USC @ Virginia u43.0 (-110) – Sat August 30th ’08 3:30p
The USC Trojans are the favorites to win the national championship, thanks in part to a great defense, while the Virginia Cavaliers should also have a good defense even with Chris Long departed. USC is talented at every position, but for the time being, the defense looks to be ahead of the offense. This is only because they are so deep at running back that no one has emerged as the clear-cut starter yet, so the timing may be a tad out of synch until a go-to guy emerges. The defense was fantastic last year, but even though the unit lost three key starters to the NFL, big things are expected from a prized defensive recruiting class. Now Virginia was not exactly an offensive juggernaut in 2007, and they are now turning the offense over to quarterback in Peter Lalich, who saw some action as a true freshman. The USC is a daunting task for his sophomore debut though. The Cavaliers will have to rely on their defense to win games this year, and although Long is obviously a devastating loss up front, the Cavs do have veteran linebackers and defensive backs to pick up the slack. The key to this contest is that only one team will be doing most of the scoring, which usually makes it difficult for a game to go Over. CFB Free Pick: USC, Virginia Under 43 (-110) College Football Odds
 
Utah St. @ UNLV u48.0 (-110) – Sat August 30th ’08 10:00p
Both Utah State and UNLV are coming off of lousy seasons last year, and we expect both offenses to struggle to generate many points here. Utah State is very inexperienced on the offensive side of the ball, with untested quarterback Sean Setzer and a bunch of young running backs. Their top returning receiver from last season is actually tight end Rob Myers, who had just 320 receiving yards last season. While the offense is green, the Aggies do have a lot of seniors on defense led by linebacker Jake Hutton, who was among the conference leaders in tackles last year. The Rebels have a similar make-up, which is probably not a good thing after going 2-10 last year. UNLV is virtually a one man show on offense, with that man being running back Frank Summers. Not only did Summers rush for 928 yards last year, but he is also a receiving threat out of the backfield. As for the defense, the Rebels ranked number 22 in the entire country in pass defense last season, and while the run offense is suspect, Utah State simply does not have the tools to take advantage of that. UNLV beat the Aggies 23-16 for one of their two wins last year, and while they may or may not emerge victorious again, we do expect the final combined point total here to closely resemble that output from last season. CFB Free Pick: Utah State, UNLV Under 48 (-110)

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