RADIO
Last weekend was the appetizer. Tomorrow and Friday are the soup and salad leading up to Saturday's 31-plate main course. We finish with dessert on Sunday and coffee on Monday. Labor Day weekend is such a blast without the NFL getting in the way!
There are 27 games over the next two days, but only eight of them feature FBS vs. FBS teams. Most of the games between FCS and FBS schools aren't even on the major sportsbooks. Some sites will create a line for you if you ask, but it most certainly won't favor you. Since those are off the books anyway, I won't pick them, either. I have to draw the line somewhere.
We will take a look at what went right and wrong in our appetizers and I will set us up for soup and salad before the weekend. Let's do this!
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CFB Betting Picks for Week 1 (8/29-8/30/24)
I will pick every college football game every week. Not a top five. Not a top 10. All of them. Big deal, right? Lots of people make picks. Well, I do them all against the spread. I take the odds of each game and average them out at all the Vegas casinos and round to the nearest half. There will be no ties here. Ties are for the other (European) football.
North Carolina (-1.5) at Minnesota
Betting Pick Confidence Factor: 5
There's no distinct advantage to the Gophers being at home in September. It (probably) won't snow over Labor Day weekend. I'm all in on Omarion Hampton. I like the Heels by double digits!
Coastal Carolina at Jacksonville State (-2.5)
Betting Pick Confidence Factor: 1
Ethan Vasko was serviceable last year. Are the Gamecocks good enough to take this at home? Maybe I'm scarred from watching Logan Smothers at Nebraska. I'll take the Gamecocks, but I'm likely leaving this one alone.
Temple at (16) Oklahoma (-42.5)
Betting Pick Confidence Factor: 2
Look...I know Temple will be beyond awful without E.J. Warner...but more than six touchdowns? Is Oklahoma going to run the score up that much? Maybe. I'll take the Sooners but I don't feel good about it.
Florida Atlantic at Michigan State (-13.5)
Betting Pick Confidence Factor: 2
Michigan State QB Aidan Chiles on their season opener vs. Florida Atlantic
“If you bet, take the over.”
pic.twitter.com/AdHQLJDOMv— Crunch Time Sports (@officialctpod) August 22, 2024
Nothing like a little bulletin board material in the precursor to Week 1! This line is up three points in spots and is still rising. FAU completely revamped its roster, so it should be much improved over last year. Marshall transfer Cam Fancher is better than advertised and Marlyn Johnson from Buffalo is a really good receiver that played on a run-heavy team.
Sparty's defense worries me, but there are bound to be some growing pains for Aidan Chiles. I'll take Johnson over any of those Michigan State receivers right now. I think this stays close. Give me FAU.
Western Michigan at Wisconsin (-23.5)
Betting Pick Confidence Factor: 2
The last time that the Badgers had a high-profile ACC transfer, they won the Big Ten. Of course, the Big Ten (18) looks a lot different this year. Western Michigan doesn't have much going for it and the Wisconsin defense is still good. Give me the Badgers. WMU might not cross midfield until the fourth quarter.
TCU (-9.5) at Stanford
Betting Pick Confidence Factor: 2
How wild is it that this is a conference game now? I don't know what to expect from Josh Hoover, but I do know that JP Richardson will make him look good. Stanford will hang around for a while, but I still think TCU covers.
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CFB Betting Picks - Last Week's Results
I promised transparency and you will get it, warts and all. I don't like to be wrong, but I will admit when I am. Why listen to someone if they won't admit the good or the bad? There were only two games in Week 0, so I won't link the spreadsheet yet. It's still under construction anyway. Winners against the spread will be in bold. My result will follow.
(10) Florida State (-10.5) vs. Georgia Tech at Dublin, Ireland (4): HIT!
I placed a small wager on Georgia Tech outright, so I have a little more to play with to start the season. The Georgia Tech defense and both lines looked very good. Jamal Haynes had some good runs. Overall, the experience of Tech playing together last year seemed to win out.
GEORGIA TECH TAKES DOWN FLORIDA STATE IN IRELAND
WELCOME BACK COLLEGE FOOTBALL pic.twitter.com/G1I9R8ZuyJ
— Unnecessary Roughness (@UnnecRoughness) August 24, 2024
SMU (-24.5) at Nevada (2): MISS!
Continuity sure didn't help the ponies. If Nevada had any idea how to play with a lead, SMU would have lost. Texas transfer Savion Red and Oregon transfer Sean Dollars are going to be tough on the Mountain West.
College Football Betting Season Results
Now is the time of the week when we tally up the scores. I started the season 1-1. Hey, 50% is acceptable when picking every game.
The weekly totals follow the bet. Season totals are in parentheses.
1. 0-0 (0-0) = 0
2. 0-1 (0-1) = -2
3. 0-0 (0-0) = 0
4. 1-0 (1-0) = 4
5. 0-0 (0-0) = 0
I'm up two points to start the season. I can't tell you exactly how much I am up overall because in updating my spreadsheet for all past seasons, I found some "bookkeeping errors" back in 2015 and 2016. I'll get those updated sometime soon so we know exactly where I stand.
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