Week 1 of the college football season already got off to an underdog start in Thursday’s action.
Here’s the best bets for Saturday’s college football games.
Missouri (+10) at West Virginia
I get more than a touchdown with an SEC team not named Vanderbilt or Kentucky?
Sign me up.
The Tigers were consistently an above average college football team before their players went on strike and their coach got cancer. Last year was a mess not only on the field, but off of it, too.
A year removed from all of that, and with an extremely young group a year older, will get Missouri back to at least an average FBS program, with the ability to compete against teams that creep into that above-average tier. The Mountaineers could be the most overrated team heading into this season with a defense that is almost completely new in the secondary and linebacking corps.
I’m so confident in Missouri going on the road in this one and competing, I would take a flier on Missouri as an outright winner. — Go Against the Chalk with Missouri
UCLA (+3) at Texas A&M
I’ve been hammering this one for a while now. The Bruins return a bunch of players from last year’s quality squad, including the best quarterback in the Pac-12, Josh Rosen.
Look at how the Aggies have been on offense since Johnny Manziel. Texas A&M went from the No. 9 total offense in 2013 during Manziel’s final season, to 32nd in 2014 and 48th in 2015.
The offense hasn’t kept pace with what many believe is still an elite offense in college football.
I’m not fooled. The Bruins are always good in September and have a better team up front than the Aggies. Give me the Bruins as a winner against the spread and outright. — Go Against the Chalk with UCLA
Rutgers at Washington (-27)
Gamblers are hammering the Huskies. Count me in with the rest of the crowd.
Rutgers is garbage. And it won’t change in week 1 this season. This line opened at -22 in favor of Washington. The public has pushed that number to almost four touchdowns. If this creeps over four touchdowns, I would suggest to stay away from this one.
But since it’s still south of 28 points, I’ll give my approval on the Huskies.
I don’t love Washington to keep beating the spread, based mostly on high expectations. But with the Scarlet Knights basically being an FCS team, I don’t have to worry about giving away this many points in Washington.
Huskies flex some muscle and will continue to get love from oddsmakers. That hurts in the future, but is good to go this week. — Go Chalk with Washington
Bonus Picks
Auburn (+7.5) vs. Clemson — Auburn is better than experts believe and will prove it this year. Clemson will find out right away how tough it is to make it back to the national championship game. — Go Against the Chalk with Auburn
North Carolina vs. Georgia (-3) — I get tired of picking against the SEC each year. Obviously I’m taking a different approach this season. The Bulldogs show that defense is still a necessary tool to compete with the big boys in college football. — Go Chalk with Georgia
BYU (-1.5) vs. Arizona — The public is in love with BYU, likely based on its quarterback situation. The line has swung 4.5 points since the opening line was introduced. I share the same opinion as the betting public. — Go Chalk with BYU
