Free Picks and Service Plays for Tuesday, August 30th, 2016. These include paid plays, comp plays and newsletter selections.
Sharp Totals Club
Toledo / Arkansas St Under 65
Maddux Sports
10* Colorado / Colorado St Over 57
Jim Feist
Dynamite - Kansas St / Stanford Over
Paul Leiner
100* Rangers -125
100* Kansas St / Stanford Over 48
Brad Wilton
75 Dime St. Louis
Trace Adams
1000♦ Braves / Phillies Over
Exodus to Black
Arkansas St -3
David Banks
Kansas State @ Stanford
Pick: Stanford -15
Jesse Ertz, who was hurt on the very first play of the 2015 season, returns to Kansas State and will once again begin the season as the starting quarterback. The junior beat out Joe Hubener, who threw for 1,837 yards last year, to claim the job. He will be tested right away as the Wildcats travel to eighth-ranked Stanford on Friday night.
The Cardinal return one of the top players in the nation in RB Christian McCaffrey. The junior led Stanford in rushing (2,019 yds.) and receiving (645) and was one of the most dangerous return men in all of college football averaging 28.9 per kickoff return and 8.7 per punt return. McCaffrey and a Cardinal defense featuring five returning starters will have to carry the load until new starting quarterback Ryan Burns gets acclimated to being a full-time starter.
Burns, a 6-5 junior from Virginia, beat out sophomore Kellen Chryst to win the job. Burns appeared in six games over his first two seasons at Stanford and now takes over for Kevin Hogan. Head coach David Shaw has said the Chryst will play in the opener as well, but whoever is under center will likely not be asked to do too much. The Cardinal will rely on their power running game and defense.
The Wildcats, who went 6-7 last season, need to get better defensively and do so quickly. Kansas State gave up 452.2 yards and 31.5 points a game last year. They do have six starters returning but they must mature in a short period of time if the Wildcats are going to have any success in the pass-happy Big 12.
Wise Guy Insider
Colorado -8.5
Chase Diamond
15* Army +14.5
Jim Feist
Kansas St at Stanford
Pick: Over
Bill Snyder's Kansas State team had a ton of injuries last year, but the offense is healthy now with Junior QB Jesse Ertz. The defense will be tested by a Stanford offense that is sensational. Junior RB Christian McCaffrey (2,019 yds, 6.0 ypc) set the NCAA single-season all-purpose record last season with 3,864 total yards. 28.9 yards on kickoff returns. Kansas State is on a 4-1 run over the total while Stanford is on a 4-1 over, and this shapes up as an offensive show.
ChaseDiamond
Army at Temple
Play: Army
Another big dog for us tonight off our easy cover on App State as they took the game to overtime that's pretty big for a 3 touchdown dog. Tonight we have another dog that could pull the upset as Army takes on Temple. Owls finished 10-4 last year and Army went 2-10. Chris Carter is back this year for Army and I think you will see a much better QB this season that is used to running a option Offense that will give Temple problems and run lots of clock also. Seven of Army's 9 losses were by 30 points combined this team is tough and knows how to keep games close and give themselves a shot to win at the end like they did with Navy last season. Army returns all 9 starters on defense. Army runs a 3-4 Defense and they do blitz a'lot I see this also giving Temple some issues.
Ben Burns
Chicago at Minnesota
Play: Under 9
Yesterday's series opener saw 13 runs produced. However, I expect to see far better pitching this evening. Rodon has been "lights out" of late. He allowed one run through six innings last time out, en route to a 4-1 win. In his previous start, he tossed 6 2/3 shutout innings, allowing just three hits. He's got a 1.45 ERA his last three starts, to go along with a 0.964 WHIP. Rodon will face a Twins' lineup which averages 4.3 rpg vs. southpaws, less than they do vs. right-handers. Admittedly, Gibson's numbers aren't very good. Chicago's numbers vs. right-handers, 3.8 rpg and a .250 average, aren't exactly very good either though and Gibson has likely been looking fwd to today. Indeed, he's 5-1 with a dominant 1.80 ERA and 0.891 WHIP in eight starts against the Sox. The last time (6/28) that he faced them, he allowed five hits through seven shutout innings, striking out against just one walk. The Twins won 4-0. Don't be surprised if this one proves a little lower-scoring than many will be expecting.
Sean Murphy
Kansas State vs Stanford
Play on: Stanford -14½
I can't help but feel a bit of the shine has been lost from the Kansas State Wildcats, at least from a betting perspective. The Wildcats went an even 6-6 ATS in the regular season a year ago before getting throttled by Arkansas in a post-New Year's Bowl game. The Wildcats needed to win their final three regular season contests just to get into that Bowl matchup. Even in an underdog role, where the Wildcats have really stepped up over the years, they managed to go just an even 4-4 ATS a year ago. This is a tough opening week matchup against Stanford, a team that stumbled out of the gates last year, dropping an ugly decision against Northwestern in Week 1 (we cashed with the Wildcats in that game). Of course, the Cardinal followed up that setback by reeling off 12 wins in their last 13 games, culminating with an absolute blowout over Iowa in Bowl season. I don't expect Stanford to miss a beat this year - they're laying a considerable number of points for good reason in what some believe will be a tough opening week tilt.