College Football Betting Odds, Picks & Predictions: September 13th 2008
Maryland +15.0 – Saturday Sep 13th ’08 12:00p – College Football Odds
The Maryland Terrapins enter into this home game as two touch down underdogs to the California Bears. The game has steamed up from an opening line of -11.5, thanks to over whelming amount of public money and a few whales rolling in on the side the the away team. The Bears thanks to back to back wins, against Washington State and Michigan State, behind an offense that scored a combined 102 points, look like an obvious square choice to cruise to another one sided victory, against a Maryland program that has has come out of the gate slowly. The Terrapins used very little effort, doing just enough to get a 14-7 win against Delaware in their opening contest, before putting forward a unmotivated performance against Sun Belt opponent Middle Tennessee State last week, suffering a 21-14 road set back. I know the Terps looked bad last week, but Im betting they were looking ahead to this game and probably over looking and under estimating their opposition. With that said, it must be noted that Maryland is a much stronger team than many may think, as they have 9 returning starters back on offense, and also have a viable rushing attack behind the legs of DaRel Scott(320 Yds), who currently ranks 4th in the nation. With that said, I expect the Terps will use their ground attack a lot today, in an attempt to slow this game down. On the defensive side of the ball, the Terps are a formidable foe, and were ranked 24th in points allowed last season. Maryland showed how staunch they can be, when they held their first opponent Delaware scoreless for 55 minutes, before falling asleep at the wheel last week. I expect they will be wide awake this time around and provide California’s explosive offense with a very stiff test. Final notes & Key Trends: California is just 10-22 ATS L/32 games as road favorites. Projected Score: California 24 Maryland 21 – Courtesy of Alex Smart
Duke -1.5 (-110) = Saturday, September 13th ’08 12:00p
The ACC has looked terrible early in the season, but this looks like a rare winnable non-conference game for the league when Duke hosts Navy. Ironically, the Blue Devils are generally regarded as the worst team in the ACC, yet they were one of the few teams in the conference to actually show up last week, albeit in a tough 24-20 loss to Northwestern. They did cover the spread though as six-point dogs. What was most impressive about the Duke performance was that they limited star Northwestern running back Tyrell Sutton to just 66 rushing yards, and the entire Wildcats team to only 77 yards on a miniscule 2.9 yards per carry. Now everyone knows that all Navy does is run, so if the Blue Devils can duplicate that defensive performance and force Navy into passing situations like Ball State did last week, it would make their task that much easier. On the other hand, the Navy defense has been downright awful in their first two games, and they allowed 488 total yards and a whopping 28 first down vs. the Cardinals last week. They did not even force Ball State to punt until their very last possession of the game. All things considered, laying less than a field goal with Duke here seems like a solid investment. CFB Free Pick: Duke -1.5 (-110) – Courtesy of LT Profits
Ohio +3.5 (-110) – Saturday, September 13th ’08 2:00p
The Ohio Bobcats gave mighty Ohio State a scare for three quarters last week, but they do not figure to have a letdown in their MAC opener, so look for them to build off of that effort and upset the Central Michigan Chippewas here. In fact, the Chippewas also had a powerhouse opponent last week in Georgia, but unlike Ohio, Central Michigan was not competitive in a 56-17 rout. The Chippewas are more or less a one-dimensional passing team, so when quarterback Dan LeFevour struggles like he did last week, it makes this offense easier to stop. Now Ohio has struggled a bit to stop the run, but that may not matter here as running is not a strong suit for CMU, and as Ohio State discovered, the Ohio pass defense is just fine. In fact, Ohio allowed just 272 total yards vs. the Buckeyes, which compares extremely favorably with the bloated 552 yards the Chippewas allowed to Georgia. We feel that we are getting the better defense here catching more than a field goal at home, which seems like a favorable situation. CFB Free Pick: Ohio +3.5 (-110) – Courtesy of LT Profits
Air Force +2.5 (-110) – Saturday, September 13th ’08 3:30p
The Air Force Falcons will travel to Dallas this week to take on the Houston Cougars. The game has been moved to SMU’s Gerald Ford Stadium due to Hurricane Ike. We are going with the road Falcons +2.5 in this Mountain West, Conference USA clash. Last week Air Force dominated the Wyoming Cowboys in Laramie and they won the game 23-3. The Falcons held a decent Wyoming offense to just 216 total yards and they limited them to less than 23 minutes of possession time. Air Force was able to accomplish this by rushing for 261 yards on the Cowboys defense. In the season opener Air Force gained 433 rush yards (5.7 YPC) against a poor Southern Utah team and they held the ball for nearly 40 minutes. The Cougars, unlike Air Force, are a more of a passing oriented team after losing Anthony Alridge. Last week they were able to move the ball through the air on Oklahoma State for 387 yards, but that is about all they did right. The Cowboys had their way with Houston on offense and posted 379 yards on the ground (699 total). OSU went on to win 56-37. Air Force will not employ the same game plan that Oklahoma State did last week; they will not get in a shootout with the Cougars. They will run the ball against them and run it well. They will count on their good defensive line to stop the Houston rush and put pressure on Case Keenum when he goes to pass. In their first two games the Falcons held the ball for 76:51 while limiting opponents to 63:09. Saturday’s contest will be more of the same as the Falcons cover the +2.5. Free Pick: Take Air Force +2.5 – Courtesy of Matt Foust
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