td catch. UT had a 524-407 yard edge and NC State gained 47 of their yards on the final drive taking over with 1:44 left down 35-21. I called for the Vols to have the 3rd most improved rush attack in the country and while Patterson’s numbers helped the stats, they rushed for 191 yards and 5.0 ypc.

Notre Dame was playing without suspended starting RB Cierre Wood but still rushed for 293 yards on 46 carries vs Navy. ND has a lot of bigger, stronger, faster athletes than do the Midshipmen and they had extra time to prepare for Navy’s option. Everett Golson in his first start hit 12-18-144 but surprisingly only had 1 rush attempt for 8 yards. I was very impressed with DT Tuitt who at 6’6” 300 lbs scooped up a fumble and outran Navy’s smaller slotbacks 77 yards for a td. Navy QB Trey Miller was injured early and not 100% but gutted it out hitting 14-19-192. ND missed 2 PAT’s and have concerns at K and at CB.

Michigan St had a commanding 461-206 yard edge vs Boise St. In fact, for the first time since 1997, Boise was held without an offensive td and after averaging 500+ yards offense the last 2 years, Boise was held to less than half of that here. MSU RB Bell was the most impressive player on the field getting the ball 44 times for 210 yards. MSU missed 2 FG’s and at the end of the game, had a FD at the Boise 14 threatening to win by double digits but opted to take a knee after a 1st & gl at the 4 yard line. I was impressed with Boise’s D and anytime your leading tackler LY has just 66 tackles, it means the backups play a lot and they were less inexperienced than you would think despite losing their entire defensive front 7. The Spartans did have 461 yards after Boise allowed just 296 ypg the last 4 years.

Carl Pelini was extremely happy that FAU escaped with a win over Wagner. They did have a 17-11 FD and 226-215 yard edge but trailed 3-0 after 1Q and Wagner missed a 43 yard FG and was intercepted in the EZ in the 1H. Wagner was SOD at the FAU36 but FAU missed a 39 yard FG. FAU fumbled at the Wagner 6 with 12:50 left but FAU got a 39 yard td pass with 11:36 left to take the lead and then went on a 76/18pl drive. They had a 4th & gl at the 1 but fumbled with :20 left in their 7-3 win.

Unexpected Suspensions. A key to the Idaho loss to Eastern Washington was the fact they suspended their starting QB, Dominique Blackman. Logan Bushnell started and hit just 10-24-123 yards and an int. SMU transfer Kyle Padron only hit 13-33 passes but it was for 260 yards as EW got their first win vs an FBS school since 2003. EW finished with a 412-327 yard edge and 17-10 FD edge…California surprisingly benched QB Maynard for the first 3 series vs Nevada and found themselves in a 7-0 hole with just 2 FD’s on the first 3 drives and when Maynard came in they punted on each of his first 2 drives and they were down 14-0. Cal had a 32/7pl drive end in a missed 31 yard FG and trailed 31-7 at the half. Tied 24-24 Nevada took over with 3:24 left and went 61/10pl getting a 2 yard td run with :36 left to pull the upset on the road spoiling Cal’s reopening of Memorial Stadium. Stephon Jefferson rushed for 145 yards while Cody Fajardo rushed for 97 and hit 25-32-230…A late announcement was that Purdue suspended Caleb TerBush for the game vs Eastern Kentucky. Robert Marve hit 30-38-295 yards and Purdue crushed EKU 48-6. Danny Hope used to coach EKU and is an EKU grad. Purdue had a 325-138 yard edge at the half leading 34-6 and on 2&9 from the EK15 with 1:54 left, they tacked on a 15 yard td pass for the 48-6 final.

Don’t overreact to slow starts. There were some teams that were very unimpressive in the opener and a lot of folks are going to overreact. Look at Kansas St as an example from last year where the Wildcats barely got past an FCS foe in their opening game of the season. They went on to a very successful 10-2 season. Here’s a look at some of the teams that started slow that might not be as bad as you would think after watching their games…Central Michigan actually trailed SE Missouri St 24-10 in the 2Q but would rally for a 38-27 win. CM finished with a 495-308 yard edge surviving a 3-0 TO deficit and I was impressed with RB Tipton who rushed for a career-high 180 yards and 3 td’s on 17 carries…South Carolina did not look like the #9 ranked team in the country but the bottom line is they went into a hostile situation vs a Vanderbilt team that plays SEC teams very tough at home and were without their starting QB for a few series. When Conner Shaw returned from his shoulder injury, he still was not 100% but led them to the comeback win. Vanderbilt finished with a 276-272 yard edge and it was actually 259-157 after 3Q’s. SC outgained VU 115-17 in the 4Q. Marcus Lattimore rushed for 110 yards in his first game back from injury. There was a controversial no-call at the end of the game as VU went for it on 4&7 and the DB ripped the WR’s left arm down and the 1-armed WR couldn’t catch the pass but no pass interference was called. With a healthy Lattimore and Shaw, DE’s Clowney and Taylor, SC should get batter weekly… Will Muschamp said he wanted Florida to come out strong as they had lost their last game at The Swamp last year but they actually gave a lethargic performance vs Bowling Green. UF had a 203-134 yard edge at the half and only led 14-7 and BG tied it early 3Q. BG had a 31 yard FG hit the upright and missed a 29 yard FG. UF did miss a 27 yard FG that hit the upright with :24 left in their 27-14 win but figure to put on a better performance vs A&M this week.

New Coach Debuts. Bob Davie’s debut at New Mexico was solid as they pounded Southern U 66-21. In fact, it was 45-6 at the half and they led 66-13 with Southern going 75/13pl and 30/7pl gaining 105 yards on their final 2 drives getting 1 garbage td. That’s why statistically NM only had a 417-320 yard edge.

Close Escapes. Maryland is a very banged up football team and barely got past William & Mary but they played a little better than the final score. In fact, at the end of the 1H, MD had a 132-88 yard edge but trailed 6-0. W&M had a 32 yard IR to the 9 setting up a FG and MD went on a 63/13pl drive but missed a 25 yard FG. MD was intercepted on the first drive of the 3Q and punted on the 2nd and with Terps fans getting nervous, W&M missed a 48 yard FG with 14:55 left and MD went 69/10pl for a td to take the lead 7-6. W&M’s final drive got to the 42 where they fumbled and Maryland returned it to the 6 and took a knee. New starting QB Perry Hills hit 16-24-145 and had 3 costly int’s…Iowa had a 23-12 FD edge vs Northern Illinois and if you take away Jordan Lynch’s QB draw which went 73 yards for a td, they held NIU to 138 yards offense. Things were scary for Iowa fans when they trailed 17-9 in the 4Q. Iowa got a crucial 50 yard FG with 9:33 left to pull within 5 then after punting with 5:36 left, they got a 43 yard punt pinning NIU at the 1. They forced a 3&out after an 11 yard PR they started at the NI24 and on 3&8 Bullock got a 22 yard td run and Iowa took the lead 18-17 with just 2:15 left. NIU was then SOD on 4&7 at their own 24 and the Hawkeyes escaped. Bullock rushed for 150 yards on 30 carries and while much was expected from the talented true frosh signees for Iowa, Greg Garmon (PS#16) had just 8 yards on 4 carries.

Poor FCS teams get hammered. Northern Colorado had lost 19 of its last 20 games and was 0-11 last season. Versus Utah they never crossed midfield managing only 114 yards offense. Jordan Wynn, coming off an injury, hit 19-27-200 and actually played until the start of the 4Q when a td made it 34-0. Backup Travis Wilson got in 2 passes after that.

FCS Upsets. McNeese St got its first win over an FBS school since 2001 when they stuffed Middle Tenn, placing coach Stockstill on the hotseat list for the rest of the year. McNeese had a 244-146 yard edge at the half and led 24-6 after 3Q’s with MTSU getting a td pass with 5:01 left to pull within 6 but McNeese got 2 FD’s to basically run out the clock punting 36 yards to the 2 with :06 left…If you get my FCS Magazine, you know that I picked Youngstown St as one of the top teams in the FCS this year. I nearly picked them to win the national title. They lived up to that advanced billing by upsetting Pitt on the road 31-17 and there was nothing fluky about the game. YSU led 14-7 in the 2Q and 28-10 in the 4Q. Paul Chryst did suspend 6 players prior to KO for disciplinary reasons including frosh RB Russell Shell. The good news is Ray Graham was questionable to play but got back in the lineup and rushed for 71 yards on 14 carries. YSU’s first 2 drives of the game went 79 and 92 yards for td’s.

Misleading box scores. A check of the final score shows Duke beating FIU 46-26 but if you look at a box score, FIU had 29-16 FD and 513-420 yard edges. While Duke was fortunate, as they only led 30-14 when they blocked a FG on the final play of the half and returned it 75 yards for a td, instead of only leading 30-17 they extended the lead to 37-14. They led the game 46-13 when FIU took over with 6:06 left. FIU gained 182 of their yards in the final 6:06 and scored 2 td’s in the final 1:19 after recovering an onside kick to give them the yardage edge for the game but that came vs the backups.

Narrow escapes. Wake Forest trailed Liberty 14-0 in the 3Q when they got a 39 yard IR td to tie. Liberty had a 178-145 yard edge a the half. WF took their first lead of the game with 13:34 left. Liberty got a 49 yard FG with 9:30 left to pull within 3 punting with 5:55 left and Liberty got to their own 44 but their 4th & 9 pass was incomplete with 1:31 left. Liberty finished with a 363-293 yard edge.

Misleading Stats. Kent St was actually outFD’d by Towson 19-15 and outgained 316-267 but they were in control of this game thanks in part to turning two TO’s into 10 points early and also had a 98 yard KR td. Kent St led 41-7 at the start of the 4Q and Towson would outgain Kent St 125-4 in the final 14:48 giving them the yardage edge and also scoring 2 td’s. As I mentioned, it was 41-7 and Kent St had a 263-191 yard edge…On paper UCF was actually outFD’d by Akron 19-18 and only outgained them 386-325. The final score was a little more reflective of the game as UCF won 56-14. Yes, UA turned the ball over 4 times but that set up a short field for UCF or they would have gained more yards. UCF brought in their backups with 4:43 left 3Q and led 49-7 after 3Q’s. UA gained 100 of their yards in the 4Q. UCF LaTavius Murray gained 108 yards on 14 carries but exited the game after just 1Q as he has a sore shoulder and they just wanted him to get healthy. Terry Bowden was most pleased with the fact that Akron was able to run 81 plays in his up-tempo offense…BYU’s D was very impressive holding BYU grad Mike Leach’s offense to 224 yards. They actually gave up 57 yards on the first poss but an int ended that drive. BYU was dominant at home piling up 426 yards and led 24-6 at half and 30-6 after 3Q’s with Washington St gaining 63 of their yards on the final 2 drives. Riley Nelson looks like an improved passer hitting 25-36-285. Overall Leach wasn’t too beat up despite the lopsided score as he said “I think as a team we’re a lot closer than we realize because the good stuff’s great, but then also out of the blue you’ll see street ball out there.” …A lot of folks will look at the Minnesota/UNLV game and think it was a shoot out at 30-27 but this game actually went to 3OT. In fact, with 3:00 left, Minn led 13-10 with UNLV getting a 35 yard FG with 2:30 left to force OT. After combining for 26 pts in regulation, the 2 teams each scored td’s in the first 2OT’s and a FG in the 3rd made it 31 OT points. UNLV was intercepted in that 3rd OT and Minn got the 32 yard FG for the win…Mississippi St only had a 377-265 yard edge vs Jackson St but won the game 56-9. They did not punt until the final minute of the 3Q and led 35-6 at half. They had 2 IR td’s, just the 4th time in school history MSU returned 2 IR for td’s. JSU’s final 2 drives ate up 19 plays and they gained 101 after having 164 yards in the first 3Q’s. Tyler Russell hit 15-23-175…Savannah St’s coach was actually thankful that Oklahoma St did not try to run up the score. In fact, OSU pulled their starters with 6:56 left in the 1Q up 21-0. It’s unfortunate since they have a true frosh QB in Wes Lunt but he was a perfect 11-11-129. His backup JW Walsh hit 13-21-149 and Clint Chelf hit 2-5-9. It was 49-0 at the half with a 424-52 yard edge and OSU scored a 10 yard td run with 1:20 left for the 84-0 final. SSU is just 4-72 vs FCS teams and one of the weakest teams in that category. OSU broke a school record with 9 rushing td’s.

Late Scores. Eastern Michigan led 13-10 and Ball St went 65/10pl and got a 29 yard FG with :03 left in the half. Did that give them momentum in the 2H? How about an Edwards’ 75 yard td run on their 2nd offensive play, a 97/9pl drive and 50/16pl drive followed by a 73/8 pl drive on their first four 2H possessions as they surged to a 37-13 lead in a very impressive win. Ball St’s had 596-366 yard edge. RB Edwards rushed for 200 yards on 20 carries.

Different games. Penn St appeared in control vs Ohio. They led 14-3 in a solid 1H rolling up 237 yards offense and appeared on their way to a comfortable win over Ohio. Two key plays of the game happened. The first, OU faced a 3&7 at the PSU43 and Tettleton threw a pass that should have been intercepted but it bounced off the DB’s hands and into Landon Smith’s who took it for a 43 yard td. PSU was then SOD on 4&5 at the OU30 on their next drive and OU rolled up 301 yards offense in the 2H in their 24-14 win. Tettleton finished 31-41-324…Northwestern did get a couple of key plays in an 82 yard PR td and then a backwards Syracuse pass that the WR gave up on, was scooped up by a Northwestern DL who returned it 37 yards for a td. With 7:37 left 3Q, NU led 35-13 but Syracuse scored the next 28 pts with td drives of 77/14, 91/3, 86/10 and 72/6pl and actually led 41-35 with 2:30 left. NU with backup QB Trevor Siemian (better passer) went 75/10pl getting a 9 yard td pass with :44 left to escape with the win. Nassib hit 44-65-470 yards…Wisconsin was in control vs Northern Iowa leading 26-7 in the 4Q with 12:31 to go but UNI got a 55 yard td pass, then forced a 3&out, went 62/7pl for a td, forced another 3&out and actually had the ball at the Wisc 41 down 5 points with 2:46 left when their 4&1 pass was incomplete and UW escaped. The Badgers did have a 387-306 yard edge with UNI having 130 yards when they trailed 26-7…Tulsa appeared in control vs Iowa St leading 16-7 after 1Q but ISU had a 24-0 edge in the 2Q and 3Q leading 24-16 at the half with a 301-187 yard edge and extending it to 31-16 after 3Q’s. Tulsa got a 77 yard run by Watts with 9:12 to go to pull within 8 and then in a key play of the game, down 8 with 2:04 left, went for it on 4&10 and were intercepted and returned 51 yards to the TU5 setting up an ISU td where it looked like an easy 38-23 win.

Late Scores. I was talking to Gil Brandt recently and he had commented on the fact that teams that get a big score late in the 1H generally have big 2H’s. This past weekend was a pretty good indication of that. Brent Hundley’s first touch as a UCLA QB was a 72 yard td run as UCLA piled up 651 yards vs Rice in the opener. RB Jonathan Franklin became the first player in UCLA history to have a least 2 rushes with 72 yards in a game with 74 and 78 yard td runs. UCLA led 29-14 but got a 44 yard FR td with :17 left to extend it to 35-24. The Bruins would outscore Rice 14-0 in the 2H in their 49-24 win…Colorado was pretty much in control of Colorado St. They led 14-3 with a 175-107 yard edge. With 1:19 left in the half, they fumbled at the CSU39. They still forced CSU to punt but with :33 left in the half, CU fumbled the punt at their own 20 and CSU got a 28 yard td pass to shockingly pull within 14-10. Using that momentum, CSU came out and opened the 2H with an 89/8pl drive for a td and would go on to win it, 22-17. CU’s last gasp ended on 4th & 2 at the CSU39 with their pass gaining -1 yards. Kansas transfer Jordan Webb hit 22-41-187 and CSU finished with a 298-245 yard edge.

Misleading Finals. Temple blew out Villanova 41-10 but the game was not as dominant as the score would indicate. VU actually had a 365-362 yard edge and 18-15 FD edge. The Wildcats went on an 85/12pl drive and settled for a 21 yard FG, gave up a 58 yard IR td and a 24 yard td drive after a fumble. At the half, Temple led 28-10 but only a 221-195 yard edge. VU was SOD at the TU29 but gained 62 of their yards on the game’s final 12 plays getting to the Temple 13. Matt Brown rushed 19 times for 145 yards and Boston College transfer Montel Harris had just 12 yards on 5 attempts….Stanford appeared on their way to a blow out vs San Jose St. They took their opening drive 81/13pl for a td and their 2nd 50/6pl for a td to lead 14-0. It was 17-3 at the half with Stanford having a 222-97 yard edge but SJSt actually went 78/9pl and 82/12pl on their first two 2H poss to tie it at 17. SJSt had the ball but fumbled at their own 38 setting up a Stanford 20 yard FG with 14:15 left. SU was SOD at the SJS15 with 6:40 left and SJSt’s last drive got to their 30 but a 4th & 10 pass was intercepted. Josh Nunez hit 16-26-125 yards in his first start replacing Andrew Luck while SJSt QB David Fales 24-35-216…Western Michigan actually had a 259-248 yard edge. Illinois’ offense took a hit when Nathan Scheelhaase went out with injury. At the time, without Scheelhaase the Illini managed 15 yards offense on 5 poss. WM was threatening as they were down 17-7 and had the ball across midfield when QB Alex Carder threw an out pass that Ashante Williams intercepted and returned 60 yards for a td giving Illinois some breathing margin. WM finished with a 259-248 yard edge but lost by 17 points. Van Tubbergen came in at QB and almost led the team to a FG with 2:04 left. Interestingly, UI took over with 2:04 left at their own 28 and WM had 2 time-outs but Cubit opted not to use them and despite holding UI to 2 yards on 3 plays, which would have forced a punt, they allowed the clock to run out…It seemed like every day in practice in August players and/or coaches commented about Duke Johnson and what an outstanding true frosh he was. Johnson lived up to that billing with 135 yards rushing on 7 attempts in Miami’s 41-32 win at Boston College. Chase Rettig hit 32-51-441 but BC kept settling for short FG’s after long drives and also gave up a 41 yard IR td which may have been the key play of the game. BC had jumped out to a 14-0 lead going 75/7pl and 70/9pl when that IR td allowed Miami to tie it. BC had a 293-195 yard edge at the half but trailed 21-20. For the game BC had a 542-415 yard edge and 29-22 FD edge and there was controversy at the end when down by 9 pts, they appeared to score a td twice; once on 3rd & gl and once on 4th & gl but both times they were stopped short and the 2nd time the officials upheld the call.

On the first play of the season, Heisman candidate Matt Barkley threw to All-American WR Marquise Lee who Coach Kiffin feels may be one of their best WR’s of all-time at USC and Lee took a short pass 75 yards for a td. He had a great game statistically with 197 yards receiving and an additional 100 yard KR td. USC led 35-0 at the half with a 328-83 yard edge and ended the game at the Hawaii 16 yard line being stopped on 4&18 on a 16 yard run with 2:11 left.

LSU jumped out to a 24-0 lead vs North Texas but gave up an 80 yard td pass with 1:55 left in the half and only led 24-7. LSU punted on their first 2H possession but then went 74, 71 and 75 yards for td’s. They did allow NT a 66/13pl td drive with 7:28 left which trimmed it to 14 in LSU’s 41-14 win. QB Mettenberger was briefly knocked out of the game and finished 19-26-192 yards as LSU’s powerful run game rushed for 316 yards.

Louisiana kicker Brett Baer, who led the NCAA in FG accuracy last year (18-20), hit FG’s of 32, 39, 30 and 52 yards and led his streak to 15 FG’s made. Louisiana only had a 15-13 FD edge and 346-194 yard edge but took advantage of 2 TO’s and a 29 yard punt to set up 34, 2 and 26 yard scoring drives. They led Lamar 40-0 at the half with a 239-89 yard edge and punted on all four 2H poss.

In the 1H Central Arkansas actually had a 237-231 yard edge. That was interesting because Ole Miss HC Hugh Freeze had prepped for CA the previous year when HC of Arkansas St. It was undetermined as who would start between Wallace and Bruretti but Wallace started and hit 20-24-254. CA led 20-14 at the half but after UM punted on their first 3Q possession, they went 77/10pl, 75/5pl, 70/9pl and 25/2pl (after interception) and 58/7pl for td’s on their next 5 possessions to lead 49-20 with 5:57 left before allowing a 75/11pl drive for a late CA td.

Tyler Wilson set an Arkansas school record for passing yards in the season opener hitting 19-27-367 yards. Jacksonville St HC Jack Crowe was a HC at Arkansas back in ‘92 and he was fired by the Hogs after a 10-3 loss to a FCS team in The Citadel. Arkansas was playing without their top returning receiver, Cobi Hamilton who was injured in the 1H and converted QB Brandon Mitchell led with 122 yards and 4 rec’s. Knile Davis only had 70 yards rushing on 18 carries in his first game back from injury. The Hogs actually trailed 14-7 early 2Q before scoring td’s on the next 4 poss and led 35-14 but JSU went 75/10pl and got a td with :08 left in the half, 55-21. It was 35-24 and Ark finally got some breathing room late 3Q with a 49/3pl drive for a td following a fumble to lead 39-24 and JSU had a 13pl drive where they were SOD at the Hog 8 with 8:48 left.

This past week I debuted writing an ESPN Insider article and the headline article had Alabama controlling the line of scrimmage vs Michigan and that they did. The Tide finished with a 20-11 FD and 451-269 yard edges. In fact, in the 1H Bama had a 279-119 yard edge and that included Michigan driving 75/3pl for a td with 2:20 left in the half trailing 31-0. Denard Robinson hit 11-26-200 and was limited to 27 yards rushing on 10 carries. The Wolverines were playing without their top RB Toussaint and Vincent Smith led the RB’s with 33 yards on 11 carries. The defending National Champs looked very strong in their opener.

Two key players were missing for the Clemson/Auburn game that was played between a split crowd at the Georgia Dome. Sammy Watkins, Clemson’s star WR was out and for Auburn they were missing starting center Reese Dismukes. The game turned into a FG battle with the 2 teams combining for 3 td’s and 7 FG’s. Andre Ellington rushed for 231 yards on 26 carries. Auburn led 19-16 in the 4Q when Clemson got a td with 9:17 left then forced a punt and went on a 79/11pl drive for an 18 yard FG with 1:24 left. Auburn only got to its own 42 but was sacked and fired incomplete on the final play. Clemson did finish with a 528-374 yard edge and 28-17 FD edge.

Tulane ran its losing streak to 11 consecutive games, their longest streak since 1963. They trailed just 10-6 at the start of the 4Q when Rutgers got 2 big plays, a 14 yard IR td by Jones and then a 43 yard td pass to Coleman made it 24-6. Tulane went 65/5pl for a td with 5:07 left but was SOD on its own 26 with 2:06 left. RU only had a 309-262 yard edge.

It was one of the bigger upsets in college football history this past weekend when Texas St, which was about a 5 td underdog, playing their first game as an FBS member, stunned Houston – a team that finished #18 last year (13-1). Houston had a new coaching staff and was replacing Keenum but did have a veteran QB in David Piland who hit just 17-44-211 yards. There’s nothing fluky about the win as Texas St had a 444-326 yard edge and 23-15 FD edge and with a 73 yard run by Marcus Curry, they led 14-3 mid 1Q and never trailed. TSU led 27-10 at the half with a 300-194 yard edge. Houston trailed 30-13 and got the ball 3 more times and were SOD at their own 35 and their own 41 twice.

When I spoke to Indiana coach Kevin Wilson in the offseason, he had talked about the emphasis on making QB Tre Roberson more of a passer and less of a runner. Things appeared to work out pretty well in the opener as Roberson hit 26-36-280 yards and ran just 7 times for 19 yards. Indiana St RB Shakir Bell who was a runner-up for LY’s Walter Payton Award rushed for 192 yards on 24 carries for the Sycamores. IU fans could never breathe easily with the game tied at 7, running into the K on a 34 yard FG had them go for it on 4&1 and Indiana got a td and they would lead 24-10 at the half. Indy had a 42 yard FG hit the upright and a 46 yard FG blocked with 3:32 left only leading 24-17 and ISU on 4&12 at the Indy43 was SOD with 2:02 left. ISU got it back, down 7, and got to the Indy36 but their Hail Mary fell incomplete.

Last year Kansas St opened the season with a poor effort in the opener vs an FCS team. They struggled again despite the final score of 51-9. In fact, it was just 9-6 at the half with KSU getting a 25 yard FG with :18 left for that lead. Missouri St had a 70/10pl drive in the half but fumbled into the EZ for a TB. It was just 16-9 into the 4Q when KSU got a 43 yard PR setting up a 32 yard drive for a td, a 95 yard td run by RB Hubert, an 8 yard drive for a td after an interception and then a roughing the K gave them a FD and they got a 46 yard td run on the next play with 3:43 left. They closed the scoring with an 89 yard PR td with 1:56 left and only had a 493-418 yard edge and 21-19 fd edge despite the lopsided score.

The UT Martin/Memphis game had a 2.5 hour weather delay. When they came back, UTM went for it (trailing 10-7) on 4&10 and converted and got a td 5pl later for a 14-10 lead. Memphis got a td with :52 left to apparently force OT and then forced a punt by UTM but fumbled the punt with just :17 left at their own 27 and UTM would cash in with a 43 yard FG to pull the upset. UTM did have a 392-39 yard edge and 25-20 FD edge.

Weber St’s HC Todd McBride retired prior to the season and John L. Smith took over but left for the Arkansas job so they were led by DC Jody Sears who is the interim HC this year. Fresno St opened with 97 and 74 yard drives for td’s and a quick 14-0 lead and it was 24-3 at the half with a 289-122 yard edge. It was just 24-10 when Fresno got a 38/1pl td pass after an interception to go up 30-10 then went 69/10pl for another td with 3:31 left to extend the margin to 37-10. They did have a 515-274 yard edge and Derek Carr hit a very efficient 20-25-298 yards.

The Oregon Ducks could have topped 100 points vs Arkansas St had they kept the 1st stringers in. An amazing stat to me was that with 7:06 left in the 2Q, the Ducks led 50-3 and then pulled their starters. It was 50-10 at the half and Ark St would do most of their damage in the 2H. The Ducks had a 417-228 yard edge at the half and ASU would get 55, 71 and 75 yard drives all for td’s on their final 3 possessions trailing 50-13 late in the 3Q. It appears Chip Kelly made the right choice at QB as Marcus Mariota hit 18-22-200 and Bryan Bennett, who played the rest of the game was just 10-17-108.

Oklahoma was on upset alert after UTEP had blocked a punt for a td early in the game and actually it was 7-7 at the half and OU only led 10-7 after 3Q’s. At half OU had a slim 168-129 yard edge. UTEP was SOD at its own 41 with 13:33 left and the Sooners, 7pl later, got a td. OU punted then got a 65 yard td run by Williams with 2:55 left to extend the margin.

Washington only had a 328-327 yard edge vs San Diego St. After an interception UW went 35/7pl for a td and took their 2nd drive 62/9pl for a td to lead 14-0 but it was 14-6 at the half. A 44 yard FR td gave UW a 21-6 lead. The Aztecs closed to 21-12 with 12:06 left then were SOD on 4&6 at the UW9 with 4:44 left.

Joe Bergeron and Malcolm Brown each rushed for over 100 yards for the Texas Longhorns. Texas finished with only a 436-345 yard edge and a key play was when a short pass to Robert Herron saw him break 3 tackles and race 82 yards for a td giving Wyoming about 25% of its offense for the day. At the half Texas led 24-9 and extended it to 31-9. David Ash hit 20-27-156.

The Toledo/Arizona game was an amazing offensive game. The two combined for 57 FD’s with Arizona having a 33-24 edge and UA had a 624-358 yard edge and the two teams almost got 1,000 yards offense. Combined they ran 182 plays in the game. Amazingly, at the end of regulation the score stood 17-17 as both left a lot of points off the board. UA had a 71/12pl drive and settled for a 26 yard FG and UT went on a 16 play drive but missed a FG. UA fumbled at the UT26 and only led 14-10 at the half despite the fact the two teams had combined for 559 yards. UA later had a 24 yard FG at the end of a drive that hit the upright and missed a 25 yard FG at the end of regulation but won it in OT.

Texas Tech did dominate Northwestern St with a 37-6 FD and 500-84 yard edges. The most impressive player to me was actually backup QB Michael Brewer. Seth Doege hit 23-34-199 but Brewer was brought into the lineup at the start of the 4Q with the game just 27-6. Brewer led a 55/7pl, 63/12pl and 53/7pl drive for a 37 yard FG and 2 td’s in his 3 poss. He hit 10-13-122. Eric Stephens, coming back from last year’s injury, rushed 16 times for 58 yards.

Louisville had a 466-373 yard edge with Kentucky blowing some scoring opportunities. UK fumbled at the UL22 with 3:15 to go in the 2Q, missed a 42 yard FG and were tackled on a fake punt which allowed UL a 38 yard td drive. The Cards still dominated the game and they brought in backup QB Stein for the final 4 series. While UL did not score, UK fumbled on 2nd & gl from the 5 at the 3, was SOD on 4&9 at the UL12 then SOD on 4&2 at their own 41 on the final 3 poss.

SMU blew some scoring opportunities vs Baylor or could have made a game of it. In the 1H they went on a 51/9pl drive but missed a 43 yard FG, went 66/16pl but settled for a 22 yard FG. Trailing 14-3 they had a chance to get back in it when at the end of a 73/13pl drive on 2&gl from the 9 they were intercepted at the 2 with just 2:41 left in the half. BU would get a 50 yard td pass with 2:02 left then after a punt drove 50 yards and added a 44 yard FG on the half’s final play for a 24-3 lead at the half with a 314-197 yard edge. SMU fumbled and it was returned 66 yards for a td, was intercepted setting up a 60 yard td drive by BU and it got out of hand. BU led 52-10 with backup QB Petty directing a 25 yard td drive after a 37 yard PR. SMU would actually get a td with 4:49 left and after a BU td, SMU went 72/4pl for a 40 yard td pass with backup QB Preston with 2:25 left.

Around the Nation - Week 2
By The SportsBoss
VegasInsider.com

SEC

The SEC still looks like the dominant conference in the country, did anyone think otherwise? BUT, it may not be as GREAT top to bottom as many believe. Of course Alabama looks awesome once again, easily dispatching the likely best team the Big Ten has to offer; Tennessee looked solid taking care of the Wolfpack from North Carolina State with relative ease on Friday night; Missouri and Mississippi State handled their business as well against inferior opponents.

But, a closer look at the remaining results may yield a different story:

South Carolina, whom is most likely #1 or #2 in the SEC East, struggled mightily to put away the second to worst SEC East team on the road, Vanderbilt, and did not look good doing it. What's more about this game, QB Connor Shaw came out of it banged up with a shoulder injury - shoulder issues for QBs are never a good thing this early in the season, especially with the style he prefers playing. This game may have a big impact on the Gamecocks chances at representing the SEC East in the SEC Title game come December as unlike the last few seasons, there is no depth at QB for the 'Cocks.

Georgia was only up on lowly Buffalo 24-16 at the half, and wound up winning by 22, not covering the spread, and allowing the Bulls to put up 23 points between the hedges. Yeah, the Dawgs had some defensive starters suspended for this one, but their 3rd team should be able to hold down Buffalo to single digits.

Florida pulled out a 27-14 win over Bowling Green, but really looked bad doing it. This was my upset pick of the week, as I mentioned to clients BG had a legit shot at winning this game SU, and they came pretty close, easily covering the # by 2 TDs. The Gators still have massive issues offensively, not just at QB - last year Demps and Rainey bailed them out of many tough spots - this year, although Gillislee looks strong, he isn't as explosive or experienced as those two were.

Auburn lost by a TD to co-ACC favorite Clemson at the Georgia Dome Saturday night. Keep in mind Clemson did not have All American WR Watkins for this tilt, but still was able to put up 26 on the Tigers defense. Like Florida, Auburn still has issues at QB as neither school has been able to bounce back at that position since winning it all.

Arkansas was only up 35-21 at the half vs. FCS Jacksonville State, and wound up winning by 25, again not covering the #. We know the Hogs will have an explosive offense, but unless that defense improves a lot after what we saw on Saturday (and even last season), it's hard to imagine a scenario where they can come close to challenging Alabama, and probably LSU, in the SEC West.

LSU looked anything but spectacular in a 41-14 win over North Texas. New QB Zach Mettenberger does look like an upgrade at QB, and the running game will still be a tough matchup for most teams, but will they have enough on offense to matchup with Alabama in early November? I have my doubts after that game, although it was clearly just the opener.

Ole Miss is still in rebuilding mode - never clearer than at the half being down to Central Arkansas 20-14 on their home field. Although a 35-0 2nd half easily dispatched CA at the end of the day, it was certainly a very slow start - and another SEC team that yielded quite a high # of points to a clearly overmatched team.

Kentucky was smacked upside down by Big East co-favorite Louisville 32-14 in a game that wasn't as close as that score indicates. It appears UK remains the worst team in the SEC East, and another long year for Joker Phillips is likely in the cards. But give the man some time, and I feel he can do a pretty solid job at the basketball school.

Big Ten

Did a BCS conference that went 10-2 on opening day look any worse than the Big Ten? Ouch. There is no shame at all losing to Alabama, even if it was the favorite to win the conference, but getting destroyed 41-14, including being down 31-7 at half, isn't what Michigan, and the conference as a whole, had in mind. Although it certainly appears obvious Alabama is again the toast of college football, it also remains obvious Michigan is still a ways away from approaching the top of the game once again. Also of note in the Big Ten, Minnesota picked up a road win, but it was against UNLV, and it took 3OT; Michigan State needed some late game heroics, and a herculean effort from RB Le'Veon Bell to beat a Boise State team that returned just 7 starters (tied for #122 in FBS), including the loss of college football's all time wins leading QB Kellen Moore; Northwestern pulled out a 1pt win (after blowing a 35-13 3rd quarter lead) at Syracuse , aided by a questionable roughing penalty during the final minute of the game winning Wildcat drive; PSU lost at home to MAC defending champ Ohio; Wisconsin needed a late defensive stand to hold off FCS member Northern Iowa 26-21; Iowa scored a late TD to beat UNI 18-17; and Indiana beat in-state rival and FCS member Indiana State 24-17 at home. At the end of the day 10-2 is all that matters, but it could be a sign of things to come, in a bad way, for many teams in the Big Ten for 2012.

Big 12

The Big 12 didn't lose a game, with all teams playing besides TCU. Don't get me wrong, none of these teams played anyone with a legitimate goal of anything substantial this season, but for the most part the conference flexed its offensive muscle scoring an average of 48.6ppg. Not too shabby. The biggest concern clearly comes from Oklahoma, who once again has dreams of a national title, but didn't look the part whatsoever in a lethargic 24-7 win @ UTEP. The offense continued to struggle, as it did last season once WR Ryan Broyles went down - this issue is starting to look like a permanent one for OU, and if they cannot figure things out vs. Florida A&M next week, it will be an uphill battle this year.

Conference USA

The conference went 2-10 in the opening weekend. The two wins you ask? Central Florida, one of my biggest sleeper teams this season, hammered Akron on the road 56-14 impressively; and East Carolina took care of FCS foe Appalachian State 35-13, driven by a strong 4th quarter close. The losses that drive the biggest concerns? Let's start with defending regular season champ from last season Houston (yes, they lost the CUSA title game), losing SU to Texas State, at home, as 35-point favorites! Wow, talk about a shocker. Then, 2011 CUSA champ Southern Miss was beat in Lincoln by Nebraska 49-20. It wasn't that the Golden Eagles lost the game, it was the fact the yielded 49 points to a very one dimensional Cornhuskers attack. Next up is SMU, an 8-5/5-3 team in 2011, whom many fancied as a favorite in the conference this season - got bombed by Baylor 59-24 as only 7pt dogs. While it's true Vegas badly missed this number and I took advantage, it was still a terrible effort for SMU, especially defensively. How poor is Memphis? They are likely the worst team in FBS (again), supported by an unreal 20-17 home loss to Tennessee-Martin - the Skyhawks, yeah - who were 5-6 last season in the FCS! Keeps getting worse for the Tigers, long LONG way to go in this rebuilding effort.

MAC

The MAC opened 4-9, but did have quite a few impressive efforts amongst the losses, although the 4 wins were comprised of one conference game, and 2 wins vs. FCS opponents. The only FBS win the conference had was the aforementioned Ohio Bobcats victory in Happy Valley over PSU.

Here are a few of the losses that were solid:

Toledo lost 24-17 in OT at Arizona in Rich Rodriguez's first game in Tucson. RR had lost at home to Toledo with Michigan, so this tight game should not have come as a surprise.
Bowling Green lost 27-14 in the Swamp, mentioned above.
Northern Illinois lost 18-17 at Soldier Field vs. Iowa mentioned above.
Buffalo, also mentioned above, only lost 45-23 in Athens.

Pac-12

The lone BCS conference on the West Coast started the 2012 campaign 8-3, with Oregon State idle - the Beavers open this week, at home, in a big game for their program hosting the Badgers of Wisconsin. Even though the conference posted an impressive record, taking a closer look at those 8 wins shows the only team that was truly impressive was Oregon - even though the final score reads 57-34, it was 50-3 mid 2nd quarter, as new QB and sleeper Heisman Trophy candidate Mariota tore up the Arkansas State defense in what should be a sign of things to come for any Ducks opponents this season - take note USC. Speaking of the Trojans, they did win 49-10, which certainly looks great, but they didn't cover the # so it wasn't that "impressive" of a performance. Arizona only won by 7 vs. Toledo, Washington only won by 9 vs. San Diego State, and Stanford only won by 3 over San Jose State - not good, in particular the last two teams that internally have designs on challenging Oregon in the Pac 12 North. On top of those, a few losses were not good signs either: Washington State, in Mike Leach's debut, were hammered by BYU 30-6; Jeff Tedford's Cal team lost at home to Nevada 31-21, which comes as no surprise to me as earlier this summer in my Cal team capsule I stated I would be surprised if Tedford is still coaching Cal in 2013 - not a good start for him and his team; and Colorado lost to rival Colorado State 22-17 on a late TD, a bad sign for the Buffs as that was a rare spot this year where they will be favored.

The Mountain West

The MWC, despite only posting a 5-5 record, actually looked pretty strong relatively speaking.

Here are their 5 losses:

Boise State lost late to Michigan State 17-13, covering the #
UNLV lost in 3OT to Minnesota 30-27, covering the #
Hawaii lost 49-10 at AP #1 USC, covering the #
Wyoming kept things relatively tight vs. Texas, losing 37-17, covering the #
an Diego State lost 21-12 @ Washington, covering the #

It could certainly be a solid year for this conference, as all 5 losses in Week 1 were to BCS conference teams, all of whom sans Minnesota are ranked or close to being ranked, and all of which were covers for the MWC. Keep eyes on this group's non-conference games coming up, as heading into this season I am bullish on Fresno State & Nevada, while Boise State, although taking a step back from the greatness they have been the last half decade, will still be capable of making noise and still likely the favorite to win the conference.

ACC

The ACC opened 9-3, a solid weekend considering two of the three losses were in conference games (BC lost at home to Miami (Fl.) & Georgia Tech blowing a late lead and losing in OT @ Virginia Tech). The only loss to a non-ACC team was NC State, who was clearly over matched physically losing to Tennessee 35-21. Of the 9 wins, 7 were vs. non-ACC teams, and only 2 of the remaining 5 were over FBS members - so not exactly overly impressive.

Some of the key games:

Clemson stood up to the SEC once again, taking down Auburn for a 2nd straight season 26-19. Tajh Boyd played well without his #1 WR Sammy Watkins, but the true standout performance was RB Andre Ellington, who rushed for 231 yards vs. a strong SEC defense. Clemson showed they have recovered from the Orange Bowl thrashing in January, and will be a force come conference play.

Florida State & North Carolina, my two projected division winners (although UNC cannot play in the ACC Championship Game), easily hammered FCS foes by a combined score of 131-3.

Virginia also looked strong, beating in state rival Richmond 43-19. Yes, the Spiders are an FCS school, but they are traditionally one of the best, and they also play in the SEC of FCS, the CAA, which currently has 6 teams in the FCS Top 20 rankings.

Maryland & Wake Forest struggled mightily with their FCS opponents, with Maryland scoring a 4th quarter TD to beat William and Mary 7-6, while Wake Forest rallied to beat Liberty late 20-17. As mentioned multiple times, the Terps firing of Ralph Friedgen and hiring of Randy Edsall made no sense at all - and as written about earlier this summer, I feel Edsall will be fired after this season, only 2 years in - and this loss was a big step in that direction. Wake Forest on the other hand I feel can have a good season, perhaps reaching a bowl even after this poor game on Saturday. They still have QB Tanner Price, who is one of the better gunslingers in the ACC, along with 7 starters back on defense.

Duke opened the season with a relatively impressive 46-26 win over Florida International, a game they led early in the 3rd 44-14. Per my comments in an ESPN article this summer, I project Duke to reach their first bowl game in quite some time, easily going over their Vegas projected wins # this season - and that was the exact kind of start I expected, as 4pt favorites winning by 20.

Big East

The Big East started the season 5-2, with Cincinnati idle and set to open their year hosting Pittsburgh on Thursday night this week. Here are a few of the games that stood out this past week:

Youngstown State, a top ten FCS team, took down Pittsburgh at Heinz Field 31-17. That wasn't exactly what Panther fans envisioned as the opener to the Paul Chryst era in the Steel City, but YSU is a solid team - and it was proven once again that the top notch FCS teams can compete with just about any FBS team sans the Top 30 or so.

Syracuse suffered a tough home opening loss to Northwestern after battling back from a 35-13 3rd quarter deficit. A good sign for the Orange was scoring 41 points as offense is typically a sore spot in upstate NY. A worse sign however was yielding 42 points to a Northwestern team that figures to be a middle pack Big Ten team (again), and was breaking in a new QB.

Louisville looked impressive handling Kentucky with relative ease in a 32-14 win. Keep an eye on the Cardinals this season as they have a lot of talent, headlined by QB Teddy Bridgewater.

WAC

The WAC and Independent teams looked pretty solid overall. The WAC went 4-2, with perhaps their best team Louisiana Tech becoming idle following Hurricane Isaac - their game vs. Texas A&M has been moved to October. Outside the terrible loss by Idaho, the only other loss was San Jose State, and that was an impressive three-point defeat on The Farm to Stanford.

Independents

As far as the independents go, Notre Dame and BYU opened their campaigns with impressive wins over Navy and Washington State respectively.

SportsBoss Power Poll

1. Alabama
2. Florida State
3. Georgia
4. USC
5. Oregon
6. Clemson
7. Ohio State
8. LSU
9. Oklahoma
10. West Virginia
11. South Carolina
12. Kansas State
13. Notre Dame
14. Michigan
15. Virginia Tech
16. Texas
17. Tennessee
18. Michigan State
19. Arkansas
20. Louisville
21. North Carolina
22. BYU
23. South Florida
24. Nevada
25. Oklahoma State

4th Quarter Covers - NCAA Week 1
By Joe Nelson
Playbook.com

Glancing at the scoreboard won't tell you the whole story in most games. Here are the games that went down to the wire relative to the spread in the fourth quarter last week in the opening weekend of college football. Each week there are several teams that cover despite not necessarily deserving it, as well as other teams that played much better than the final score shows, get the details in this weekly column.

South Carolina (-6.5) 17, Vanderbilt 13 (44): The Gamecocks actually trailed 13-10 entering the fourth quarter as the offense went stagnant with starting quarterback Conner Shaw banged up. South Carolina would use three different quarterbacks in the game before Shaw eventually battled through the pain to get South Carolina back on top. The front door cover looked eminently possible as the Gamecocks had the ball twice in the final minutes in Vanderbilt territory but eventually were able to just melt the clock, leaving the home underdog with the cash.

UCLA (-16) 49, Rice 24 (60): The final score and the box score makes this game look like it was a blowout but UCLA led by just 11 entering the fourth quarter. Rice actually got within two points early in the second quarter after a wild first quarter and while the Bruins posted 646 yards in the game; Rice also was able to move the ball with relative ease. UCLA incredibly had three extra-point attempts blocked and the UCLA defense firmed up in the second half to allow the Bruins to pull away with two fourth quarter touchdowns to get past the spread.

Minnesota (-9.5) 30, UNLV 27 (52.5): While the underdog cover looked secure most of the way, anyone on the 'under' can claim they have their 'bad beat' for the year out of the way. This game went to overtime tied at 13-13, leaving plenty of room to spare at less than halfway to the closing total. Both teams would score touchdowns in each of the first two overtimes to send the game over the total as 31 points were scored in overtime after just 26 in regulation.

Michigan State (-8.5) 17, Boise State 13 (47): Michigan State dominated the statistics in the big Friday night showdown but shaky quarterback play from the Spartans kept Boise State in the game with a couple of big interceptions, including one returned for a touchdown. Both defenses held in the third quarter as Boise State took a 13-10 lead into the final frame before the Spartans took the lead, finally finishing a drive. Boise State got within Michigan State territory on its final possession but was stopped short, giving the Spartans the chance to run out the game. Michigan State put together a great drive and ended up deep in Boise State territory as those with action on the game sweated. A Spartans touchdown would shift the cover, a field goal would earn a push for many, and running out the clock would leave the underdog with the cover. Getting a first down to the Boise State four-yard line eventually allowed the Spartans to kneel and burn the clock, leaving the game without the late spread changing score.

Northwestern (+2) 42, Syracuse 41 (53.5): The line on this game varied throughout the week with Northwestern opening up as slight favorites before the game moved to a pick, and then eventually in the closing hours Syracuse emerged as a slight favorite. When the game was played, those slight differences would ultimately prove critical as this was one of the wildest games of the opening weekend. Northwestern seemingly was on cruise control after two scores early in the second half to move up 35-13 but Syracuse, en route to nearly 600 total yards for the game, started to turn it on. The Orange would put together back-to-back scores to cut the deficit to just eight points entering the fourth quarter. While there was amazingly no scoring for the first eight minutes of the final frame the momentum stayed with Syracuse with a touchdown to get within two after a failed 2-point conversion. Four minutes later Syracuse connected again and got the conversion to move up by six. After punting on its previous three possessions Northwestern put together a 10-play 75 yard drive on pass from Trevor Siemian and the extra-point kick sealed the win, but not necessarily the cover.

Ohio State (-26) 56, Miami, OH 10 (50.5): The Buckeyes had a very slow start to the Urban Meyer era, actually punting in their first four possessions but by halftime it was 21-3. Although the game was starting to get out of hand after a fumble return touchdown put Ohio State up 35-3, Miami scored in the third quarter to get within the closing spread. There was no scoring in the final 10 minutes of the third quarter as Ohio State backers had to be getting a bit nervous but the Buckeyes piled on three more touchdowns in the fourth quarter including one with less than a minute to go to pad the final statistics and give the appearance of a more dominant blowout.

Illinois (-10) 24, Western Michigan 7 (50): Illinois only ended up with 248 yards in the game and with starting QB Nathan Scheelhaase eventually knocked out of the game things were looking a bit bleak for those on the favorite after Western Michigan got its first touchdown late in the third quarter to put the margin right on the number at 10, though 9.5 was also common on game day. Illinois would wrap up the game and the cover in the fourth quarter with a 60-yard interception return, one of three interceptions for Bronco QB Alex Carder.

Clemson (-2.5) 26, Auburn 19 (54.5): While Clemson had a lot more yardage, this match-up of Tigers was locked at 16-16 entering the fourth quarter. Auburn took the lead early in the final frame with a field goal but the Clemson offense kept going, delivering 75-yard drive for a touchdown to take the lead back and then after forcing another Auburn punt, Clemson got its own field goal drive to go up by seven. Auburn did not get close on its final possession and the ACC got a big victory over the SEC as Clemson was able to shake off the ugly bowl effort.

Washington (-16) 21, San Diego State 12 (55.5): Washington led 21-6 entering the fourth quarter which was either just past or just short of the spread depending when you played the game. The yardage was almost exactly even in the games as turnovers were costly for San Diego State. Washington's offense scored on its first two possessions of the game and then not again as the offense greatly struggled in the second half. The third score for Washington came on a 44-yard fumble return but San Diego State was able to find the end zone again early in the fourth quarter to get back within the spread. San Diego State opted to go for two on that score and then opted not to kick a field goal on its next possession from the Washington eight-yard line with close to five minutes still left in the game, two decisions that might have cost the Aztecs a chance to actually get the outright upset.

Oregon (-33) 57, Arkansas State 34 (70.5): Oregon led this game 50-3 just before halftime so the final score was a bit misleading. Arkansas State has a good offensive team and the Red Wolves kept at it, often going against Oregon reserves in the second half. By the start of the fourth quarter Arkansas State was back within the spread, down only 30 at 50-20. Oregon would add another touchdown early in the fourth quarter to get past the spread momentarily with its back-ups in the game but Arkansas State added two more touchdown drives against an indifferent Oregon defense to create the underdog cover and misleading box score with the Red Wolves posting 530 yards.

Betting Preview: Georgia at Missouri
By Rob Veno
Sportsmemo.com

Georgia at Missouri

The time has come for SEC newcomer Missouri to either prove or dis-prove the prevailing thought amongst college football experts that they will struggle versus a steady diet of SEC competition. No doubt the anticipation and emotions at Faurot Field will be overwhelming which could be one of many factors that determine this outcome.

For Georgia, prior suspensions at key positions are now combining with injuries to become a significant issue. Or are they? Georgia head coach Mark Richt has yet to confirm this week whether previously stated multi-game suspensions to star players ILB Alec Ogeltree and FS Baccari Rambo will be either upheld or lifted. Neither played last week due to violation of the school’s drug policy but with a third defensive star, CB Malcom Mitchell now doubtful, it will be interesting to see if Richt sticks to the suspensions. With all three ready and on the field, Georgia’s defense is among the nation’s best, but without them against Buffalo last week, they held the Bulls to eight three-and-outs on their 13 possessions. The other five drives however saw Buffalo score 23 points and pick up 310 yards on 41 plays (7.56 ypp). Missouri’s offense has explosive weaponry at all the skill positions and their up-tempo style will push UGA’s defensive depth should they be without three of their best defenders. With SE Louisiana as their walk through opener, Missouri was able to spend all summer preparing for this SEC East Division game so Georgia is going to get their best shot.

While QB James Franklin, WRs Dorial Green-Beckham and TJ Moe and RB Kendial Lawrence can create trouble for any defense, Georgia’s skill players are every bit their equal. QB Andy Murray, and his trio of wideouts Tavares King, Marlon Bown (back this week after sitting out last week), and Michael Bennett are all future NFL caliber talents. Add in the burst onto the scene by RB Todd Gurley last week and you’ve got threats all over the field. According to Richt, the offensive line should have the services of starting RT John Theus (left last Saturday’s game with sprained ankle) but with his backup injured too, Missouri is likely to try and take advantage of that side of the line.

Money has come in on Missouri early this week as the number has fallen from Georgia -3 to -2. Without knowledge of Richt’s verdict on Ogletree and Rambo it’s difficult to definitively handicap Georgia. The one element that’s easy to handicap here is the all-out home effort Missouri will give. They’re obviously good enough to win this game but the clearer picture to me is the total. It has risen from the opener of 54 to 54.5 and I definitely agree with the move. This game will be fast paced with high powered efficient passing games being the most dominant aspect. Capable home run threats at RB and prolific QB play make these offenses too balanced and diverse to not exceed this number no matter who’s on the defensive side. Expect this total to climb so playing sooner rather than later with the key number 55 still in our favor is important.

Betting Preview: Florida at Texas A&M
By Otto Sports
Sportsmemo.com

Florida at Texas A&M

Texas A&M will experience a pair of firsts this week; they play their first game of the season and their first official conference game as a member of the SEC. I suspect there will be plenty of fanfare surrounding this tilt as ESPN and the GameDay crew will be on hand in College Station. Sadly I also suspect fans and viewers will be treated to a rather boring game.

That might sound like a preposterous notion, after all Kevin Sumlin is bringing a wide open spread attack with him from Houston. The Cougars were amongst the best offenses in the nation while Sumlin was there and much is expected from his offense as he takes over at A&M. And why wouldn't the expectations be there? The Aggies boast a solid offensive line, a solid senior running back, an All-Big XII receiver and a former freshman All-American receiver from an offense that averaged close to 40 points per game last season. What we must consider however is this team moving up – rather dramatically – in class of competition, having zero game speed reps thanks to Hurricane Isaac all the while breaking in a freshman quarterback charged with implementing the new system. This is no easy task against a Florida defense that returns every significant starter from a (largely) successful stop unit in 2011.

The Gators have a boatload of experience and quality depth up front defensively and they finished eighth nationally in yardage allowed in 2011. It’s an impressive feat considering they were in the process of learning an all new system under Dan Quinn. Now in their second year and much more comfortable in their assignments I would expect the Gators defense to improve in a couple of key areas; forcing turnovers and sacking the quarterback. I believe a defense is at its best when it can anticipate and force the issue. A defense can’t do that when it’s thinking about assignments – it just slows you down. Here against a frosh quarterback I believe Florida can really rile the kid up and get after him.

This might also be a great chance for Texas A&M to show off its defense. They were very tough against the run last year holding opponents to less than 3.0 yards per carry and while some regression is expected they’ll still be solid. That’s a key this week as Florida has basically committed to a ground-and-pound offense right now; not trusting either one of their options under center. Last week against lowly Bowling Green the Gators managed just 27 points. In that game they ran the ball 42 times compared to 21 pass attempts. A two-to-one run/pass ratio in a non-option based offense is unheard of these days!

Look for this one to be a testy affair. I believe we’ll see both coaches pulling in the reins on their inexperienced quarterbacks and leaning heavily on their ground attack, at least while the game is still close. Look for the defenses to shine and look for the under to cash.

College Football Preview

Penn State blew 14-3 halftime lead last week, lost at home to Ohio U in first game of O'Brien era; they're now just 2-13 vs spread in non-league games since '09. Virginia is 5-7-1 vs spread in last 13 games as favorite at home- they've got junior QB with 14 starts, and seven starters back on offense, three on OL. State was -3 in turnovers last week, passed ball 48 times, ran it only 22 times for 97 yards, and allowed Ohio to convert 13 of 21 third down plays. Game opened Virginia -5, was bet up to -10.

Central Florida has 8 starters back on offense but soph QB who made his first start last week, in 56-14 rout of hapless Akron; UCF was 14-19 passing for 180 yards, also had 206 rushing yards, so good balance, but now they're going way up in class, visiting Buckeye squad that ran ball for 294 yards last week and scored 56 points, after scoreless first 15:00. OSU also has soph QB, but he's made 11 starts; State covered 15 of its last 21 tries as a home favorite. Since '08, UCF is 10-7 outside C-USA.

Favorites covered last two UNC-Wake Forest games, after dogs covered four of previous five; Tar Heels lost two of last three visits here, as three of last four played here were decided by 21+ points. Wake struggled to beat I-AA Liberty 20-17 last week, outgained by 70 yards, running ball for less than 100 yards. Carolina was up 49-0 at half, gained 524 yards in 62-0 win over I-AA Elon. Since 2006, UNC is 4-7 vs spread as a road favorite. Wake Forest is 14-6 as home underdog since '04.

First SEC game for Missouri is hot ticket in Columbia; Mizzou has six starters back on both sides of ball, only two starters back on OL and QB with 14 career starts. Since '04, Mizzou is 3-4 as a home dog; they're 6-3 as underdog overall last two years. Georgia ran ball for 227 yards, passed for 258 in home win over Buffalo last week; they're 5-2 as road favorites since '09. Dawgs have 6 starters back on offense, 2 on OL, 9 on defense; QB Murray has made 28 career starts.

Kansas State (+13) pulled 28-24 upset at Miami LY, running ball for 265 yards; Wildcats are 4-6 as home favorites last four years- they've got 8 starters back on offense, 2 on OL, a senior QB with 16 starts, 6 starters back on defense. K-State was only up 9-6 at half vs Missouri State in its opener, but they pulled away in second half. Miami gave up 442 passing yards last week in 41-32 conference win at BC (led 21-20 at half). 'canes are 9-7 as underdogs last five years; they lost 7 starters on offense.

Notre Dame won six of last seven games with Purdue, winning last four by average score of 31-16; Boilermakers lost six of last seven visits here, losing last three by average score of 33-18. Irish were overseas last week, travel this early in season has to be draining, especially with Michigan St game on deck, much higher profile game. Notre Dame is 15-28-2 as home favorite, since 2003. Boilers are 7-10 as road dog last four years; they get senior QB Ter Bush back from suspension for this.

Wisconsin (-20.5) crushed Oregon State 35-0 at home LY, outrushing the Beavers 208-23, but since '07, Wisky is just 6-9-1 vs spread if favored on foreign soil. Badgers have new QB in Maryland transfer O'Brien, who had 219 passing yards in 26-21 win over I-AA Northern Iowa (was 13-0 at half) last week. Oregon State's opener vs Nicholls State was ppd due to the hurricane in Louisiana; Beavers have 7 starters back on offense, 2 on OL, a soph QB with 10 starts already and 8 starters back on defense.

Underdogs covered eight of last 11 Iowa State-Iowa games, with Iowa winning three of last four. Cyclones lost last four visits here by average score of 24-10. State has 7 starters back on offense, 3 on OL, soph QB with 7 starts and 5 starters back on defense- they beat Tulsa 35-23 last week at home, moving chains 28 times. Hawkeyes were lucky Northern Illinois doesn't have a QB who can pass, or they would've lost last week in Chicago; Iowa is 7-4 as a home favorite the last couple seasons.

LSU is 16-27-1 vs spread as a home favorite under Miles; they went to Seattle in '09 and held off Washington 31-23 (-17) playing against Titans' QB Jake Locker. Bayou Bengals have wealth of talent, with 4 starters back on OL, a more talented QB this year and 6 starters back on defense, Washington lost its bowl game 67-56 LY, so they changed DCs and last week held San Diego State to 128 passing yards in 21-12 win. Huskies are 7-15 as road underdogs since '07, 10-12 as dogs under Sarkisian.

Auburn won 10 of last 11 games with Mississippi State, winning five in row here, last two by unlikely 17-14/3-2 scores; favorites covered six of their last seven visits to Starkville. Since '08, Auburn is just 5-10 against spread coming off a loss; they've covered three of last 12 as road dogs, 5 of last 18 overall on road. Miss State is 5-3 vs spread in last eight games as home favorite. Auburn gave up 320 rushing yards in loss to Clemson last week. Miss State had two defensive scores against a I-AA team.

First SEC game for Texas A&M team that has new coach, new QB and had its first game ppd last week, because of a hurricane. Aggies have four starters back on OL, 7 on offense, 6 on defense. Since '04, they're 20-15 as home favorites. Florida had 7 starters back on offense, 10 on defense but they're 0-6 vs spread as underdogs over last two seasons. Gators had 365-327 edge in yardage over Bowling Green last week, led just 14-7 at half, finally won 27-14 (-29). Soph Driskill has emerged as starting QB.

UCLA had 343 rushing yards, 303 passing in 49-24 win at Rice in their opener, but they're up in class here, facing Nebraska squad that had 632 yards in 49-20 win over Southern Miss last week. Bruins are 5-3 as dogs at home last two years; they've got 7 starters back on offense, 9 more on defense, but they started five freshmen on offense at Rice. Cornhuskers are 9-4-1 as road favorites under Pelini; they've got 7 starters back on both sides of ball, and junior QB (Martinez) with 25 career starts.

Arizona State went to Illinois LY and outgained Illini by 122 yards, but lost 17-14 (+2); now teams meet again in desert, with both sides having a new HC. Illini QB Scheelhaase has banged up ankle, is a ??; they're 4-9 vs spread in last 13 road games. Illini has 7 starters back on both sides of ball. ASU lost 7 starters in both sides of ball; they've got new coach, new QB, three new starters on OL; they're 29-21 vs spread at home since '04. Illinois had four takeaways and a defensive TD in 24-7 win last week.

Armadillosports.com

Big Ten Conference Preview
By American Sports Analysts
ASAWins.com

Week one is in the books! Ten of the 12 Big Ten squads went home with wins, while two of the most prestigious programs (Penn State & Michigan) are still searching for win number one. Three squads make west coast trips this weekend (Nebraska @ UCLA, Wisconsin @ Oregon State, and Illinois @ Arizona State) and ASA has the inside scoop on all the hot matchups!

Nebraska (-5.5) at UCLA

Neb: Last week vs. Southern Miss: W 49-20
UCLA: Last week at Rice: W 49-24

Nebraska makes the Big Ten headline game of the week as they travel to the Rose Bowl for what they hope might be the first of two trips this season. The Huskers got off to a great start last weekend with a 49-20 blowout of Southern Miss. QB Taylor Martinez, often criticized for his passing inefficiency, completed 26-of-34 passes for 354 yards and five touchdowns. Defensively the Blackshirts held Southern Miss to just 260 yards and one offensive touchdown.

UCLA showed increased offensive firepower in an easy win at Rice in its opener. The Bruins exploded for 646 yards and 49 points against the Owls. Most impressive was the Bruins’ 343 rushing yards on a 9.3 YPC average. Redshirt freshman quarterback Brett Hundley looks like a star in the making after completing 21-of-28 passes for 202 yards and two touchdowns. Nebraska will have their hands full with this re-vamped offense.

UCLA is 12-2 SU & 10-4 ATS in its last 14 home openers including a 5-2 ATS mark against BCS foes. Nebraska is 11-4 SU & 10-5 ATS in their last 15 true road openers.

Injury update: Nebraska star RB Rex Burkhead sprained his MCL last week and will likely miss this game against UCLA.

Michigan (-21) vs. Air Force

UM: Last week vs. Alabama: L 14-41
AF: Last week vs. Idaho State: W 49-21

The Wolverines need to avoid a “hangover” and get over the Alabama loss quickly, as Air Force will present a tricky challenge with its triple-option attack. The Falcons’ Cody Getz ran for 218 yards on 17 carries in a win over Idaho State last week. Defensively the Wolverines allowed 232 rush yards (5.5 YPC) to the Tide last week and they’ll have to tighten up here. Michigan has strong athletes on a stout defense, but they can’t let Air Force build any momentum. Alabama makes a lot of teams look bad, and most of the nation would have difficulties hanging with the Tide. But that doesn’t make last week’s 41-14 loss any less upsetting.

Denard Robinson didn’t get his senior season started off on a high note against ‘Bama. He had two total touchdowns, but completed just 11-of-26 passes for 200 yards with two interceptions while rushing 10 times for just 27 yards. He and the rest of this offense should be able to tally more than 269 yards and 11 first downs against Air Force. The Falcons allowed 386 yards per game and 220 rush yards per game in 2011 and returned just three starters for 2012. Idaho State racked up 431 yards and 24 first downs against this Falcons “D” last week.

Since 1998, Air Force is 4-5 in true road games against BCS schools. The Falcons are13-3 in road openers and 3-3 against BCS schools with those three losses by just 4 points per game. Michigan is 11-0 at home over the last three years against non-conference opponents (average score of 40-17).

Injury update: Michigan lost starting cornerback Blake Countess to a season-ending ACL tear.

Wisconsin (-7.5) at Oregon State

Wisc: Last week vs. FCS Northern Iowa: W 26-21
OSU: Last week: Cancelled (hurricane)

The Badgers head out to the West Coast after a close-call against Northern Iowa. It wasn’t a typical September Wisconsin blowout at Camp Randall. The Badgers nearly squandered a 19-point lead in the fourth quarter and looked shaky at times defending the pass late in the game. The good news: new starting QB Danny O'Brien played extremely efficient in his first start for the Badgers, completing 19-of-23 passes for 219 yards with 2 touchdowns and no INTs. This was not a confidence boosting win for Wisconsin and the Badgers will need a much better performance here in their first road game.

The Beavers had their season opener against Nicholls State cancelled because of Hurricane Isaac, so Wisconsin won't have any fresh film on Oregon State, but OSU may be a bit rusty out of the gates. Wisconsin shutout the Beavers in Madison last season, but OSU returns 15 starters, including promising sophomore QB Sean Mannion. The Beavers also return their top four rushers, top receiver, and six of the top seven defenders. They’ll be primed for the opportunity to avenge last year’s embarrassing loss.

OSU is on a 1-6 SU & 2-5 ATS run against non-conference foes. Wisconsin has won 10 straight road/neutral openers by an average of 13 points per game (4-0 vs. BCS foes).

Michigan State (-23.5) at Central Michigan

MSU: Last week vs. Boise State: W 17-13
CMU: Last week vs. FCS SE Missouri State: W 38-27

MSU will also have to avoid a “hangover” here, this of the winning kind. The Spartans had a huge opening game win over #24 Boise State. Defensively this unit lived up to the hype. MSU held the Broncos to just 206 yards (including 37 rush yards on 24 carries), 14 first downs, and they kept the BSU offense out of the end zone. Offensively the Spartans racked up 461 yards including 213 rushing yards (210 from RB Le’Veon Bell), but this unit was far from perfect. They turned the ball over four times, including three interceptions from new starting QB Andrew Maxwell.

CMU dominated the stats category against SE Missouri State, but still needed a late 4th quarter touchdown to pull away for the win. They tallied 324 yards (7.4 YPC) on the ground, including 282 and four touchdowns combined for RB’s Anthony Garland and Zurlon Tipton. They turned the ball over three times (two fumbles & one interception). CMU got dominated by MSU last season. MSU jumped out to a 31-0 halftime lead and won 45-7 (held CMU to just 112 total yards and eight first downs).

CMU is 3-5 all-time against Michigan State (last win was in 2009) and this is the first time hosting the Spartans. MSU has lost three of the last four true road openers including last year’s 13-31 loss at Notre Dame.

Ohio State (-17.5) vs. Central Florida

OSU: Last week vs. Miami OH: W 56-10
UCF: Last week at Akron: W 56-14

Both of these squads beat on up MAC opponents from Ohio in their openers last weekend. Ohio State got off to a really strong start under new head coach Urban Meyer. QB Braxton Miller was the star of the game. He passed for 207 yards and two scores while rushing for a game-high 161 yards and another score. He led this offense 538 yards, 56 points, and 27 first downs. Defensively the Buckeyes held Miami OH to -1 net rush yards on 20 carries and forced three Red Hawk turnovers. They’ll have a much more difficult time against UCF on Saturday.

UCF didn’t have eye-popping stats in their 56-14 win over Akron last week as they used four turnovers to create short scoring opportunities and build a 35-0 halftime lead. UCF returned eight starters on both offensive and defensive units from a year ago and there is a lot of talent on both sides, and it’ll take a huge effort to pull the upset in the Horseshoe this weekend.

UCF is 3-11 SU but 9-5 ATS in its last 14 true road openers (1-9 SU against BCS-foes). OSU is 10-2 ATS in its last 12 games when favored by 17 or more and 6-1 ATS when favored by 17 or more against non-conference opponents.

Injury update: OSU starting RB Jordan Hall will miss his 2nd straight game with a knee injury while starting linebacker Storm Klein will serve the final game of his suspension.

Purdue (+14) at Notre Dame

PU: Last week vs. FCS Eastern Kentucky: W 48-6
ND: Last week vs. Navy: W 50-10

You won’t find many wins as lop-sided as Purdue’s was over FCS Eastern Kentucky last week. Purdue had +357 yards and +23 first downs in the 48-6 win. Again, it was an FCS opponent so take those stats with a grain of salt. Still, it was a promising season opener for the Boilers. Purdue quarterback Caleb TerBush was suspended for the opener, but sixth-year senior Robert Marve took over and excelled. He hit 30-of-38 passes for 295 yards and three touchdowns. Head coach Danny Hope has named TerBush the starter for this weekend. Still, expect Marve to play—along with third-stringer Rob Henry

The Irish looked really good in their opener against Navy. Without top running back Cierre Wood suspended the Irish still racked up 293 rush yards (6.4 YPC) and four rushing touchdowns. Defensively they held Navy’s rushing attack to just 3.7 YPC and no rushing touchdowns. They could be vulnerable here as they’ll have to get over their jet lag from the trip back from Dublin.

Notre Dame had a huge advantage with +275 yards and +17 first downs in last year’s blowout 38-10 win over Purdue. Purdue is 1-14 SU & 5-10 ATS the last 15 trips to South Bend. Notre Dame has won six of the last seven overall against the Boilers including four straight wins by 15 points per game.

Illinois (+2) at Arizona State

Ill: Last week vs. Western Michigan: W 24-7
ASU: Last week vs. FCS Northern Arizona: W 63-6

Both teams looked better than expected in their openers -- Illinois dispatched Western Michigan without much trouble, and Arizona State housed Northern Arizona 63-6. In Tim Beckman’s debut at Illinois, his defense limited Western Michigan to 259 yards with minus-six yards rushing on 19 attempts. The offense is still a work in progress as they totaled just 248 yards and 13 first downs. ASU doesn’t present an elite defense, but they’ll be better than Western Michigan.

Under first-year coach Todd Graham, the Sun Devils notched 554 yards of offense with 305 coming on the ground. The Sun Devils don't figure to run for 305 yards a second straight week with the Illini defense coming to Tempe. Sophomore QB Taylor Kelly had a strong debut, completing 15-of-19 passes for 247 yards and a touchdown. He won’t have as easy of a time here against a ferocious Illinois front-four.

Arizona State had +122 yards and +5 first downs in last year’s meeting in Champaign, but the Illini took the 17-14 victory. Illinois is 11-3 ATS in its last 14 true road openers.

Injury update: Illinois' QB Nathan Scheelhaase injured his ankle in the 3rd quarter and is questionable for Saturday night. If he can’t go, it will be sophomore Reilly O’Toole taking the snaps.

Iowa (-3.5) vs. Iowa State

Iowa: Last week vs. Northern Illinois: W 18-17
ISU: Last week vs. Tulsa: W 38-23

This has always been a well-balanced rivalry game, and this one figures to be a pretty good game. Iowa showed it has a lot of work to do after a nail-biting win against Northern Illinois. The Hawkeyes were held to just 270 yards and needed a late touchdown to take a one-point lead over the Wolfpack. A big positional question for the Hawks heading into the season was RB, so it was good to see Damon Bullock run for 150 yards on 30 carries. The defense won this game for Iowa as this unit held Northern Illinois to just 201 total yards and 12 first downs.

Iowa State fought off an early nine-point deficit to beat Tulsa 38-23. The Cyclones got a strong performance from senior quarterback Steele Jantz, who completed 32-of-45 passes for 281 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. RB’s Shontrelle Johnson and Jeff Woody combined to rush for 174 yards and two touchdowns on 28 carries. They’re sure to face a nastier defense in Iowa City this weekend though.

The Hawkeyes look to avenge last year's overtime loss in Ames in which Iowa State won in a shootout, 44-41. The Hawkeyes have won four of the last six outright, but Iowa State has covered 11 of the last 14 overall.

Northwestern (+3.5) vs. Vanderbilt

NU: Last week at Syracuse: W 42-41
Vandy: Last week vs. South Carolina: L 13-17

Northwestern won a shootout over Syracuse in week one. Sophomore QB Trevor Siemian led the Wildcats on a touchdown drive with just 44 seconds left to give Northwestern the one-point victory. Siemian and Kain Colter combined to complete 22-of-32 passes for 213 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions. Defensively the Wildcats have a lot of work to do. This unit allowed Syracuse to gain 596 total yards, and four touchdown passes from Orange QB Nassib.

Vanderbilt threw a big-scare into #9 South Carolina in its opener. Vandy’s stingy defense held South Carolina to just 272 total yards and 17 points. The offense was a major issue. Vandy managed just 276 yards, including 62 rush yards on 36 carries (1.7 YPC). Still, the Commodores showed a lot of improvement against USC and they’ll have to avoid a hangover in their first road game here.

Northwestern won at Vanderbilt in 2010, 23-21. The Wildcats never trailed in that game, but prevented a Vandy two-point conversion late in the game to seal the win. NU has won five straight home openers by an average of 27 points per game – but only one of those games was against a BCS opponent.

Penn State (+9.5) at Virginia

PSU: Last week vs. Ohio: L 14-24
Virg: Last week vs. FCS Richmond: W 43-19

It was a crushing loss to Ohio for Penn State last week. Penn State jumped out to a 14-3 lead at halftime against the Bobcats in front of a raucous crowd at State College. But PSU had lapses on both sides of the ball to give up the lead and the game. Defensively the Nittany Lions allowed 499 yards to Ohio, including 324 through the air. That defense will need to tighten up or it will get torched again against a competent Virginia offense here.

Virginia racked up +279 yards over Richmond and +12 first downs in the blowout win last Saturday. Virginia QB Michael Rocco completed an efficient 25-of-37 passes for 311 yards and a touchdown while three different running backs combined to score four rushing touchdowns.

The Cavaliers are 4-1 since 2004 in non-conference home games against BCS Schools. PSU is 1-6 since 2000 against non-conference BCS Schools on the road.

Minnesota (NL) vs. New Hampshire

Minn: Last week at UNLV: W 30-27

The Gophers have an excellent chance to improve to 2-0 with a win over FCS New Hampshire on Saturday. Minnesota found a way to leave Las Vegas with an overtime victory over UNLV last week. The defense and running backs shined in that game but QB MarQueis Gray will have to improve if Minnesota will contend going forward. The Gophers also must play more disciplined after being flagged 11 times in the opener. New Hampshire is a solid FCS program, and Minnesota can't take anyone lightly after falling at home to FCS North Dakota State by 13 points last season and to FCS South Dakota by three points in 2010.

Indiana (-14) at UMass

Ind: Last week vs. Indiana State: W 24-17
UMass: Last week at UConn: L 0-37

The Hoosiers got their first win in almost an entire year by beating Indiana State last Saturday. Now they look for their first win over an FBS team since 2010. Any win is valuable for the Hoosiers, who matched their victories total from 2011 on Saturday night, but they'll need to make significant strides going forward. IU has to shore up its rush defense after allowing Indiana State's Shakir Bell to rack up 192 yards Saturday night. QB Tre Roberson also put forward a strong performance. Indiana has been a double digit road favorite just twice since 1992. The Hoosiers are just 16-74 straight up on the road since 1995.

Betting Preview: Washington at LSU
By Ian Cameron
Sportsmemo.com

Washington at LSU

Washington makes a rare trip to the East Coast to play LSU in a big non-conference clash on Saturday night on ESPN. The last meeting between these teams took place in 2009 in Seattle with LSU winning 31-23.

The Washington offense enters this game off a mediocre performance in Week 1’s win over San Diego State. Quarterback Keith Price and the offense saw multiple drives stall in Aztecs territory and the offense only accounted for 14 of the team's 21 points. They'll be facing a vaunted LSU defense but maybe not one that was adequately tested by North Texas last week. I think the door is open for Washington to have at least a decent showing on offense as one of the few weaknesses defensively for the Tigers is their secondary. LSU lost two key components to that unit with Morris Claiborne departing for the NFL and Tyrann Mathieu dismissed from the team back in August.

LSU's strength is running the football and that should serve them well against a susceptible Washington run defense. LSU has three capable running backs with Michael Ford, Alfred Blue and Kenny Hilliard. They'll go up against a Washington defense that gave up nearly 200 yards and 5 ypc on the ground last week. The Tigers could also have success throwing the football. Quarterback Zach Mettenberger is an upgrade from Jordan Jefferson in terms of arm strength and passing accuracy. He threw for 172 yards last week and was very efficient completing 19-of-25 passes. Five different receivers had two or more receptions which shows that Mettenberger has potential. Washington's secondary played well against SDSU but going on the road here should prove to be a much tougher task. UW allowed 300 or more passing yards in seven games in 2011 and was routinely gashed when asked to step up in class. They allowed 51 to Nebraska, 65 to Stanford, 31 to Arizona, 34 to Oregon, 40 to USC and 38 to Oregon State. I'd expect LSU to put up its fair share of points.

LSU has seen each of its last four games against PAC-12 teams soar OVER the total including the last head-to-head meeting between these two teams in 2009. The Tigers have been able to take advantage of a PAC-12 conference that from top to bottom doesn't boast many strong stop units. The Tigers were able to rack up 40 points against Oregon last year and they should be able to get close to that number again. At the same time, I think Washington’s passing game with Price is capable enough to make a few key plays. Total clicking down from 56 to 53 which gives us added value on our play on the OVER.

College football Top 25 Betting Cheat Sheet: Week 2
By Covers.com

If you're looking to bet big but only have a short amount of time to handicap, let our Top 25 cheat sheet help you out. We grabbed some quick-hitting info on each of the Top-25 matchups with odds available in Week 2 of the season:

Miami Hurricanes at Kansas State Wildcats (-7, 53.5)

The Wildcats are 4-0 at home and 10-3 overall under coach Bill Snyder against unranked BCS conference teams. However, the Wildcats are 9-21 ATS in their last 30 non-conference games.

East Carolina Pirates at South Carolina Gamecocks (-21.5)

The Gamecocks have won five straight games overall and 12 straight regular-season games against non-conference opponents, dating to 2008. The Pirates have lost seven of their last eight non-conference road games. The road team is 4-0 ATS in their last four meetings.

Ball State Cardinals at Clemson Tigers (-26.5, 65.5)

The Tigers are without star wide receiver Sammy Watkins for one more week following his two-game suspension. The over is 7-3 in Tigers' last 10 home games.

Purdue Boilermakers at Notre Dame Fighting Irish (-14, 52)

The Irish have played Purdue 83 times since 1896, which is more all-time meetings for Notre Dame than any other Big Ten opponent. Notre Dame leads the series 55-26-2. The underdog is 5-2 ATS in their last seven meetings.

Air Force Falcons at Michigan Wolverines (-21.5, 62)

Air Force has lost 19 consecutive games against ranked opponents. The Falcons are 0-5 ATS in their last five games in September.

USC Trojans at Syracuse Orange (+26, 59)

Barkley threw for five TDs - at the time a school record - with zero interceptions and 324 yards in a 38-17 win over Syracuse last season. The over is 5-1 in Trojans' last six neutral site games and is 6-0 in the Orange's last six non-conference games.

Michigan State Spartans at Central Michigan Chippewas (+20.5, 48)

This will be Michigan State's 50th game against a current member of the Mid-American Conference. The Spartans are 40-7-2, with three of those losses coming to CMU. The Chippewas are 5-1 ATS in their last six vs. Big Ten.

Western Kentucky Hilltoppers at Alabama Crimson Tide (-40, 54)

The Hilltoppers, in their fourth season of FBS membership, have won eight of nine overall dating back to last year, but haven't defeated a current member of the FBS outside the Sun Belt Conference. The Crimson Tide are 9-1 ATS in their last 10 non-conference games.

Florida Gators at Texas A&M Aggies (-1.5, 51)

The all-time series is tied 1-1, Florida winning at home in 1962 and the Aggies claiming a Sun Bowl victory in 1977. Florida is 1-7-2 all-time in games played in Texas. The Gators are 0-6 ATS in their last six conference games.

Wisconsin Badgers at Oregon State Beavers (+6.5, 52.5)

The Badgers have won their last 11 regular-season road non-conference games dating back to a 31-28 loss to Oregon in 2001 but is 0-5 ATS in its last five road games overall.

Fresno State Bulldogs at Oregon Ducks (-35, 75)

The Bulldogs have lost their last three games against ranked programs by a combined 150-36. The Over is 4-0 in the last four meetings between these teams.

Arkansas Razorbacks at UL Monroe Warhawks (+30.5, 60)

Arkansas leads the all-time series 9-0, but needed a late fourth-down conversion, a touchdown and a missed Warhawks' field goal to escape with a 28-27 win in 2008. The Razorbacks are 1-4 ATS in their last five meetings.

Washington Huskies at LSU Tigers (-23.5, 53)

LSU has won both meetings with Washington, including 31-23 at Seattle in the 2009 season opener. The Huskies are 0-4 ATS in their last four road games.

Nebraska Cornhuskers at UCLA Bruins (+5.5, 60)

Nebraska could have a big hole to fill on offense Saturday afternoon if senior running back Rex Burkhead is unable to play. Burkhead, who rushed for 1,357 yards and 15 touchdowns, suffered a sprained left knee Saturday in a 49-20 victory against Southern Mississippi and his availability was listed as questionable earlier this week.

Georgia Bulldogs at Missouri Tigers (+2, 54)

The Bulldogs could have trouble containing Tigers dual-threat QB James Franklin after Georgia allowed Buffalo’s signal-caller to run for 89 yards on 14 carries. The Bulldogs are 1-4 ATS in their last five games overall.

New Mexico Lobos at Texas Longhorns (-38, 52.5)

The Lobos averaged only nine points against Division I opponents in 2011. The under is 6-1 in Lobos' last seven road games and 5-0 in their last five games overall.

Oklahoma State Cowboys at Arizona Wildcats (+10.5, 69.5)

Oklahoma State was able to pull its starters in the first half of an 84-0 victory Saturday against Savannah State, the same day Arizona was forced into overtime before beating Toledo 24-17. The Wildcats are 1-5 ATS in their last six home games.

Duke Blue Devils at Stanford Cardinal (-15, 58.5)

Duke, which hasn't won consecutive games to start a season since 1998, is 23-128-6 against ranked teams. The Cardinal are 8-1 ATS in their last nine non-conference games.

CFB: Streaks, Tips, Notes
Sportspic.com

Southern California at Syracuse

Matt Barkley and the Trojans make the long journey east to play Syracuse at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. The USC offense every bit impressive as expected opened the campaign delivering Hawaii a 49-10 spanking but Trojans failed backers as 44.5 point favorite. Barkley picking apart Warriors with ease went 23-of-38 for 372 yards, 4 TD's and 0 INT's. Barkley's top targets were Marqise Lee catching 10 passes for 197 yards 1 major and Robert Woods snatching 6 passes for 42 yards 2 TD's. Meanwhile, Orange despite a record-setting performance by QB Ryan Nassib (470 yds, 4 TD) lost a 42-41 heartbreaker at home to Northwestern as 2 point favorite. The stinging loss marks Orange's sixth straight defeat dating back to week-nine of last season (0-6 ATS). Barkley and company shredding 'Cuse for 324 yards, 5TD's in a 38-17 victory last season head into the second game favored by 26.5 a number that has proven difficult for Trojans and their backers as they enter on a 2-7 ATS slide last nine laying 20 or more points.

Western Kentucky at Alabama

The defending champions picked up right where they left off last season. Crimson Tide racked up 431 total yards in destroying Michigan 41-14 as 13 point favorites. McCarron went 11-of-21 for 199 yards 2 TD's and Bama lead by T.J. Yeldon's 111 yards rolled up 232 total rushing yards 2 majors. This being Bama's home opener at Bryant-Denny Stadium the visiting Hilltoppers of Western Kentucky are in for a long afternoon. Bama has won ten consecutive home openers (4-6 ATS) and are currently enjoying a sparkling 21-2 (14-7 ATS) record in September under Nick Saban including a 17-0 (13-4 ATS) streak since September 2008. Hilltoppers crushed 41-7 last visit to Bryant-Denny Stadium aren't being given much of a chance as the betting market has Bama opening 40 point favorite.

Washington at LSU

Both Huskies and Tigers are coming off wins and look to make it two straight to open the campaign. Huskies opened their 2012 season with a mediocre performance on the offensive end but were solid on the other side of the ball in topping San Diego State 21-12 dropping the loot as 15.0 point home favorites. Tigers, still smarting from their loss in the BCS National Championship took out their frustration on North Texas crushing Mean Green 41-14. Like Huskies, the Bayou Bengals failed at the betting window laying a whopping 52.5 points. Les Miles' troops ridding a nation-leading 18 game home winning streak (9-9 ATS), a 22-0 stretch at home vs. non-conference foes are not about to be upset in Death Valley by a Washington squad on a 1-10 skid in non-conference games away from Husky Stadium. The teams last met in Husky Stadium ('09) a game Tigers won 31-23 but did not cover the 18.0 point spot. Another loss at the betting window could be in the making, Tigers laying 24.5 points are on a 5-10 ATS skid as 20 or more point home favorites

Nebraska at UCLA

Huskers despite losing RB Rex Burkhead, WR Tim Marlowe to injury had a great start to the campaign steamrolling past Southern Miss 49-20 cashing as 20.5 point favorites. QB Taylor Martinez threw for a career-high 354 yards, five TD's with the squad racking up 632 total yards albeit against a Golden Eagles squad returning just four starters. Defensively, Huskers held Golden Eagle offense to 260 total yards split between 75 passing, 185 rushing yards allowing just 17 points in the first half and nearly pitching a shutout in the second half giving up only a fourth-quarter field goal. Huskers defensive unit will need a repeat performance Saturday. New head coach Jim Mora got things off on the right foot at UCLA as his troops defeated Rice 49-24 on 646 total yards spearheaded by QB Brett Hundley's 202 passing (2 TD) yards and Johnathan Franklin's 214 yards on the ground (3TD). The betting market has Huskers 5.5 point road favorites. Dangerous betting territory knowing they'll likely be without Burkhead and are on a 3-6 SU, 4-5 ATS skid on the road, have a 3-6 ATS slide going vs Pac-12 teams. Bruins with it's explosive ground game behind Franklin along with ridding a sparkling 6-1 SU/ATS stretch in home openers are worth a second look.

ACC Report - Week 2
By Joe Williams
VegasInsider.com

Miami at Kansas State

The Hurricanes opened with a solid road win in conference last weekend at Boston College, and now set their sights on paying back K-State for a last-minute loss in South Florida last season. The Hurricanes, who are looking to improve to 2-0 for the first time since 2009, are looking to hand the Wildcats their first loss in the past nine September games. If they're going to do it, they need QB Stephen Morris and RB Duke Johnson to duplicate their success of a week ago. The Hurricanes are a TD dog in this game, and they are 3-7 ATS in their past 10 games on fieldturf. However, they are 5-0 ATS in their past five road games, including last weekend in Chestnut Hill. For K-State, we mentioned their September record, but they're usually beating up cream puffs at this time of year. Miami poses their biggest challenge so early in the season in quite some time. While K-State is 10-3 ATS in their past 13 games overall, keep in mind that they have covered just nine times in their past 30 non-conference games. That makes the speedy Hurricanes worth a look.

Penn State at Virginia

It's been well documented how the Penn State football program has fallen. No need to re-hash all of that. However, the new era opened last weekend, and things looked pretty positive in the first half. The Nittany Lions, spurred on by a crowd in full-throat, led Ohio 14-3 at the break. Then, the wheels came off. Now, Penn State hits the road, and the team will need to band together without the support of their home crowd. The good news is that the crowd at Scott Stadium shouldn't treat them too poorly. The bad news is that the Cavaliers are a solid squad coming off a 43-19 pasting of a good FCS team from Richmond. The Nittany Lions are just 3-12-1 ATS in their past 16 games overall, and 2-5 ATS in their past seven trips from Happy Valley. However, UVA is 0-4-1 ATS in their past five non-conference games. While many people will kick Penn State while they're down, the best advice might be to shy away from this one, unless you can get the spread in single digits. However, the under looks mighty attractive. The under has cashed in seven straight for the Cavs, and is 12-3-1 in the past 16 for the Nittany Lions. A total of 45 points might be a tall order, especially based on what we saw from Penn State a week ago.

North Carolina at Wake Forest

The Tar Heels and Demon Deacons meet for just the second time since the 2007 season. That's hard to believe, since these in-state rival schools are separated by roughly 80 miles. The Heels thumped the Deacs 49-24 at Kenan Statdium in Chapel Hill last season. This weekend's game might have a little of the same look, as UNC opened with a 62-0 win against Elon, while Wake squeaked by their FCS opponent, Liberty, by a 20-17 score. Wake will need to key on stopping QB Bryn Renner and RB Gio Bernard. Renner threw for 338 yards and three scores last October in UNC's win over Wake, and Bernard rolled for 154 yards and two trips to the end zone. For Wake, WR Michael Campanaro is the player to watch, as he opened with 96 yards and a score last weekend. This line opened at six, and blew up to 10 1/2-11 within a matter of days. Wake is getting little respect, and rightly so. Look for the Tar Heels to run away in the second half with a victory by more than two touchdowns.

Duke at Stanford

Duke looked like a legitimate FBS conference team with a convincing 46-26 victory over Florida International last weekend at Wallace Wade Stadium in Durham. In fact, it might have been the most impressive victory in David Cutcliffe's tenure as head coach. QB Sean Renfree was impressive, throwing for 290 yards and two scores. WR Conner Vernon is one of the most dangerous, and underrated, players in the nation. He rolled up 180 yards and a score in the win vs. FIU. Meanwhile, Stanford posted an uninspiring 20-17 win over San Jose State in the first game of the post-Andrew Luck era. The Cardinal, still nationally-ranked, are not expected to be as prolific on offense, but they will still be a force. The biggest threat to Duke's somewhat leaky defense will be RB Stepfan Taylor, who gouged SJSU for 116 yards and a score last weekend. A few things to note - Duke scored two defensive/special teams scores last week to make their total more impressive than perhaps it was. Duke has not won consecutive games to start a season since 1998, and their last win against a ranked team came in 1994. Duke's last win on the road against a ranked team, oddly enough, came against Stanford way back in 1971. The Cardinal will be a popular pick among those looking to recoup some lost funds from the afternoon, and the public is still giving Duke no love despite their impressive opening game win.

North Carolina State at Connecticut

There was a lot expected out of N.C. State last week, but they looked rather flat in their loss to Tennessee in Atlanta. The most surprising performance came from All-ACC DB David Amerson, who was undressed on a pair of scoring strikes. That just isn't supposed to happen. Amerson and the Wolfpack will be looking to atone for that setback in Storrs this weekend. The good news for bettors is that N.C. State is 4-1-1 ATS in their past six meetings against Big East opponents, and they are 18-7-1 in their past 26 games following a straight up loss. UConn has protected their home field well, covering in four of their past five home games. However, they have followed up their past five covers with an ATS loss. At first glance, one might see the records and think UConn is the better team. They're not. Head coach Tom O'Brien should have the ship righted, and the Wolfpack sailing back to Raleigh with a solid road win in tow.

Maryland at Temple

The Terrapins were atrocious last weekend, nearly falling to FCS opponent William & Mary. They survived three interceptions by QB Perry Hills, a true freshman, as they snuck by the Tribe 7-6. This weekend, they'll face a Temple team which is much better than their recent history. Temple thumped crosstown rival Villanova by a 41-10 score last week, but they lost RB Montel Harris (hamstring). He may or may not play in this one, and the success of the offense, in part, has to do with his availability. Check back on that before finalizing your plans. Watch DB Vaughn Carraway, who could give the mistake-prone Hills fits in just his second career start. It's odd seeing Temple installed as a double-digit favorite, but the way both teams looked last weekend, it's hard to risk any scratch on the Terps.

Clemson at Ball State

The Tigers opened their 2012 campaign with a solid win and cover over Auburn in the Georgia Dome last weekend. It was more impressive by the fact WR Sammy Watkins was serving the first of a two-game suspension. They didn't miss a beat, as WR DeAndre "Nuke" Hopkins racked up a single-game school record with 13 receptions, 119 yards and a score. Ball State, meanwhile, posted solid offensive totals in an opening game 37-26 win against Eastern Michigan. The Cardinals have a couple of players Clemson will have to pay some mind. RB Jahwan Edwards rolled up 200 rushing yards and three scores vs. EMU, and WR Jamill Smith was good for 119 yards on seven grabs. This game has the makings of a back-door cover (+27.5). While Clemson should fire out to a big lead early, they might turn the second half over to their second-string defense. With Ball State's high-octane offense, they could turn a big lead into a respectable score.